Weekend at Tuckeroo Cottages

With X-mas drawing closer, Craig and I are the sort to avoid shopping centres and various Christmas paraphernalia. So when Greenslopes-Queensland X-ray presented us with an opportunity to run away from BrisVegas' hustle'n'bustle, we didn't hesitate to jump into our car and drive on south. Our destination: Tuckeroo Cottages, an hour's drive south of Brisbane.

Our Cottage

The cottages are located on what's called The Scenic Rim, which is basically a whole range of mountains that present a lot of opportunities for bush-walking. There are also a few wineries around, not mention an olive farm and an alpaca farm! However, Craig and I were quite content just to catch up on some reading and spend time together. Besides, there wasn't a great need to travel too far when we had this view from our cottage!

Gail and Mick, who run and take care of the cottages, had two dogs on their property. Needless to say, Craig (being the avid dog-lover that he is) was pretty stoked and the dogs were just as fond of him. So we got to play Fetch and take some snaps as well.

As the sun began to set, we made the most of our hamper and started up the BBQ. There's something truly lovely to share a glass of wine, nibbling on cheese & meat while spending time together. Gail had made these delicious salads (the potato salad was especially divine) and it really made me appreciate the opportunities that Australian-living presents. I truly think that we shall all schedule in some slow-down time. I'm sure we'd be all the more content for it.

After sleeping in the next day, we made ourselves some bacon & eggs then went for a drive to Mt French. We went for a very casual walk through the bush and here are some amazing views from there. It was a lovely cool day, with just enough breeze to balance out the hearty sun.

It's crazy what's in your own backyard at times. And the more we discover of BrisVegas, the more I'm amazed. Maybe sometime in the future, I'll bring some of our friends out here. I think it's good to get in touch with the Aussie wilderness. Again, a HUGE THANKYOU to our generous friends at Greenslopes-QXR. We really appreciate this gift and have lots of fond memories to look back on.

xoxo Demi & Craig. 

Something Broken, Something New

I've always loved the rain, everything from the smell of rain to the sound of it. Sadly however, the rain brings out the worst in drivers and today, our fence wore some of it. Around 10 this morning, someone lost control of their car and it ended up in our fence. By the time I got home at 4pm, our fence (or where it once stood) was looking pretty sad.

It's not all bad news however. The fence is one of those old-school steel-wire mesh ones and after our neighbour replaced their fence, we'd been talking about how we might one day replace ours. We just hadn't planned on it happening quite so soon. Also, the tree that got taken out was somewhat dead anyhow so it's saved us calling the tree lopper. Most importantly, no one got hurt! So we've put in a call to our insurance company and we'll see what they say. Wish us luck!

PS - Hayley's letterbox is a little scratched but otherwise, intact. Phew!

Our New Letterbox

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick post so you can check out our awesome new letterbox. This was made as our wedding present by our good friend Hayley. We love her beautiful art and over the years, she's given us lots of delightful prints that now decorate our home. But this one is truly something special. Seriously, I'm pretty sure we have the cutest letterbox on the block. We love Hayley's art so much, we've even got her prints on our rubbish & recycling bins. Anything to bring a bit of colour and fun to Wecker Road, Brisbane. And yes, Craig did do most of the grunt-work. I was struggling for like 10mins to undo the nut and Craig did it in a blink of the eye! Hope you enjoy this one as much as we do.

Lots of love,

Demi & Craig.

Stinkhorns and Pandan Cakes.

So Spring is in the air and with it, comes rain. It's been lovely. I'm enjoying the bloom of Australian natives and spring flowers. Even the weeds in our lawn are growing beautiful yellow sun flowers and I can't help but smile. However, it's not all roses and sweet-smells after rain. I would like to introduce you to an interesting phenomenon known as the "Stinkhorn".

And I know exactly what you're thinking here - It looks like a penis. And yes, indeed it was. I was in a bit of shock when I first found it, thinking some sort of penile alien was growing from my mulch... However, it soon became apparent that it's somewhat benign. I later discovered that it's called a Stinkhorn, and true to its name, it stinks like uh, dog poo. But this smell is actually what attracts flies who ingest its spores (the ew brown stuff at the top) and thus, spreads the pores of the Stinkhorn. They grow from these 'egg-like' things but they're a little short-lived and don't last more than a day or so. Interesting huh?

Do you know what else Spring is good for? Baking! I decided to try my hand at my Mum's Pandan cake. It's a green (yes, green!) Malaysian chiffon cake that looks completely humble but is absolutely delicious. And here's the result below! Not bad for an amateur, hey Mum? By the way, I took it to the Buddhist centre and it was thoroughly enjoyed. I brought it for a Tara Puja (note: Tara is a Green Buddha who is known for removing obstacles) so I thought the colour was quite fitting. That and the cake also looked a bit like a Dharma wheel, and not to mention delicious! So all you Buddhists out there, remember: you might look ordinary and plain on the outside but within is a Green Buddha just waiting to be revealed, hehe. Thanks for the recipe, Mum. I will definitely have to make another and keep practising.

Cheers, Demi.

A Day Out at Eumundi Markets

Craig and I visited the Eumundi Markets, located about an hour's drive north of Brisbane, up at the Sunshine Coast. I really enjoy browsing all the colourful & home-made products of a market. It brings back lots of childhood memories of weekends spent with my mum, buying fresh Asian groceries and various produce for cooking. Eumundi markets is more of an arts'n'craft sort of a market than a fresh fruit & vegies kind, but we saw plenty of strawberries and small green stalls. And the food was pretty awesome.

By the time we arrived at Eumundi, it was nearly 12pm so Craig and I headed straight for the Calamari stall. This is was quickly followed by Dutch profiteroles, which were absolutely delicious with maple syrup and icing sugar. I also stocked up on my supply of soap. Lately, I've been using organic vegetable & oil based soaps, rather than buying the shopping market kind. The smells are divine and it's a lovely treat after a long day of work.

Craig also discovered some fresh coffee beans, so he was in caffeine-heaven. He brought two bags of strong coffee and I have a feeling, they won't last very long! We even tried some Spanish Tapas for lunch. Craig really loved the Spanish chorizo on cous cous but then again, who doesn't? After more browsing (and enjoying the various eye-candies), we happily headed home. Even though it was a 90minute drive from our place, it was such a beautiful Brisbane day that neither of us really minded.

By the way, do you know I've been doing a lot of gardening? We did some major pruning of our hedges and our trees. I've taken off all the old lemons to make room for the spring crop. I hope we get lots of lemons! Also, I've been pruning back the leave-less Australian trees out front and putting aside the branches for a BBQ sometime in the future. I really felt like I was getting in touch with my Irish-Aussie roots as I trimmed and gathered all the sticks, hehe. My herb garden is a huge success. I love using fresh herbs in cooking. It really transforms a plain dish into something that's homely & comforting. I'm even debating planting some lavender down the back garden but haven't quite made up my mind. We'll see.

Anyway, we hope you're all taking care of yourselves.

Love you all,
Demi & Craig.

A New Car, the Cold & some Congee

The Australian Winter's not yet over and I've got the cold (yet again!) for the second time this season. What a pain... the good news is, it's moving through very quickly and hey, I get to burn some bad karma in the process. I really shouldn't complain about the common cold but sore throats are never fun. Usually, a good ole cuppa of lemon-honey tea works a real treat, but this time, I needed some drugs to help things along. At least the mandarins are delicious at the moment. Makes it very easy to keep up my vitamin C! Luckily, I brewed a whole heap of chicken Congee or Jook (a kind of Chinese risotto commonly given to old folks and little kids) which was my equivalent to chicken soup. It's been marvellous.

Did you know Craig and I purchased a new car? We now have a silver Mazda 3, after I said goodbye to my Hyundai Excel of 5 years. Don't get me wrong, it was a great cheap car. But like all cheap cars, they get to a point when they cost more to keep going then they're actually worth. So we figured it was time to move on. I no longer feel like we're playing at grown ups because we've got our very own mortgage, car loan & a wedding behind us!

What about the rest of you? Where are you right now and what are you up to? Share a post with us and brighten up our day :D

So How's Married Life?

I've since discovered that just after you get married, the question people always want to ask you is "So How is Married Life?" I've found this a somewhat odd question and at times, wondered whether I should provide something more exciting than my usual "Um... no different?" I guess that's the downside of having already known Craig for 8 years. We've already lived together for 5 of those years (wow time flies.. ) so all getting married did was provide us with a legal certificate.

I was then asked an interesting question by a Buddhist Nun from Chenrezig who returned with, "Well if it's not any different, then why bother with a big fancy wedding?" I did have to think about this somewhat but after some thought, I replied, "It was worth seeing all our friends and family come together and celebrate with us." And that much is true. Every time I look back at my wedding photos, I can't help but smile at all the tomfoolery and various faces that were there.

But back to the present, where does that leave us now? With the wedding and honeymoon behind us, we've quickly fallen into our usual routines of work, catching up with friends and our various hobbies. I have to confess, our mundane routines are actually kind of a relief, after the craziness of the wedding. But looking back I wouldn't change a single thing!


As for fending off questions, the next one sure is a gobsmacker. "So are you pregnant yet?" It turns out life is full of questions, most of which, we'd rather not thinking about. And don't worry, I'm not knocked up. But when I am, it'll be a damn good excuse not to do my pilates. Until then, I'm out of excuses.


Yours truly,
Demi.

Day 12-15: Wrapping up in Toronto

After rising at the crack of dawn, Craig and I caught a cab to the Calgary airport. Within a few hours, we flew across two time zones and landed at our last stop: Toronto. After getting to our hotel (we stayed at the Chelsea Delta) we started exploring the city, mostly on the lookout for some food. Since we were smack-bang in the middle of down town Toronto, we had a wealth of options. However, we found this lovely little Japanese restaurant and ordered some Bento boxes. It barely cost us anything, which was great because the money we'd transferred earlier still hadn't arrived on our traveller's card. Luckily, Craig and I had kept some back up cash on us just in case but it meant we had to postpone our shopping, at least until the bulk of our money arrived.

Toronto's CN Tower

The next day, we decided to further explore Toronto on foot, to see what the city had to offer. Under the guide of the Lonely Planet, we sought out Toronto's Little Italy. Unfortunately, I made a bad call about to wear that day. While the weather had been cool, it was still pretty sunny and I thought I would get away wearing one of my long silk skirts and some layers over my top half. What I didn't factor in was Toronto's chilling winds! It went straight through me and I was almost tempted to stop somewhere and pick up some gloves and socks. Meanwhile, Craig wasn't the least bit bothered even though he was wearing only jeans and a jumper. Honestly, I don't know how that man does it. Never the less, I was grateful that we were moving at least and generating some heat. I was even more relieved when we stopped for some hot tea & coffee! As we went looking for little Italy, it became apparent how huge Toronto really is. Nothing is quite as close as it seems on the map. We mainly did a lot of sightseeing and enjoyed checking out the Toronto town houses. However, the wind eventually got the better of me after a few hours, we headed back to the Delta Chelsea for more layers.

Later that afternoon, I talked Craig into walking down to Queen's Quay so we could check out the Museum of Inuit Art (or MIA for short) and the Toronto Music Garden. This time, I was dressed for the unforgiving Toronto winds and in a much happier mood. At Queen's Quay, we stopped to check out the Harbourfront Centre and the various boats docked at the pier. We spent an hour wandering through the exhibits at the MIA, which was littered with both miniature and large carvings from stone, bone and ivory. We ended our walk at the Toronto Music Garden, before turning back and calling it a day. All in all, it was great exercise exploring Toronto on foot. And man were our feet sore!


Our third day in Toronto was spent exploring the very famous Niagara Falls. We travelled there by tour bus, on which was a grumpy old man, several noisy Japanese youths of which one had a cold and instead of using a tissue, would just snort his phlegm back loudly... and more. Despite the unruly sound effects, it was all made up for by the sight of Niagara. We got to see it first hand on the Maid of the Mist. This is the very fashionable outfit we had to wear since you do get a decent spray getting up and personal with the Falls...

It goes without saying that we really enjoyed checking out Niagara. The sheer volume of water and sight of it is truly something. And having lunch with Niagara just out the window was pretty sweet too. It was definitely a highlight of the trip. Going underground and behind the falls was spectacular too. You can see the water cascading against the rocks but the noise was thunderous. It really gave you a taste of how powerful that volume of water can be.

We wrapped up our day trip with some wine tasting. The funny thing was, the lady explaining the wine tasting process was actually a little bit nervous of Australians, as they tend to argue with her about the quality of Shiraz and how the stuff Australia produces was so much better. To her relief, Craig and I confessed that we knew absolutely nothing about wine, let alone how to taste and compare it. She relaxed after that but more importantly, Craig and I got to sample some wine. My favourite was the Canadian Ice Wine as it's concentrated and produced from frozen grapes. Naturally, it's more expensive as it's more difficult to produce but it suited my sweet tooth just fine. But since it's designed to be a dessert wine, you don't really want more than a third of the a wine glass. Anything more and it would probably be a bit much.


We spent our last day in Toronto mostly shopping. Naturally, Craig wasn't crazy about this but I'd been saving all the shopping till the last leg of the trip, so we wouldn't have to lug lots of stuff throughout the honeymoon. However, I only picked up a few small items and we probably did more window shopping than anything significant. We also spent the evening checking out Toronto by night and savouring the end of our honeymoon.

And that folks, pretty much wraps up our honeymoon! We hope you enjoyed reading about our crazy adventures and all that we got up to. Soon we'll be back in Australia and nothing much will have changed, except that we are now officially happily married!


Lots of love,
Demi & Craig.

Day 11: Sunday in Calgary

We left early that morning as we were on a deadline to get into Calgary. We were due to return the hired Chrysler by 9:12am and since we didn't want to pay any late fees, we left Lake Louise bright and early. The drive to Calgary was pretty straightforward. As we got closer however, Craig and I had a little bit of a dilemma.

Did we try to find accommodation before dropping off the car or should we drop of the car first and then somehow try to find accommodation? When we arrived in Calgary, we had about 30mins to spare so we decided to try our luck and go to a hotel recommended by the Lonely Planet. We were expecting the price to be around $120 a night. After all, the Lonely Planet had been pretty accurate so far. However, to our disbelief, the "middle range" hotel wanted $200 a night. Craig and I decided to pass on that offer and figured we'd look for a place after we refuelled the car and returned it. So we got the GPS to try and find us the nearest petrol station. It had done this pretty well in Kamloops & Lake Louise but for some reason, the Shell it took us to turned out to be a skyscraper. That was when we realised that it had found "Shell the company", not the petrol station. Needless to say, time was trickling away and at this stage, Craig and I were getting a wee bit anxious. We managed to eventually find a petrol station, all the while trying not to count the ticking seconds.

Never mind. We asked the GPS to find us another petrol station but as we were following its instructions, it kept getting repeatedly confused and would try to "recalculate" its position, causing us to become more and more lost. Luckily, the lonely planet had a map of Calgary so between that and the confused instructions of the GPS, we did eventually find ourselves to the car drop-off point. However, by the time we got there, it was like 9:20am. Luckily, they didn't give us too hard a time about being a few minutes late so we weren't charged a late fee.

We emptied the car of our luggage and walked to the nearest hotel, which happened to be the Fairmont. Not too surprisingly, they were more expensive then the previous hotel and wanted to charge us $299 a night. We kept walking and found the Marriott hotel, but they wanted to charge us $305 a night. Craig and I were both getting a little exasperated and I was about to walk past this fancy looking black hotel, but Craig suggested that we inquire about its rate. I was more than a little sceptical, given that the place looked a little expensive and everything was made of glass and marble. The hotel turned out to be Hotel Le Germain. When I asked about their rate, they were going to charge $199 a night. It wasn't exactly the budget price I was hoping for but by this stage, Craig and I were both a little tired. So we took the deal and got the keys to our room.

Oddly though, they told us that internet would be included, as was any movies we wanted to watch, and then the next morning, we would also get a complimentary breakfast. I thought it was a bit strange because none of the hotels we'd been to so far had given us any of this stuff for free. We didn't make too much of it and went up to our room. To our pleasant surprise, we walked into what seriously looked like a 5-star room. There were bathrobes waiting for us, a massive modern bathroom and even a walk-in closet that was a room of its own. We found out that Hotel le Germain had only just opened and since this was its "soft" opening, they were including all these freebies as well as a reduced room rate. In its own way, that $200 turned out to be a bit of a bargain!

After a much-needed shower, we braved the cold Calgary winds to meet up with Craig's friend, Matt and his Canadian wife, Heather. Matt used to work with Craig at Emu Web Design but moved over to Canada after marrying Heather. I really enjoyed meeting them both and they were kind enough to take us to lunch. It was just nice to sit and chat about the Australian-Canadian experience. After a delicious lunch, we said our goodbyes as Matt and Heather had other commitments. I dragged Craig to the Calgary museum, where we spent an hour or so looking at various articles and bits & pieces of history. We had a small bite to eat at an Irish Pub before heading back to Hotel le Germain to enjoy up our lovely room. Needless to say, we had a great sleep that night!

Day 9-10: Lake Louise

Craig and I had planned Lake Louise as the "proper" honeymoon part of our trip. So we paid up for a deluxe room overlooking the lake, where we could spend 2 days just chilling out. The drive up to Lake Louise is really something. There's all this anticipation as you see the snowy mountains close up and all the while, you know you're getting close and closer to the Chateau. And then you see the Chateau, being guarded by its doormen in their green stockings. They kinda looked like leprechauns to me!

Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

We were a little tired by the time we arrived at the Lake since we'd been driving for 4 hours. However, we weren't that tired that we couldn't appreciate the breathtaking view of the lake. The day we arrived, the sun was shining in full strength and there wasn't a cloud in sight. It was so bright, the light was reflecting back of the frozen ice & the mountain's snow! After settling into the room, we went out for an afternoon stroll on the lake.

Unfortunately, we'd kinda arrived at an odd season. Since it was Spring, the melting snow meant that all the trails were closed due to fear of avalanches. And the ice on the lake wasn't solid enough for ice skating or any winter activities. However, we were told to head to Banff the next day (a town 45mins drive from Lake Louise) where there would be more activities and shops on offer. Craig kinda wished the lake wasn't frozen but I figured we'd gotten the best of both worlds. Our drive up had provided us lots of views of glacial rivers & lakes while Lake Louise was providing us the wintry version. We took lots of touristy snaps then headed for dinner at the Glacial Lagoon. Our waiter was a funny Canadian with a huge love of Montreal. He was really entertaining and introduced me to some Cider. Needless to say, Canadian Cider is awesome!

The frozen Lake Louise

The next day, we drove to Banff with the intention of riding a Gondola up into the mountains and take some great photos. First though, we visited lake Minnewanka but Aussies, it is pronounced Mini-Wonka, not Mini-Wanka! The lake was pretty spectacular. While the temperature was still pretty nippy, it didn't stop us from walking around and enjoying the serenity.

Lake Minnewanka

The stone creation is called an Inukshuk

However, as we were about to leave, we could see these ominous clouds rolling in. We took it as a hint and jumped into our car, headed down to Banff. As we drove through the streets of Banff however, it soon became obvious that those clouds was actually bringing a snowstorm. We could see the shoppers shivering in the unexpected winds and decided that today would probably not be the best day to try to ride in a Gondola. And since the storm seemed likely to hang around, we turned back for Lake Louise. As we were driving back, the visibility was pretty poor. We were driving 100km/h and could really only see perhaps 5 metres in front of us. Craig was taking it pretty easy but I was kinda like an excited little kid. It felt like Christmas had come. And the odd thing was, all the green pine trees were now completely blanketed in white. The whole transformation had barely taken minutes!

Back at Lake Louise, I was playing in the snow. Unfortunately, it was hard to get to the fresh snow and it didn't make very good snowballs. But I definitely had fun. I also talked Craig into joining me for High Tea at Lake Louise. Although we'd been eating all day, we somehow found room for all the cakes, tarts & treats. I really spending time with Craig and he even learnt how to make a tea using loose leaves. However, I think he still prefers coffee, hehe.

Anyhow, we're due to meet up with Matt (aka Coco), former Emunite from Craig's work. So we'll tell you how it goes.

Lots of love from Lake Louise,
Demi & Craig.

Day 8: 6 hours to Kamloops

It was a long 6 hour drive from Whistler to Kamloops, yet the drive was anything but boring. The first part of the drive took us through these beautiful mountain passages. As we followed the winding road, we got to see the Canadian mountains close up. There are really no words to describe it. Needless to say, the views made that drive something truly unique. At one point, we pulled off the side of the road to play with some snow but decided against walking out on our own as neither Craig or I had a working mobile on us. Since we didn't want to make a bad name for our fellow Australians, we kept to common sense and just soaked in our surroundings.

We got a little bit of snow as we drove but luckily, nothing too heavy. Often, we saw mini-waterfalls as snow melted from the mountains to form streams and rivers. The road would often curve with the winding rivers and at many points, break into huge beautiful pools and lakes. It was here that we really got to appreciate the pristine colours of pure glacial water. It's often described as "robin egg-blue" but I don't think you truly appreciate what that means until you've seen the real thing.

Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to bring the adapter that allowed me to plug my ipod into the car. But in the end, it didn't really affect the quality of our trip. We easily found ways to entertain each other, pointing out interesting sights as we drove. I often read to Craig from the lonely planet or jokes out of the Reader's Digest I'd purchased. Other times, we'd just surf for radio stations as we passed through varying towns, which usually meant that we ended up listening to a lot of Canadian Rock & Country. It was fun though and one of the best parts of my trip.

When we arrived at Kamloops, it was around 5 in the afternoon. I was so tired from the drive, I ended up falling asleep but when I woke, it was 7pm and the sun was still shining strong. This was a little disconcerting but we headed out for dinner. We couldn't really do much in terms of shopping since was Kamloops was a small town and therefore kept to the traditional 9-5 work time. However, we did find ourselves a nice little place called Zac's Tea shop where I enjoyed an apple cider. I'd become a bit of a fan of the Canadian hot cider. It seemed the pretty fix-me-up after walking around in the Canadian cold. But we turned in early after that to prepare for our drive to Lake Louise. We would get a mini-break from our road trip because we were staying there for 2 days.

Until then... take care.

Day 7: Teeth Chattering in Whistler

Craig and I left Vancouver bright and early to pick up our rental from the Vancouver International. The discovery of "hidden fees" for the hire of their GPS system AND a one-way drop off charge of $300 was not a good start at all. Needless to say, I will be having some words to our travel agent when we get back...

Anyhow, driving on the right hand side of the road was very disconcerting. It's amazing how subconscious the urge to drive on the left hand side is, or how your entire spatial resolution is tied up with driving on a certain side of the road. Everything was flipped backwards so that took some getting used to. There were a few near-misses and some odd looks when Craig forgot himself and drove on the left hand side. Yet it seems Canadians are pretty forgiving of foreign drivers, so long as it's done on a small road and not say, their main highway! Anyhow, we're getting the hang of it.

We arrived at Whistler at around 12pm and found ourselves the most gorgeous little bed and breakfast, called Chalet Louise. It was absolutely gorgeous! The weather was kinda drizzly and I feared we would have to hide indoors but it turns out that we arrived during the International Ski and Snowboard festival. So we went down to Whistler village where there was plenty of music (even an Irish shoe-tapping Celtic band was playing!) while we enjoyed a good feed at the Amsterdam bar. I was all nice and warm in layers upon layers of clothes but it turns out that Craig has some bizarre genes which allowed him to brave the cold without barely any layers. Must be that dutch heritage... meanwhile, my Irish genes were nowhere to be found! Goddamn.

After some fun shopping (I found a cute beanie and Craig got a bargain at Foot Locker's), we went back to Chalet Louise to enjoy the hot tub. Yes folks, they had a hot tub! It was heaven. After a cat nap, we went back into the village for a typical Canadian pub dinner (Craig tried out some Red Trucker's ale) and then we watched "Clash of the Titans" at their local cinema. All in all, it was a very fun day at Whistler!

Anyhow, we're heading this morning to Kamloops. Gonna take it easy as there are reports of an avalanche currently blocking Highway 99. Hopefully it'll be mostly cleared up by the time we get there.

Until then, take care of yourselves.

Lots of love,

Demi & Craig.

Day 5-6: Exploring Vancouver

Craig and I have fondly spent the last two days exploring lovely Vancouver. It's a Springly 16 degrees, so very comfortable to go walking around. We've still got a few layers on but nothing too ridiculous, at least by Brisbane standards!

Yesterday we had breakfast at a place called Templetons (as recommended by the Lonely Planet). It was great to have a proper breakfast. Energised, we walked to the Vancouver Art Gallery and view the Leonardo Di Vinci's body exhibition. It was lots of fun though at times, it reminded me strongly of work. There was a piece by an artist where she'd used an endoscope to record a vocal box reciting a french poem. It was kinda peculiar yet awesome all the same.


We then explored Robson st (the main shopping strip) and enjoyed these crazy sweets which is basically a green apple, dipped in ridiculous layers of chocolate. I'm almost tempted to open a store in Brisbane except I'm sure the local dentists would find me out and murder me! All that sugar came to haunt me and I had a raging headache. I was also a wee bit dehydrated from the last few days of travelling. So I stocked up on some water then Craig and I found this lovely Japanese store. Some teriyaki udon later, I was feeling much better. We also visited a nearby starbucks where we were served by a Melbourne guy. Small world eh?


Today, we made our way into Stanley Park despite the grey drizzle. It wasn't really that heavy and it was nice spending the time with Craig, exploring the Seawall. We spent hours at the Vancouver Aquarium and were like little kids again. Who says adults can't put aside time for a starfish or two? My favourite were the sea otters. They were very playful and didn't have a care in the world as they glided on their backs gracefully through the water, cleaning their whiskers.


We found ourselves a lovely little cafe for lunch where gratefully, they had fruit salad on the menu. We stocked up on the natural sugar and vitamins. Never thought I would miss fresh fruit so much!

What was the craziest thing I did in Vancouver: I accidentally dialled 911 from my hotel room, when I was trying to dial an international number. Not only did I have to explain to the ambulance that I was okay, I also had to talk to the police! It's funny now but hair-raising at the time. My bad...

Anyway, we're having a ball. Gonna do more shopping. Hope you're all doing well and taking care of yourselves. We miss you all!

xoxo Demi & Craig.

Days 1 - 4: Honeymooning in Las Vegas

Hi everyone!

We've been honeymooning in the USA and I thought this would be a handy way to let you all know what's been going on. While we can't regularly tweet, every few days, I'll try and do an update. So in a nutshell, this was our experience of crazy Las Vegas... So people tell us that Las Vegas is like adult Disneyland. I didn't realise that they meant this literally. Vegas really is like Disneyland but instead of excited little kids running around with coke in their hands, there are excited adults running around with beer. It's all a little surreal, not to mention disturbing at times. We stayed in the Excalibur, which itself looks like a Disney castle. But inside there was no Mickey Mouse... only lots of pokies, cigarette smoke & people offering us supposed freebies.


What was the weirdest thing we did in Vegas? We were offered discounted tickets to see the show, Cirque Du Soleil's Kha, if we agreed to spend one of our mornings looking a new hotel called the Grandview. On a whim, we went along with this and it turned out that it was a company trying to sell Las Vegas visitors expensive Condos. It was called Timeshare (which is apparent prevalent every where else in the world). We said thanks but no thanks, got our tickets and off we went.


What were some of the highlights about going to Vegas? Seeing the show "Kha" and going to the Grand Canyon. We even went on the skywalk, which was pretty cool, despite the fact that the only thing separating us and the canyon's floor were several plates of glass. We also enjoyed watching the water fountain outside the Bellagio and the trip to downtown Las Vegas, where it all originated. Downtown seemed a little bit more chilled and while it has its share of gambling dens, it doesn't try so hard to be something it isn't. It was also a great place to escape the crowds of the strip.


What was the crappiest thing about Vegas? Their sad excuse of an international airport. I thought Brisbane had a pathetic international airport... well! The "international" airport at Vegas didn't even have a coffee shop or any normal shops of that matter. We had breakfast at Burger King (which made both of us few a little ill). Needless to say, all this made us really keen to get to Canada.


In summary, we were pretty relieved to leave Vegas. On hindsight, I think Vegas is much better place to travel if there's a group of you, rather than a couple. While there was a lot of bling, shows & attractions, it seems all that glamour comes at a cost. There was a lot of despair and desperation around, and it kinda wore us out as the days went on. We're glad to have landed in Vancouver where the mood is far more relaxed and the people are real. We'll do some exploring during the next three updates and give you an update when we can.

xoxo Demi & Craig.