reflections, activities & commitments

the quantity of palm oil plantations and the destruction of the rainforest in malaysia (and indonesia) disturbed me immensely while i was in malaysia. destroying rainforests doesn't only contribute to loss of animal habitats and negatively impact the animal populations who live in the region, it also has severe impacts on climate change by releasing significant stores of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

i discussed my concerns with husband and we've agreed to avoid products that contain palm oil where possible and/or consume products made with RSPO (http://www.rspo.org/certification) certified palm oil to minimise our impact and support companies who are shifting to sustainable palm oil. it's been a surprisingly easy transition with the assistance of an app :)  the commitment compliments our committed to going bottled water-free about 4 years ago.  we certainly don't miss those either!

no surprise but the lead up the holidays was super busy on both a work and a personal front. i don't quite understand why everyone seems to want to catch up before the holidays but we tried to keep up with the multiple BBQs/picnics, dinners, brunches and lunches.  i was ready for a break when work finished for the year!  from a work perspective, life's been manic in the lead up to a product launch in late january.  it's been a long time coming and i'm looking forward to seeing it live in the world :)

i hope everyone's had a great end of year and are looking forward to 2017!

sarah  

more animals and hiking mt. kinabalu

i saw a surprising number of animals on my adventures in malaysia.  next stop was sandarkan to see the orangutans, the sunbears and more proboscis monkeys!  it was a full-on animal adventure and i enjoyed seeing the orangutans up close in the sanctuary as they were pretty hard to spot on the safari in the wild. the young ones were adorably cute to watch as they were sent out daily to "exercise" in the jungle gym, built specifically for them.

after a relaxing couple of days, i headed over to mount kinabalu to hike to the peak at sunrise!  i was a bit nervous about the hike as an aussie i'd met said it was the hardest thing she'd ever done...  i can assure you - it wasn't an easy hike up the hill!  i started at timphon gate at 1860m above sea level and when i arrived at the guesthouse, about 4 hours later, i'd climbed 6km and about 1400 vertical meters. there were plenty of rest stops and toilets along the way which made it a somewhat pleasant experience.

i showered, wandered around the guesthouse and then ate a huge dinner!  unsurprisingly, there was little to do and we were do to get up the next morning at 2:00am so most people were in bed around 8-9pm.  i can't say i slept much, if at all as the wind was blowing a gale, i was cold and worried about sleeping through the alarm and freezing on the summit.  

my muscles felt surprisingly good when i got out of bed in the morning - i was very pleased!  fearing the cold all night, i promptly went downstairs to inquire about a coat to rent - it cost me 25RMs or about $8 - it was going to be a worthwhile investment considering the temperature and wind outside!  we had "supper" and then headed out around 3am to reach the peak at sunrise. it was a tough hike up in the dark with lots of ropes to help you up the more difficult parts.  i hiked 2.7km and 823 vertical meters to the peak :)

arriving at the top was gratifying and exhausting!  we were supposed to sit for 1.5 hours and wait for the sunrise but given the cloud cover, i wasn't in the mood to sit there for a crap sunrise so i started back down again after a brief rest. at the guesthouse, i packed up, had breakfast and continued my descent.  my knees started hurting around 1.5km from the guesthouse and it was fairly painful and slow for the remaining 4.5km down.  i do question my sanity for paying as much as i did to inflict so much pain on myself!

i arrived back in kota kinabalu to recover and spent my last day in malaysia getting a massage, stretching/walking around so i didn't ease up and doing very little else!  i don't think i'll climb another mountain - me and my knees are getting older :)

malaysia was wonderful and i'm keen to go back for a more relaxing holiday and to see the mainland as i heard many great things about it while i was touring around!

hugs,
s

Orangutan

three musketeers + a baby

Mt. Kinabalu

Kilometer 8 - descent

  

in search of pygmy elephants...

from mabul, i headed off on a tour into the jungle on the kinabatagan river in hopes of spotting a pygmy elephant!  (there are other animals in the kinabatagan but I was super keen to see an elephant!)  traveling on your own can sometimes have its benefits – i got my own private room for the 3 day jungle tour :)

 

we settled in, unpacked and went on our first jungle safari. safari sounds like an intense quantity of hiking through dense jungle when in fact, we motored along the river in a boat – very civilised!  the first animal we spotted was a crocodile in the reeds.  from there, we spotted copious amounts of probiscus monkeys, long-tailed macaques, silvered langur and a couple of orang-utans from a considerable distance, all within the 2 hour boat cruise!  i was so stoked to be within about 2m of a probiscus monkey for a good 5 mins while he was chowing down on his dinner :)  the monkeys tend to come down to the river to eat and sleep at dusk and leave at dawn which makes viewing them fairly easy.  i also did a night hike where we saw one sleeping bird while i was hunted by an abundance of mosquitos!  gosh, they’re vicious!     

   

on day 2, we awoke to pouring rain like you can only get in the jungle or in tropical areas like malaysia.  i considered staying snug under the covers as it was going to be a long trip in an exposed boat but i wasn’t going to be deterred – not when there was an opportunity to see an elephant!  we headed out on our expedition and i was drenched within 2 minutes of leaving the dock.  it was cold and windy and despite seeing a number of huge crocs, monkeys and a variety of birds, i had no desire to get the camera out of the bag and take any photos :)  we arrived back at base camp and i was freezing so i got changed and took a hot shower in hopes of getting warm again!  at least i hadn’t missed an opportunity to see an elephant!  we were supposed to go on a hike but it was still raining and i wasn’t interested in getting wet again so i stayed back and relaxed. it was a fabulous place to chill and enjoy the natural surroundings. 

i booked four river cruises but the first one was definitely the best – we saw so many monkeys, at such a close range, that it was phenomenal.  unfortunately, we didn’t end up finding the elusive elephants – such is the case with seeing animals in the wild – they’re not always where you want them to be but i had a great time all the same! :)

       

I'm off to explore Malaysia :)

For the first time in ages, I went traveling on my own as hubby wasn’t able to get any time off and I had 3 weeks of annual leave I hadn’t used.  I decided to go to Malaysia as there were cheap flights available and it wasn’t high on Shannon’s list of places to visit.  I had no idea how awesome it’d be until I started reading the Lonely Planet 2 days prior to my departure!

I spent a couple of days in KL exploring though I can’t say I did much as it was hot, humid and raining heavily before I headed over to Kota Kinabalu, fondly called KK by the locals and tourists.  It’s on Malaysian Borneo Island as is everything else I plan to to visit while I’m here.  KK had a lovely vibe to it and I spent a day visiting a mangrove forest and touring around the coastline.  I also spent a lot of time eating as it’s renown for having great food. 

My plan was to head east across the country by bus and then fly back to KL and home however my plan was thwarted as hiking Mt. Kinabalu wasn’t available until mid to late October so I had to revisit my entire itinerary - the joys of traveling on the fly! :) 

I headed east to Mabul Island for some scuba diving and island relaxation.  The scenery was gorgeous, the other divers were lovely, the food was delicious and the scuba diving (once I remembered what I was doing) was phenomenal!  I dove 3 times a day, quickly doubling my previous dive count of 4.  More importantly, I couldn’t believe the fish and turtles I saw underwater – there were 10+ green and hawkesbill turtles (some over 3m in diameter), a couple of sea snakes including one that was 1.2m in lengths, schools of fish, a number of moray eels, some bubble coral shrimp and a crocodile flathead.  I was envious of people who’d brought along go-pros and similar so they could take pictures underwater as there was so much to photograph!  I definitely don’t want to leave it for another 12 years before I go diving again :)

I'm off on a jungle safari - fingers crossed I get to see some pygmy elephants!

backyard renos

our backyard was in need of a bit of TLC and considering it's not a big space, we decided we'd do it ourselves.  i mean, how hard could it possibly be?!  we started with covering the space with black plastic to "solarise" the soil which effectively involves getting the earth so hot underneath that it kills the weeds, etc...  super easy! 

we left it covered for 3-4 months before uncovering it to till with a rotary hoe, jackhammering a small concrete pad and moving 10 cubic meters of top soil into the backyard.  we installed custom made garden boxes along the sides, laid a path to the back-back where we have the veggie patch and laid the turf.  it was a lot of work but i think the turf laying surprised me the most - i didn't have an appreciation of how heavy a roll of turf actually is!!  in the back-back, we pulled out a plum tree, laid a weed mat and covered the space in recycled wood chips.  it's not quite finished but we're definitely on the home stretch! 

no surprises but the backyard renos took up a lot of time on multiple weekends so, to celebrate the completion, hubby and i went down the coast to have a bit of R&R a couple of weekends ago.  we had a lovely time away, including some delightful treatments at a spa as belated birthday presents to ourselves :) 

i put the plants and shrubs in last weekend so we're all ready for the warm weather and longer days so we can sit on the patio and enjoy the ambience. the veggie seedlings will go in the back-back in due course - they're all too little right now. 

we've also been busy with the usual social activities, including an xmas in july dinner party which was awesome!!  hubby's finished his contract and starts a full-time job tomorrow which is most exciting - it's a stone's throw from my office!  i've readjusted my work schedule and am now working 10 days in 9 days (so longer days with one day off a fortnight). it's tiring but i'm loving my days off and it's a sneaky way to try and get a bit more of my life back.  we'll see how effective it is :)  when i'm back from holidays, i'm going to look to volunteer somewhere nearby! 

i had a chat with an old colleague the other night - he was drunk in canada and i was on my way home from work in melbourne.  it was fun to catch up - i miss canadians - we're a great bunch of people! 

i hope you're all enjoying life!

hugs,

s

p.s.  fingers crossed the pictures load in the right order :)

p.s.  i'm off to malaysia for a holiday in a couple of weeks so i might be better at keeping the blog updated while i'm away :D

where does the time go?!

i'm a bit shock and awed that i have written a post in almost 5 months - where does the time go?!

in june, i celebrated my 40th birthday at a small bar restaurant in the city.  i had a gorgeous three layer cake in the shape of a maple leaf custom made for me by sophie, one of hannah's friends who wants to get into cake decorating when she finishes school. it was gorgeous and delicious however unfortunately, i don't have a single picture of the cake nor of me!  the irony is i dyed my hair back to blond for my birthday so i'd love like "me" for the pictures and then we didn't take one...  very odd in this day and age! 

july arrived and with it came some house guests from queensland.  shannon's brother and his family stayed with us for a couple of days and we spent a bit of time touring around melbourne with them.  the adults even had a night out on the town however it was cut short because someone didn't have any I.D.  i can assure you, none of us could've been mistaken for under 18 :) 

may, june and july were otherwise filled with the usual smattering of activities including a hike or two, some exciting events with the kids (like hannah's musical and the circus with isaac and brooke) and a couple of special catch ups. 

it's officially winter but the days have just started getting longer and i'm quietly awaiting the warmth :)

hugs,

s   

changing seasons....

hubby and i headed over to hobart for a mini holiday/long weekend in february.  hobart's becoming renown for its culinary delights and i must confess that we spent most of our time eating and drinking :)  we toured through salamanca market, attended a random car show and wandered through the city on our first day. followed by a wild night out, dancing at gay bar!  the next day we headed out to port arthur which was a penal colony in the mid-1800.  it's an impressive site and the buildings that remain paint a picture of how hard life would've been for prisoners and the guards.  we returned back to hobart, got dressed up and went in search of somewhere romantic for dinner to celebrate valentine's day.  four restaurants later, we found this hole in the wall with great ambience and even better food.  we ate until we were stuffed and then some - it was sooo delicious!  we headed off to MONA the following day which i can only say was confronting and worth a visit!  then we got in the car and started exploring the coastline south of hobart, stopping at little food places along the way.  it was a delightful mini holiday and we both commented that we needed to do it more often :) 

our time has otherwise been spent going to concerts, celebrating friends birthday, catching up for brunches/lunches and dinners as well as spending some time with the kids doing different activities.  the days are getting shorter and cooler but we've had some nice warm days to spend time outside in the garden or exploring around melbourne.  i definitely need to get back into riding before it gets too cold and i turn into a wimp! 

enjoy the change of season :)

s

p.s.  i've renewed my australian visa so i'm officially staying for a few more years.  in all honesty, i can't imagine being anywhere else though the distance can be challenging at times.      

the swings and roundabouts we call life...

i found myself unexpectedly in canada in late january to say goodbye to my grandmother.  (i've been saying goodbye to her as if it's the last time i'll see her every time i leave canada but i still felt compelled to come back and say goodbye one last time.  it was also great to be able to support the parents as they worked through the loss.)  granny was 93 years old - she lived a full life and saw so many significant changes in her lifetime. i have many good memories of her and my grandfather which i will cherish.  i know she'll be missed however it was definitely her time to go.  you're in my thoughts, granny