Saturday, February 28, 2009

Alaska Road Trip - The Beginning

The great Alaskan road trip

Feb 28th – March 16th

What sort of crazy Australians, no TERRITORIANS decide to drive 3,500km in the middle of winter just to see a dog sled race?

Brendan & I

And not just any dog sled race but the great Iditarod itself. This trip was many weeks in planning. Originally we had planned to fly however when it came down to it the drive was much more enticing (and fund friendly) We are Territorians you know we are used to driving long distances to get to the next big city! Firstly Jeepy had to be prepared which involved a big service that got him nice and ready for the long drive. Brendan picked up some essentials, oil, spare belt etc.

Accomodation was the next big thing and I don’t think we would have made it without couchsurfing. In fact our entire trip was based around where we could surf on couches! If you’ve never heard of it I suggest you do now and sign up! It’s a great way to meet new people and learn a lot about local areas you might not normally experience.

Day 1.

We left Banff around 7am in the morning. We had prepared breakfast the night before so all we had to do was microwave our sandwiches and hit the road. Another good idea for a long road trip. If you are planning on early mornings you can waste a lot of time getting breakfast! We pre made bacon & egg sandwiches for the whole week. It was an easy grab and go. We took the route through Jasper & Hwy 40 which shaved off a couple of 100km and was easily the more scenic drive of the two! I guess there isn’t to much to talk about this drive since we didn’t really do much just a straight drive to Dawson Creek. Mile 0 of the Alaska Hwy. This is where we met our first ever couchsurfing hosts! Cynthia & Randy. They easily surpassed all my expectations! We got into DC about 5pm and Cynthia picked us up to lead us to her house. It was a gorgeous little house just on the outskirts overlooking a pretty river. She had two beautiful dogs that were not to friendly. She had picked us up some drinks so we sat around the bench talking and drinking. About 10pm they decided to show us a little pub. The pub was called “…” it was run by a woman named Patty and was full of stuff! Patty loved to collect things from old sabertooth tiger fossils to photos of people from the area years ago. We drank there for a bit and played a girls vs boys shuffleboard. The girls lost, but not by much. We eventually got home and to bed by 1am. It was our own room with a queen bed. Heaven!

The great Alaskan road trip

Feb 28th – March 16th

What sort of crazy Australians, no TERRITORIANS decide to drive 3,500km in the middle of winter just to see a dog sled race?

Us.

And not just any dog sled race but the great Iditarod itself. This trip was many weeks in planning. Originally we had planned to fly however when it came down to it the drive was much more enticing (and fund friendly) We are Territorians you know we are used to driving long distances to get to the next big city! Firstly Jeepy had to be prepared which involved a big service that got him nice and ready for the long drive. Brendan picked up some essentials, oil, spare belt etc.

Accomodation was the next big thing and I don’t think we would have made it without couchsurfing. In fact our entire trip was based around where we could surf on couches! If you’ve never heard of it I suggest you do now and sign up! It’s a great way to meet new people and learn a lot about local areas you might not normally experience.

Day 1.

We left Banff around 7am in the morning. We had prepared breakfast the night before so all we had to do was microwave our sandwiches and hit the road. Another good idea for a long road trip. If you are planning on early mornings you can waste a lot of time getting breakfast! We pre made bacon & egg sandwiches for the whole week. It was an easy grab and go. We took the route through Jasper & Hwy 40 which shaved off a couple of 100km and was easily the more scenic drive of the two! I guess there isn’t to much to talk about this drive since we didn’t really do much just a straight drive to Dawson Creek. Mile 0 of the Alaska Hwy. This is where we met our first ever couchsurfing hosts! Cynthia & Randy. They easily surpassed all my expectations! We got into DC about 5pm and Cynthia picked us up to lead us to her house. It was a gorgeous little house just on the outskirts overlooking a pretty river. She had two beautiful dogs that were not to friendly. She had picked us up some drinks so we sat around the bench talking and drinking. About 10pm they decided to show us a little pub. The pub was called “…” it was run by a woman named Patty and was full of stuff! Patty loved to collect things from old sabertooth tiger fossils to photos of people from the area years ago. We drank there for a bit and played a girls vs boys shuffleboard. The girls lost, but not by much. We eventually got home and to bed by 1am. It was our own room with a queen bed. Heaven!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Monday, February 23, 2009

Dad vs Jill

My dad got beaten up by our pet emu Jill. I hear its pretty bad, pictures to come.

Reminds me of the time I vsed one of our emus. Imagine, skinny little 15 year old me blocking the only escape. An archway. I cant even remember which emu it was, maybe ernie? Dad is trying to chase him back into his cage but instead of taking the logical route he decides to jump over me. He didnt make the jump, there was about 20cm between me and the roof but he did land on me his huge feet clawing my side. The bastard bird drew blood.

I remember when Jill was a sweet little baby emu and her and her brother Jack (jack and jill how original) used to follow me around the farm. What happened..

Monday, February 16, 2009

Can you feel the love tonight?

Talk about valentines day gone awry..

A guy booked into one of our premiun honeymoon suites of $500 a night ended up in a psych ward Sunday morning. After dinner I guess his girlfriend dumped him there was a huge fight then the guy decided to kill? himself. Slit both his wrists and his throat. Blood EVERYWHERE!
His girlfriend watched him do it and ran next door to grab another guest for assistance.

But on a happier note two of our hotel hottubs were christend as young lovers consumated their love. Meanwhile they had a bit of an audience as the hotels were all sold out and the hottub the best place to be.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

wanted: bed

Ok I'm sleeping on the floor at the moment.
Brendan kicked me off the bed and made me sleep on the floor!

Well seriously I'm on a mattress and brendan is on the bed because we both like the space of a queen/king and only have a double. But gee since sleeping on my own I've been sleeping so much better!

Anyone has a bed?

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Right now im watching Highschool Musical 3

Something to be proud about. Stupid disney crap..

I'm really sore and just spent a TON of money on stuff we need. I guess the big purchase was a GPS.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday boarding with Taki. She is off to Mexico next week then we are off to Alaska the week after. So by the time we hit the slopes together again it will be april! With the way the weather has been im worried there wont be enough snow to keep going till end of may!!

My knee is killing me, I ended up on all these sucky runs and had to ride on my edge to much, or fall down a big cliff.

Had dinner with a bunch of Australians last night and they said that my accent was from a small town! Well, im from Darwin! but apparently the way I speak has so much slang and stuff in it I sound "bogan" LOL well I am a territorian.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Beds are burning

Surely by now the horrific bushfires have made world news. One of Australia's worst disastors to date with 173 dead and counting.

My family is relatively ok. I guess its still early but the only people I know who were affected by the fires live in Kinglake their house was burnt down but they made it out ok. The fires are getting very close to Melbourne so I hope it gets under control otherwise a lot more people will die.


You know what FUCK arsonists. If you have a severe compulsion to cause blazes why do it on the worst dry heatwaves of the century? Surely you knew that your fire was going to blow out of control. You probably couldnt have anticipated this kind of disastor but seriously history suggests that people die every year from Australian bushfires.

What the FUCK is wrong with people. Take your fucking matches and light yourselves on fire, because we dont want you.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Im a weather predictor!

The joys of living with rhemotoid arthritis I can predict the weather days before it happens. And I thought it was just isolated to rain how wrong I was. My bones tell me when there are extreme weather changes by causing me intense uncontrollable pain for several days. And thats how I was Wednesday & Thursday. I could barely sleep because my arthritis was throbbing. I dosed up on strong prescription painkillers but they didnt really work. I rode it out, then Friday it was all gone. And it snowed! It hasnt snowed properly for about a month now and here I was thinking I could only predict rain.

well the snow was worth it.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Keep up with me!

I have Friday off this week which is a little strange to me. I dont really know what to do with myself!

The weather has taken a turn for the better once more and it has been around the low..high? negtives and low positives. I went out snowboarding again on Wednesday. The snow was surprisingly a little powdery and the sun was out making it about 5C! I was actually sweating because of how warm it was!!! We had a lot of beer 'oclocks inbetween every couple of runs. My boarding is definately improving and I fall over a lot less. The fact is snowboarding is easy if you just go straight down and stop! The hard part is riding the edges and switching from toe to heel. The reason I fall so much is because I am trying to master the more technical side of snowboarding. I still have issues going toe side on really steep hils and when im moving to fast, I have this fear in me and it locks me up and I dont bend my legs right. You have to lean on your front foot and bend the knee trying to do that when your going fast when you instinctively want to lean back makes for some painful falls. Anyway its been about 2 months now and every time I go out I have a ball, so at least I'm not hating it!

It was Taki's birthday so we went back to the Hidden Ridge Resort where we both had a room for the night. We enjoyed a soak in the Hottub while we watched a gorgeous sunset over the mountains. After that we went out to Waldhaus a german fondue resturant. It was seriously to die for, the cheese fondue was amazing. My biggest issue was I was way to drunk when I got there, something about to many beer o'clocks during the day! I almost fell asleep during the beef fondue but a hot chocolate with a shot of expresso did the trick and I was wide awake for chocolate fondue!

After dinner we went back to the hotel and played monopoly. I ended up losing badly (something new?) The game was missing $100 bills and community & chance cards. We did our best.

Photos of the day & night are here

Sunday, February 1, 2009

So I moved in.

I have now moved into my new place. I have a huge room with my own bathroom. But no furniture. Right now we are sleeping on a foam mattress on the floor. I dont want to buy expensive furniture since I'll be leaving June but I can't sleep on a little matress for the next six months. We did score a futon but I still just want a queen bed.

The bathroom is huge but there is no cupboard space. All we have is a huge walk in closet and no shelving. I am on the hunt for cheap! bedside tables and drawers. I also dont have internet yet so writing this in my spare time at work.

I haven't really done anything noteworthy as of late. So instead I will tell you about some movies I watched recantly.

Slumdog Millionaire I actually really enjoyed this movie. The lead actor is a favourite of mine from Skins (a british tv show I can't get enough of) The movie manages to be dark but humourous. It was really powerful, strange kind of effect. MUST WATCH 4.5/5

Nick & Norahs Infinite Playlist I really had high hopes for this movie because I am a big fan of Michael Cera. In fact I think secretly I am in love with him. Move over Edward Norton!!! The movie was cute, cera was his normal goofy adorable self but the overall acting just fell flat and wooden. I didnt believe anyone, I didnt believe the connections between everyone and I sure as hell didnt believe the love connection between the two main characters! Still like I said it was a cute little movie. 2/5