And now, I totally want a winch

Posted on October 2, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity | Leave a Comment

Recently, Brian and I decided that it was time to upgrade the ute. We were both dead tired of the “white work ute” look (him more than me) and he wanted something a little flashier. More bells and whistles and whatnot.  (Is whatnot an actual word or just a lazy persons slur? - I’m using it anyway)

After a lot of consideration, we decided to move away from Toyota (gasp!) and spring for a Mitsubishi Triton. It’s perty lookin’, it has all the bells and whistles and whatnot (hehe) a person could ask for and it’s a 4 wheel drive.

*insert collective “Oooooh!” here.

So now that we can go off-roading, we of course feel the burning need to drive on surfaces that are not meant for cars. Beaches are pretty cool, rocky trails are cooler.. and hey! camping is fun right?

This is totally going to change our lives! *Note sarcasm. For those of you that know me, you know that Murphy keeps a constant eye on my doings so it stands to reason that we’ll need rescue gear ‘just in case.’ Recently, friends of ours wound up paying over $1000.00 for a tow to get out of trouble (as an alternative to sleeping over at creepy tow-truck-guys house - as offered.)

Now I really don’t want to be spending nights in the bush with creepy tow-truck guys so I guess we’re gonna need a winch.

But first…. it’d be great if the truck was ready…

Watch this space!

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How time has flown…

Posted on September 19, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity, Photography - All about the photos Baby! | 2 Comments

  

Christina and teddy, originally uploaded by She’ll Be Apples.

With my (not so) recent intrest in photography, I been hunting down old photos on my hard drive for inspection and came accross this one that had been scanned into the PC.
It was taken about 7 years ago in front of Dorval Shops in Montreal, Quebec.

The teddy bear, was Chelsea’s Christmas present that year (I had just finished shopping) and a friend had a few frames left on a camera she was taking in for processing and decided to snap this picture as a xmas gift for Brian. I sent it, nicely framed and to this day, it sits on our bookcase.

Seems like just yesterday I posed for this picture!

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Day 7 - Mt Fuji, here we come!

Posted on May 22, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness, Japan, Holidays, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity, Photography - All about the photos Baby! | 1 Comment

Today was the day of travel. Once again, we packed up all of our belongings into our suitcases and lugged them over gravel, sand, cobblestone and side walks to the train station. Carrying them upstairs was a particular joy that is better left forgotten.

The two and a half hour train ride to Mishima Station passed rather uneventfully as we read and listened to music. Our luggage was safely stowed away leaving us plenty of room in the mostly empty compartment.

On arrival at Mishima, we were meant to catch a bus to Kawaguchiko Station. After asking for a help (a few times) we were directed to the ticketing agent who advised us that it is, in fact, 2 buses. The first of which was TINY. I can’t emphasise how small this bus was! Picture a regular city bus. Now cut it in half lengthwise. Now cut a third off the back.

To top it all off, there was nowhere to stow our bags, so they sat in the aisle and people were forced to climb over them to exit the bus.

*Sidenote* you enter Japanese buses from the back door and exit through the front door, paying as you get off.

After about an hour and a half on this bus, we started to worry. I got up to ask the bus driver if we had missed our stop and he informed me that it was the LAST stop. Joy.

Upon exiting the bus, we found that both of our suitcases couldn’t fit between the driver and the seats. Because neither Sandy, nor I, know the meaning of “packing light” we couldn’t lift them over the coin machine. Thankfully, the bus driver was very kind and not only helped us lift them over; he also carried them to our connecting bus for us. Thank you nameless, Japanese bus driver!!

Another hour of travel up and up the mountainous region had us exhausted and COLD. We hadn’t realized how very cold Fuji would be. Sandy, having just come from Montreal in winter was barely phased but my now Australian blood (I have definitely acclimatized) froze.

Finally arriving at Kawaguchicko Station we called for the pick up service (Thank you K’s!) and made it safely to the next hostel where we found our room to be on the third floor, no lift. Buh…

One herniated disc later, we went in search of food. We asked a bloke in the common room where to go for dinner and he gave us directions to the main strip where we found the best Indian restaurant. The food was abundant, delicious and the nan was the size of my head! We had to have pictures…

 

Monster Nan

Retuning to the hostel with full bellies and shattered from a full day of travel we collapsed in the common room to have a chat with the bloke responsible for feeding us that night.

Harrry.

Harry is from Jersey (U.K.) and was on the last leg of a 6 month holiday around the world. Japan was his last stop after Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand among other places. He was full of great travel stories and we chatted away. Eventually, Gideon joined us.

 

Gideon

Gideon is originally from the UK but has lived in Japan nigh on ten years or so and teaches English north of Tokyo. A freelance photographer as well, he travels whenever he has the opportunity. His knowledge of Japan and his ability to read a little kanji made him a superhero in our book!

We agreed for the four of us to meet the next day for cave tours around Fuji-san.

Sleep came fast and hard that night.

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What is it about passport photos?

Posted on January 23, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness | 5 Comments

Well Murphy, you’ve done it again.

I pulled out my passport for the first time since my trip to Canada, almost 2 years ago, last week. I knew that I needed to get the sticker proclaiming my permanent resident status in it just in case.

When your passport is scanned at the airport, all your details are available to the staff member doing the scanning, including any visa statuses. However, should they be unable to scan it, the sticker acts as a fail-safe…indicating your status and thus, allowing you back into the country where the visa was issued.

After rushing from work to DIMIA (The Department of Immigration and Multi-Cultural Affairs) and waiting in the queue to get a ticket (Baaaaa) and then waiting for the ticket number to be called. I had finally accomplished what should have been done right after getting PR. The woman at the counter failed to notice that I had been granted PR 11 months ago and offered a flat “Congratulations.” as she passed me ticket number Q432.

Satisfied that I would be allowed to return to Australia after my Japan holiday, I booked the flight. HOORAY!

Only then, did I really LOOK at my passport.

CRAP! I only have 4 months left on it on my return to Oz. They don’t like that, you see. There should be at least 6 months left on it on return. Stupid really. How does my status change 6 months BEFORE it expires? It should be valid right up until the last day.

So now, I am faced with another challenge. Apply for a new Canadian passport 8 weeks before I fly and hope against hope that they don’t find anything wrong with it or the photos. I sent it off today, fingers crossed.

Which brings me to the photo. The last time I had passport photos done, I had just had my hair done, make-up was perfect and I was allowed to smile (the act banning this came into effect one month later) so for the last 5 years I’ve had a pretty decent looking passport photo.  This time, it’s been months since I had my hair done so it is long, lifeless and mouse-shit brown. My hair appointment is on Friday but I really didn’t want to risk waiting too long just for vanity’s sake. Also… I look 5 years older!!

The nerve of those photo people. I mean really, can’t they work the photo magic and miraculously shed the extra 20 pounds I’ve put on in 5 years?? (All flatteringly located in my second chin apparently.) Not to mention remove the crows feet and mad look on my face which was a direct result of me laughing immediately before the picture was taken then over correcting so as not to smile?

I’ll be amazed if anybody lets me into their country after looking at that picture! I’d post it here but I’ve already sent it off to Canberra. And by that I mean, I wouldn’t post that god-awful picture if somebody was shoving bamboo under my fingernails.

I might however post a new pic once the hair is done and I’ve carefully applied make-up and taken 50 pictures of me by candle-light and can choose one that doesn’t make me feel like seeing my lunch again.
Watch this space!!

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Australia censors the fat man

Posted on November 15, 2007
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity | 2 Comments

I sat in the car yesterday morning listening to the most incredulous discussion about Santa. Apparently, some people in Australia have deemed his jolly “Ho ho ho!” as scary for little kids and offensive to women.

*Pauses here to let the shock and amazement at enormous stupidity sink in*

Ready yet? I cannot even imagine how some little minds out there have managed to influence big companies into regulating what Santa says. In fact, they are trying to replace ‘Ho ho ho’ with ‘Ha ha ha’

??!!?!?!?

What the…? Why is that less scary? And if society managed to drag thier filthy minds out of the gutter for even a nano-second, they might not try to turn the most beloved of all people, all around the world into some fat foul-mouthed pimp.

Here’s the news story running on nine MSN. It’s obviously hit the fan around the rest of Australia and in fact, the world.

Apparently, I’m not the only one flabbergasted by the incredible strides society has taken in this, the new millenium.

Bah! Humbug!

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