Settling in again...

i've made myself a pledge to do something "touristy" at least once a
month now that i'm back in aus. these adventures can be close to home
or they can involve me flying to another city or state. i've got
stuff planned out already until april but i'm not sharing my plans
until they've actually happened ;-)

so without further ado, this month's adventure involved a trip to
philip island which is about a two hours drive south of melbourne and
home to a massive colony of little penguins (the smallest penguins in
the world)!! we woke early and made the trip down the M1 to Cowes
where we devoured pies, took photos on the beach and just ambled about
for a bit. from there, we went to the formula one race track, and
oddly saw a pack of kangaroos, then a hike around one of the points
with some nice views of the coast. it was getting close to penguin
viewing time so we headed back into town to dine and then we were off
to see the little creatures!!

the penguins leave the ocean after a day of fishing under the cover of
dusk. they come out of the ocean in packs of 20-50 penguins
(sometimes up to 150 penguins) and then rush off home along the
shoreline, heading inland. it's quite a phenomenal experience to
watch the little guys come up out of the ocean together and then
observe them as they plod homeward bound, often falling over one
another and looking immensely like they've lost their way, making
these really cute squeaky noises!! it was an enjoyable to watch the
processions and it's most amazing that these little birds, who can't
even see their feet, walk up to 2km after they get out of the ocean,
sleep for a few hours and then head back out again, under the cover of
night, around 3am. not enough sleep for me :-)

other than my penguin visit, there's been the regular social mayhem
which i must confess has probably been worse than normal due to the
time of year!! i've had two holidays parties for work, a couple of
corporate lunches and dinners in addition to the regular fare of
social activities!! i also managed a interstate trip for work to
brisbane where i did two embarrassing things while traveling with my
boss; i missed my flight (i miscalculated how long it'd take for me to
get to the airport, etc...) and then, the following day, i broke my
glasses in half!! (i'd been playing netball a few days before and got
hit square in the face which i think weakened them). anyhow, i taped
them together and then managed to get them super glued back together!!
i've decided to finally try contacts (and i've bought two new pairs
of glasses ;-)

i must head off as i have a bunch of stuff to get done and it's almost
time for bed!!

wishing everyone who still reads this a happy and safe holiday
season!! i'll be thinking of you when i'm at the beach on xmas day,
having a picnic (such an odd concept, i know :-)!!

hugs,
s

p.s. i realised tonight on my way home from work that i've been in
aus for 18mths now... i can't believe it's been that long!!

to toronto and back...

as many of you know, i made the trip back to toronto (with a side trip
to boston) for a three week visit in october. i planned to surprise
my parents upon my arrival which went off famously well!! my flight
arrived 35mins early, there was one person ahead of me in the customs
queue, my bag was the third one off the carousel and my chauffeur
arrived on time to transport me to the restaurant (thanks anthony :-)
as such, we actually arrived at the restaurant 40mins before they were
expected to arrive!! there was much shock for them as they discovered
that they'd be dining with me instead of their respective dining
companions :-)

the visit was fantastic; busy and yet i still felt rested returning to
melbourne!! the trip was filled with visits from good friends and
family. some hightlights for me would include a homemade mexican
fiesta, a walking adventure for maple syrup and peameal bacon
sandwiches, a random meeting with mme. deslandes who lives in bermuda,
my trip to boston, a hike in the snow en route to creemore, seeing
both of my nephews, lounging at the top of the bluffs, celebrating my
mom's 60th birthday, my breakfast bowl at hair of the dog, a
philosophical ethopian dinner, hockey night in canada (the leafs
actually won!!) and my little gathering at michelle & sean's :-)
there was also the visit with folks from the office, the partaking of
canadian beers (i miss keiths and moosehead) and having a tim horton's
doughnut and cappuchino!! i must confess that i only half regret not
having had an order of poutine at some point during my trip!!

since my return, i've been out most every night. there's been lots of
social gatherings, festivals, picnics and people just plain curious as
to how my trip went :-) the day i landed, i barely had time to unpack
before i was rushed off to a picnic!!

for all those curious, i have told john (my boss) that i will be
staying until next october and have bought myself a new bedframe to
celebrate this decision!! that said, with the economic climate as it
is, he may send me packing earlier than that....

thanks for the wonderful visit toronto - it was great to see everyone!
hugs,
s

p.s. in case anyone's curious, the hawks did win the grand finals :-)
at least i barrack for a winning footy team since the leafs haven't
won a stanley cup in 40 years!!

better late than never ;-)

the deal when i left for australia was to write a blog entry
approximately once a month to keep those at home updated with my
comings and goings however this month i'm a little late (almost a
month) in doing an update ;( that said, i suppose the implication is
that my life has been particularly busy these last two months!!

so what have i possibly been up to you ask?! to start, i ended up
traveling a bit for work which puts a big dent in life in so many
ways!! i spent four days in brisbane/gold coast checking out all some
recently refit nab branches, looking at some under-construction and
checking out some possible new sites. after two action-packed days of
work, i had the weekend to hang out at surfers paradise, catch a water
festival in brisbane proper, discover a couple of local markets and
just get a feel for australia's third largest city. the following
week, i headed off to perth where i made similar discoveries from a
work perspective. after my solid three days of work, i took a cruise
down the swan river to fremantle, perth's trendy vibrant suburb. i
had dinner at little creatures (a wa microbrewery), checked out the
freo market, got picked up by two very drunk aussie gents and then
headed home!! the next day, i got up early and took a ferry over to
rottnest island which is a nature reserve. i took a public bus around
the island and checked out the beautiful coastline, photographed some
quokka (cross between a 'roo, a possum and a raccoon) which you can
only find on the island. i then headed back to freo, had dinner with
joc's cdn friend sue and then watched a movie at the hostel.
unfortunately, sunday involved a late breakfast and then a trip to the
airport to catch my flight home. the boss has suggested that i go to
both perth and brisbane on a monthly basis, alternating months, so
i'll get to see a bit more of the area around each city which is
great!! (photos from the trip will be posted on
http://www.flickr.com/photos/decouvert2001/ tonight if i can stay up
late enough or tomorrow).

in between the travel, my life has been filled with a mismatch of
stuff from olympic themed parties to food and wine festivals, from
foreign film festivals to 10 pin bowling (yes, you read that one right
:-), from street parties to birthday parties, it's been a bit of
variety of stuff on the go at the minute and it'll only get busier as
summer approaches and the days start getting longer!!

i must head off but wishing everyone well as the weather turns cooler
there and slowly gets warmer here :-)
s

p.s this coming weekend is the afl grand final (the equivalent of the
stanley cup playoffs) and my team, the hawthorn hawks, have made it to
the final (which is more than i can say for the leafs in the last 30
years!!) so i'll be cheering them on this sunday!! i even have a team
scarf which i think is pretty hysterical - it says i've been a
fan/member for 7 years!!

Normalcy and life as I know it...

i had my "happy one year anniversary in aus/happy birthday party" just
over a month ago (time flies) and i was astounded by the number of
friends who showed up to help me celebrate!! i was completely
touched/moved for days afterwards at the friends that i have made in
the last year and how important each of them has become to me!! it
made me feel quite special to have such a great turn out and made me
smiley for days after the event :-) from there, i've had some going
away parties, some birthday parties and some "yeah i get to stay
parties" which have resulted in time passing at a ridiculous pace,
tears, nostalgia and smiles, me drinking moosehead beer in a pub in
australia and the occasional hang over :-) it's been a great month
and a bit!!

other than too many late nights, i've been away to lorne (a ocean-side
cottage area about 1.5 hours away from melbs) for a quiet weekend,
i've seen a couple of movies including a cdn documentary, an afl game
(i now barrack for hawthorn), had a day at the spa, have been cycling
a lot and done some urban exploring - all in, it's been an exhausting
6 weeks and the coming few look to be just as busy as the weather
warms up and we start to enjoy spring :-)

work has been crazy busy but i'm feeling like it's more under control
now than previously and i'm enjoying the opportunity to learn a new
career and work for a massive organisation full of politics, quirks
and massive inefficiencies!! it's been a great learning experience
and i'm hoping to get to travel out to western australia and/or
queensland in the next little while as some of the branches i've been
relocating or refurbishing are just about finished and it'd be neat to
see what they actually look like when they're done!!

hugs to all back home - i hope you've enjoyed your long summer weekend!!
s

btw, my visa has been accepted by immigration - it was a slightly
anti-climactic but i now have a little sticker in my passport (truly,
a second sticker from aussie immigation) which says i'm allowed to
stay here a little bit longer!!

should i stay or should i go?!

i arrived in australia exactly one year ago today, exhausted from the
journey and excited to see what this new chapter in my life was going
to hold!! i must confess that i was also a bit nervous at having left
everyone and everything i knew behind for an unknown place/adventure.
truly, i believe that the journey has been fantastic for me :-) i've
learned a lot about myself and i've have grown immensely since i
arrived here in australia. in addition, i've made tons of new
friends, seen a bit more of this massive world we occupy and
discovered a couple of other career paths to pursue :-) all in, i
wouldn't have changed this past year for the world - it's been
brilliant and i've learned a lot :-) (i'm sure i said that already :)

for all those who've been curious as to whether i'm staying or going,
it's still quasi-up-in-the-air and yet not all at the same time!! the
national australia bank (nab) has applied on my behalf to get me a new
working visa. the application has been submitted and now i'm just
waiting to hear from immigration as to whether they'll accept me or
not :-) fingers crossed!! for now, it's a four month contract to
fill in a long term service leave (holidays) however it's possible
i'll end up with a further extension (assuming nab and i both like one
another) as the contract progresses. for now, i'm happy with an
additional four months as i wasn't completely ready to leave melbs yet
:-) am i staying here forever?! truly, i don't know the answer to
that question yet - i'm planning on doing some pretty serious thinking
over the next four months and we'll see how i go :-) i can say that i
love this city though and am having a great time....

the visa (and it's subsequent implications) and the new job have
consumed me and my thoughts for the last 3-4 weeks though i have been
out and about, doing my regular socialising, etc.. it's been a bit of
an up and down period with the visa looking possible and then
impossible but now it's nearly all done and dusted as the aussies say
and things should return to a more level plaine :-)

i have a million and one things to organise before my party this
evening - it's a combination "happy birthday/happy one year
anniversary/ congrats on getting to stay" party which i'm hoping will
be a lot of fun!!

hugs and warm thoughts to all of you around the world!
sarah

p.s. for those who hadn't really wanted to get this update, i
apologise, i don't normally do the big email blast but i thought this
was noteworthy; i normally just update the old blog...
http://slawstravels.blogspot.com

measuring time in fruit.. ;)

i know that time's been flying along and it became most obvious to me
the other day while at the grocery store (yes, i know, a bit of an odd
place to notice time's passage and yet not at the same time ;) you
see, in north america, we're spoiled in that we can get raspberries
flown in from chile for a reasonable price in winter - not the same
here in australia. the produce actually follows the seasons as it
would have years ago in canada and as such, apples and passionfruit
(which i fell in love with when i landed) were impossible to get until
recently due to the season. as such, i'll be gorging on these
special apples and passionfruit, taking full advantage of the season,
now that i know it's finite :)

i suppose that i have two highlights for this month to share; the
first being a great wine tasting and then fabulous dinner in the city
with some friends. we had an hour long discussion from a sommelier on
different wines in and out of australia, sampling as we went, and then
we polished off the bottles of wine over dinner. it was a great
evening to relax, chat and enjoy the wine and the company ;) the
second being a concert that i attended last night: the foo fighters.
i bought the tickets back in november and well, april seemed ages away
at the time but obviously it has arrived and is almost gone! a friend
and i went to the concert and had a blast; they played for two hours
and it was an amazing experience!! they were awesome in concert; lots
of energy and talent. i was keen to see how a concert in aus varied
from one in canada but i can't say there was much of a difference ;)
from there, she and i ended up in this little bar on flinders st that
had a band playing. we danced until the wee hours of the morning with
a very mixed and unlikely group of revellers.

other than that, socially, i've been busy as always with gallery
openings and bbqs, some more comedy shows and foreign film festivals
and just generally catching up with friends ;) it's been a great
month and though the weather's starting to turn here, we've had some
great autumn weather which has encouraged some cycling and walks
around town too ;)

as most of you know, i have started a new job at nab (national
australia bank) and have been there for just over two weeks. (i can't
believe that i'm on my third job in less than a year!!) so far it's
been an interesting experience with a lot of new stuff to learn as
it's in a totally different area then i've ever worked in. the
department/team that i'm working in seems pretty engaged and cohesive
which is awesome ;) the building is pretty modern and well-designed,
housing 4,000 staff!! it's amazing to go from a small 50 person
company to now be working in a 50 person department!! either way,
i've started cycling in again and will continue as long as the
weather's reasonable ;) i think it's a bit closer than australian
unity but with more hills so we'll see how i go ;)

must be off as i'm meeting a friend for dinner in the city in an hour or so ;)

hugs and enjoy the spring/summer weather!
sarah

p.s. for those curious, the psychic was very interesting and well,
she's foreseen a lot of things for me in the next bit so we'll see
what does and doesn't come true in the coming months/years ;)

March has come and gone...

...and you're all waiting for spring to arrive while I'm experiencing
my first autumn in Melbourne :-) Autumn has two significant
associations for me: going back to school (and shopping for back to
school clothes) and the smell of autumn and the falling leaves... As
such, I'm suffering immensely as I haven't been doing any autumn
shopping as my suitcases are already going to be stuffed to the gills
and well, autumn has a totally different smell here!! It's nice but
not as strong as the smell of maple and birch leaves once they've
fallen.... It's odd how we clear the smell of autumn is to me in
Toronto despite not having smelt it for at least 18 mths..... :)

As always, I've managed to keep myself busy for the month of March :-)
I managed another weekend (this one a three-day weekend) up in the
Grampians rock climbing. I was climbing level 15s and 16s for most of
the weekend and was pretty exhausted on Day 3 - my body is not used to
hanging out on the side of rockfaces ;) I arrived home and had a
short visit with David, a British friend that I met a year and a bit
ago in Vietnam. We toured around Melbourne for two days and had a
good catch up. It was great to see him and as I've mentioned to some,
it was like seeing an old friend though truly, we haven't been
physically in the same place for more than five days over the last
year and a half...

Easter weekend was a lovely four day long weekend involving movies,
lunches and drinks with friends, an AFL game with Peter and his
brothers (yes, it's Aussie Football season again) and a comedy show at
the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (think Montreal's Just for
Laughs). I also managed to squeeze in a few phone calls back home
since I had both the Friday and Monday off!! All in, it was a lovely
long weekend and I felt like I needed a day or two to recover from
it... Interestingly, the Aussie's don't really do much to celebrate
Easter; it's simply a long weekend where most seem to go away with
family and/or friends... No big family dinners like at home!!

I have decided to look for another place of employment as I'm not
happy/challenged at the pasta company. Unfortunately, the job
description I was given and what I am actually doing differ
substantially ;( Either way, I have an interview tomorrow morning
with NAB (National Australia Bank) in their procurement department so
we'll see how we go....

In addition, I've been out with the usual suspects, doing dinners and
drinks, taking a few photos, meeting some new peeps and having a grand
time!!

Miss you all and don't worry, there's less than 6 weeks until spring ;)
Sarah

P.S. For those curious, the psychic had an unexpected emergency (Yes,
the joke's been done that any psychic worth their salt would never
have an "unexpected emergency" ;) and so we've rebooked with someone
else for this coming weekend....should be interesting ;)

Lessons learned again..... ;-)

It's funny how books you were forced to read during your "scholastic
learning" period somehow come to mind and ring true later in life.
The following quote fits with my current thoughts, though not like a
glove =) It is a quote from Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald:
"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just
remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages
that you've had."

I have had two humourous miscommunications in the last three days
which make this quote seem tremendously relevant in my life at the
minute :-) The first occured with my housemate. My grandmother sent
me a cartoon with a old women at her optometrist's office; she's
standing in front of the receptionist and asks if the woman minds
holding her cat while she gets her eyes checked. The "cat" is very
obviously a skunk. I found the joke cute and handed it to my
housemate only to discover that he didn't "get" the cartoon as he'd
never seen a skunk and thus didn't see the humour :-)

More recently, I had a British friend visit for a few days. I went
away for the weekend but was scheduled to be back later the night he
arrive. I told him that I'd leave my house key under the pylon at the
front of my house so he could get in since he was arriving before I
was. He texted me from Melbourne (I was three hours outside of town
rock climbing) saying that the key didn't work. Now I'd told him that
it was a bit loose and may need a bit of wiggling but I couldn't
understand how he couldn't get the lock open after a half hour of
playing with the key and the lock!! I made other arrangements for him
to be able to leave his stuff and subsequently felt horrible for the
rest of the day; aware that he couldn't get in because my key wasn't
working, etc... I arrived home to discover that he'd found a key
under the doormat and had assumed that that was a "pylon" since he
didn't know what one was and had been using that key (which is the key
to something else). It turns out that a pylon in Cdn is a witch's hat
in Aus and a construction cone in England....who would have expected
that something so simple would have so many names?! Either way, the
key I left him worked like a charm when it was located :-)

Just a random thought to remind myself and anyone else reading this
that despite the fact that we've been raised with many commonalities,
there are always huge differences in experience and interpretation ;)
I'll stop being philosophical now and head off to bed...hope you
enjoyed my silly stories ;)

Sarah

Quarters and other news :)

I've re-read a few of my blog posts and they seem to have a consistent theme throughout - time flying by at a rapid rate.... ;(  I have less than 4mths left on my visa and I'm reminded of Heather's comments about how if the trip seemed long and overwhelming to simply divide it into smaller, more manageable chunks of time.  The time away has never seemed overwhelming and a quarter of a year is definitely a manageable and quickly vanishing chunk of time ;(

What has the month of February brought me?!  The list is long but here's a summary of the more interesting ventures ;)  I attended a black book party which effectively meant that two girls invited all of their friends to a mix and mingle and we mixed and mingled until the wee hours of the morning; attended a few picnics/bbqs on the Yarra River and in Albert Park; watched a French movie in the Botanical Gardens with bats swooping above; attended a wine tasting; had lunches and bicycle rides with friends; attended a cocktail party where everyone thought Shane (my housemate) was my husband which created many confusing and interesting bits of conversation for everyone (Joc, if he ever decides to come to Canada, he'll take you up on your offer ;-) and managed to find myself a new job (more about that below ;).  Most importantly, I can't forget that a package from special someone in Boston arrived - thanks a million again Patricia!!  It really was an awesome treat to get something in the mail that was so completely unexpected and thoughtful ;)  Big hugs!! 

Most recently I fulfilled an aspiration that I have had for some time; I went outdoor rock climbing last weekend :-)  I was at a "Sunday Session" aka a Sunday avro or afternoon of drinking, Aussie style with a girlfriend and some of her friends.  Anyhow, two of her friends rocked up (that's be showed up in Cdn speak ;)  and we somehow ended up chatting about rock climbing.  (They were both formers guides.)  I ended up getting myself invited to a weekend away in The Grampians which is an area en route to Adelaide, about two hours outside of Melbs.  There were 9 of us away for the weekend, sleeping in cabins (or chalets as I preferred to call them ;) at night and climbing/hiking during the day (Dave - I managed to get on a trampoline for a wee bit too and thought of you ;)  It was a full moon over the weekend and a couple of us lay out on the trampoline and watched the sunset/moon and stars come out - it was phenomenal with the light and the cloud cover.  I reckon that photography has made me more away of light and space.  Either way, the rock climbing itself was a cool experience and totally different from going to a climbing gym.  One of the days we ended up with an hour long hike through massive boulders and up rock faces to the place where we actually climbed.  Nicole and I just watched as everything was a 22 or higher (I'm comfortable doing nothing more than about a 15/16 though I was on 18s this weekend :-) but the hike was fantastically challenging in it's own right and beautiful.  I have been invited again in two weeks time (which happens to be a long weekend here) so I'll probably be out and about again ;) 

I am happy to report that I have found myself a new job.  YEAH!!  (For all those who heard me agonising over which position to take and threw in their thoughts and opinions, thanks again :)  I am currently employed at an organisation which makes and distributes pasta and other food items.  It's completely different from anything I have ever done before (which is what I was supposed to be accomplishing by coming to Aus).  My main goal for the next 3.5mths is to look at their processes and see if I can suggest improvements, in addition, I'm in charge of the front shop which also needs a facelife.  There's a lot on and it's interesting with a great bunch of people.  It's funny working for a family run organisation; it's so different as everyone's been there for ages and truly acts like family but in a good way :) Anyhow, we'll see how I go.  So far, I think Paul's happy with me and how I've picked things up.... :-)

And if none of the above interested you, I can also attest to having the absolute best February weather-wise than I have ever experienced ;)  While you're all suffering with 60cms of snow and negative degree weather, I'm enjoying typical Melbs weather with it's 28 degree sunny days and it's 22 degree evenings...it's perfect for me ;) 

Must be heading as I have over 200 photos to inspect from the weekend - I will be posting some tonight on Flickr and on Facebook as most of the climbers are Facebook users.  (http://www.flickr.com/photos/decouvert2001/)

Hugs and warm thoughts,
Sarah

P.S.  Thought I'd throw out a curiosity perking tidbit:  I am going to meet with a clarevoyant/psychic on Saturday with some friends :-)  We had to book over three weeks ahead of schedule to get the appts.  I'll let you know if anything interesting materialises!!

Oh, and a biro is a pen and a texter is a marker...lovely when you start at a new place of employment and they have new lingo :) 

One down...twelve to go ;)

I can't believe that January is almost over and I have less than 6mths left on my visa!!  Where does the time go?! 

I have been crazy busy since the start of January (surprise, surprise ;)  My first week back involved catching up on some sleep, doing laundry and reconnecting with friends.  It was a good thing I caught up on some sleep as Jocelyn arrived from her east coast adventures on thursday night and we were crazy busy for the four days, five nights she was here!!  Picking her up from the airport was a terrifying experience for me (and I'm sure those drivers around us) as I had to drive through the city on the wrong side of the road, luckily Peter agreed to come with me so that I didn't have to navigate and drive as the trip would surely have ended in a crash!!  Arriving home safely, we quickly changed and headed dancing despite the 35+ degree weather.  We were up early the next morning and drove to the Yarra Valley.  We had a lovely wine tour, tasting at four different vineyards, a delicious lunch and then we headed back to the lodge.  For dinner, we sat on the deck at the lodge and consumed a $65 reserve bottle of wine and $30 worth of cheese!!  It was lovely and relaxing; everyone who walked by commented on how jealous they were ;)  We woke the next morning, saw a few more vineyards, visited a few more dairies and then headed back to Melbs.  Joc saw the city for the first time during the day, we picked up flake (shark) and headed back to my place for a quick change/shower before heading to Julia's for dinner and then out for drinks in St. Kilda.  It was a crazy day/night!!  Joc toured the city and I went indoor rock climbing with some friends the next day.  We then met up at my place and headed over for a bbq at a friend's place (bringing along the flake which went over wonderfully)!!  We got up the next morning, shopped a bit in Melbs and then watched the Australian Open before meeting up with some other friends for a few drinks, then dinner and then a few more pubs.  Melbourne is famous for its little laneway pubs and I wanted to make sure that Joc saw a few of them ;)  We got home and chatted for a bit before heading off to sleep.  We were both up early the next morning as she had to leave around 9:30am to catch her flights home....it was an exhausting but lovely visit ;)  Let it be said that whoever feels inclined to visit will be put through similar "busy" torture techniques for a few days at least ;) 

I've been back to my normal level of "busyness" after Joc's departure ;-)  There's been drinks and brunches with friends, there's been movies and bbqs and Australia Day festivities...it's been a grand time and somewhere, in there, during the days, I've been trying to apply for jobs.  Sometimes I'm successful and other times, I meet up with a friend and go for a cycle instead.  It's really hard being unemployed and staying focussed when it's sunny and 28 degrees every day.... ;(  I'd love to tell you all that I've found a job but I can't though I've been told that now that the Aussie Day  long weeked is over and the kids are back to school, summer holidays are over and people should be back to being as serious as the Aussie's get ;) 

Miss you all and hope things are going along smashingly well wherever you are ;)
Sarah

P.S.  For those of you interested and who haven't seen it yet, my new really short hairdo can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/decouvert2001/2224858353/  I still can't believe it's as short as it is but I think I like it ;)

New Zealand - episode three

My travels in NZ continued from Wanaka to Franz Joseph, a small town with a nearby glacier - it's near the middle of south island.  I booked myself on a glacier tour and spent 6 hours climbing around with crampons on.  I admit that at the start of the hike/climb, I had absolutely no faith in the crampons but they really do work brilliantly ;)  The ice was a beautiful shade of blue up higher on the glacier and I have a couple of photos that I think turned out fantastically well as I've never had much luck photographing snow/ice!!  It was a gorgeous day and we shimmied through tiny crevices and up ice walls - I really enjoyed myself though I burned my calves really badly!!!  I returned to the hostel to meet a fellow Cdn traveller (my first Cdn woman on her own) who's from Toronto.  She and a bunch of other hostelers and I sat around chatting and then went out to a local bar after dinner.  It was a great night out ;)

From Franz, I headed up to Murchison where I spent Christmas eve in a whitewater kayak on the Buller River.  It was great to be back in a kayak and the water was chilly but not too bad - very comparable with the Ottawa River in the earlier part of the season!!  From there, I headed up to Nelson which is on the near northwestern tip of south island.  I spent Christmas and Boxing Day in a great hostel with an outdoor pool, hot tub and sauna and a volleyball net.  The woman who runs the place had festivities set up for the entire day and we had a Christmas bbq in the afternoon with a gift exchange - I got an inflatable saxophone :)  An obviously essential piece for the modern day traveller ;)  I can't say that it felt like Christmas but it was a great day either way!!  From there, I spend two days in Abel Tasman national park (Abel was a dutchman who discovered NZ years ago, that said, he never actually landed on the country as the Maori fought his explorers off).  Either way, the park is fantastic and I spent the first day kayaking up the coast, an overnight in a backpackers on a houseboat which was cool and then a pretty serious hike out the following day.  It was a beautiful park with fantastic views and beaches!! 

I then headed over to Kaikoura to see whales and dolphins.  Unfortunately, due to rough sea conditions, I didn't get to go out ;(  (They'd had to cancel most of their trips for the last three days)  I spent the day on a patio, sipping beer and writing cards which was relaxing after all of the activities over the last few weeks!!  From Kaikoura, I headed over to Christchurch to catch my flight over to Sydney.  In Sydney, I met up with Julia and Jocelyn on New Year's eve.  We had a fabulous dinner in Darling Harbour (service was poor though ;( and then watched the fireworks from the park just above the opera house.  The show was fantastic and the ambiance/vibe amazing!!  They estimate that over a million people come in from all over for the New Year's festivities.  We spent a day at Bondi recovering and relaxing and then a few days siteseeing. 

I am now in Melbourne and was amazingly happy to be home on Thursday night.  I really missed having my own space and though I like Sydney, I love Melbourne.  I'd like to wish you all a great and prosperous 2008 - may there be some unexpected, pleasant surprises throughout the year.  I will be posting photos on Flickr over the weekend for those interested in having a peek the site is :  http://www.flickr.com/photos/decouvert2001/

Hugs!
S