Three tickets for the slow boat please!

Leaving behind the beautiful Chiang Mai we decided to head into the country of Laos (which is east of Thailand) by way of the slow boat on the Mekong river. Now don't let the term "slow" deter you from traveling this way because it is well worth the 6 hours the first day and 8 hours the following day. Well we may be a little biased because we met some great aussie and kiwis on the way over that turned the ride into a great time!
On the eve of our slow boat trip we stayed right at the Thai border, Huay Xai and the guesthouse was adorable with wooden rooms that had individual mosquito nets that added an air of ambiance to the little rooms. Morning came early as we headed to the border and had our first experience of getting a visa in Laos. Let me tell you that this was the most frustrating, unorganized system of receiving a visa I have ever experienced!!!! We just got in behind a mass of people and there was no lines, no information or signs in english. We tried to get information of where to hand in our passports but from one person to the next we got told different things, shoved in different directions and just really had no idea what to do. Minutes turned into a couple hours and I won't go into the dreadful details but the process went something like this. finally hand in your passport to the office with a couple forms filled out, wait in the mass lineup as the officers randomly chose which passport and visa to do next (no order, no reason, just randomness). Ok so the process of getting your passport is they hold your picture up on the window and you have to see it and other tourists yell out the names. So you wait and wait in the group of sweating, anxiously awaiting tourists for the blue Canadian passport to show up! Two hours later it happened, with Grant's red passport and we were on our way to the slow boat.
Now this slowboat is an old rickety contraption that looks to be about on its last life. There is hard wooden seats; you can buy pillows for the trip which we did to sit on that made it much more duable. But I personally would recommend stealing the front and sitting on the floor with your pillows so you can stretch out! Also I vital aspect of really enjoying the trip and I know this isn't easy but get on the boat with the good looking Australians and the hours will fly by!!! Our first day was filled with meeting new people, kiwis, aussies, british and the sweetest french girl there is and getting to know them. We were amazed at how beautiful the ride was and to see the little villages huts and people on the banks of the river fishing and making a life was like being front row in a documentary! We stopped at a little village to stay our first night and had Dan and I had quite the scare episode in our room. There was a sweet little gecko climbing on the walls of probably our sketchiest guesthouse stay to date. Being girls we were thinking of sleeping and that gecko crawling on Dan at night so I was determined to squish it with my sandle. It was 1 in the morning and the moment I lightly tapped it we screamed bloody murder and ran to the farthest side of the room. The body of the gecko was no where to be found and we slept with one eye open thinking the gecko was out for revenge!
The second day we got plenty of sandwiches for the 8 hour ride and claimed the front of the boat. The back is where the engine is and it is soooo loud that it is worse than four tractors I swear! So we got far away from the noise as possible! We literally spent 7 out of the 8 hours playing Wizard...if you don't own this game go right now to a games store and buy it because it will provide endless hours of fun! It was soooo much fun and made the hours flow by easy enough that we found our slow boat had arrived on the shores of Luang Probang just as the sun was setting. It was perfect!
So recap for the slow boat....pillows check, super fun hot boys check, wizard cards check, food and beer check, rice bags to lean on check, camera to remember the moments check.
Now you can enjoy the stunning scenery, new friends and arrive in Luang Probang with great reviews of the slow boat! More to come of our crazy adventures in SE Asia Love always B

Obsession

Dear Family and Friends,

I have become a stalker; a creeping paparazzi. SE Asia is famous for their orange-robe clad monks strolling the streets and I fell in love with them at first sight in Luang Prabang. The vibrant orange contrasted with their dark skin is stunning and they have such an air around them that you can't help but stop and stare everything you spot one. At first, I tried to resist snapping shots without permission but, after a few days and no photographs, I became desperate and took to running down streets following some distant monk in orange before abruptly slowing down a block behind them. My stealth skills are severely lacking as I was caught every time.

I understand now why the majority of pictures of monks are of their backs. These stunning men seem to glide down the street at an impossible speed. I figure they have become accustomed to being minor celebrities and having the "paparazzi"everywhere so they have adapted; they must have developed subtle tricks to avoid someone taking the perfect shot, whether its by speed walking or by turning their bodies, just so at just the wrong time. It's a v. buddist thing to do; avoid confrontation, just zen-ly ruin the shot.

Imagine our dismay when we discovered we missed the daily early morning 'march of the monks' in Luang Prabang. Lonely Planet really dropped the ball on that one.. Not one word of mention.... My fears that our monk-spotting days would end once we left Luang Prabang were unfounded but my initial fascination remained. It became a running joke; I was always on 'monk watch', ready to whip out my camera at any time. In Vientiene we rented bikes and were riding around town when a buddist temple caught our eye so we stopped to investigate. I was casually milling around, talking to our travel buddy, Grant, when a monk walked by. I stopped mid-sentence and was ready to go into stalker mode when the monk approached us to say hello. My heart about stopped and my mouth dropped. Until that moment, monks appeared to be unapproachable, like they were the pope or Brad Pitt but this chatty 24-yr-old monk seemed almost as excited to talk to us as I was, if that's possible.

Facts about buddist monks that I learned in our conversation include;

Most buddist men spend some of their lives as a monk. Young boys can begin their training at age 10
At age 20, with a special ceremony, they become a full fledged monk

The orange robes signify...? OK, I did ask this question but I didn't really understand his answer... I googled it and it said something along the lines that they have to die the cloth with natural dyes and the natural dye ingredients produce the deep orange color.

They keep strict discipline. They do not drink alcohol, play soccer or become married.. If they do choose to marry, they can no longer be a monk. They also only eat twice daily; in the morning and late afternoon (that would be the hardest part for me, for sure).

Just when you think you're getting better, you're proven wrong. We were in an internet cafe in Vientiane when a monk walked in and sat on the computer next to Britt and we all just stared. Seeing a monk using technology seemed as funny as a tight-rope walking fish. Brittany did all creepers proud and tried to peek at what spiritual wonders he was up to but unfortunately, her Laos language skills are non-existent so she quickly gave up. I would like to say that I have become accustomed, almost immune, to seeing monks, but I haven't. Each day when I see them strolling down the street, umbrella in hand, heads slightly downcast, I can't help but smile and think that I will miss them dearly when I finally leave SE Asia.

xoxo
V

A Thai Day in the footsteps of Princess Di!

1 flight from Bangkok to Chaing Mai, $70. Time in Chaing Mai with Carol Chewla, priceless! We literally have to turn and pinch each other some days, because the 'fairy tale' days are so multiplied on this trip. Today was another one of those days. Carol took us for the ultimate tour of Chaing Mai, the same lovely lady who picked us up from the airport with an Í heart AB Beef'sign in her hands. She swept us off to brunch (we were pumped to take our first ride in a Songtaew- a red open-backed truck with 2 long benches inside- the way to ride in Chaing Mai), and brought us to a gorgeous open-aired bakery! We skipped the great looking breakfast/brunch options for the even greater authentic Thai cuisine. Carol ordered an amazing spread of special Thai dishes for us- and we loved them all! We haven't come accross cocroaches yet, so it's still safe to say we haven't found a food we dislike in Thailand yet! One of our favorites are the fresh fruit shakes- today we tried Mango and Banana Blueberry, yummy! We shared our stories over brunch, and it was a very special time with this amazing woman. It was cool to hear her story: of a girl from Claresholm, AB ending up living and raising a family in Thailand for the last 20 years! What a great conversationalist & encourager! We were fascinated as she told us stories about the history of Thailand, it's people, and the current state of politics. Thailand has a bright future, I really believe this.

Our first stop after brunch was Thaksin's Silk Factory. We were mesmerized as we watched the step-by-step process of silk worms growing & feeding off of the mulberry leaves to removing the silk from the silk worms, and lessons on how to spot 'real silk' from immitation silk (hint- you burn the fabric sample, real silk smells organic). The masters behind the beautiful silk sheets are the women who weave @ 4000 thread count behind their wooden foot-controlled machines. It's a fine art. Britt and I both purchased scarves from the discount store upstairs- made us feel like divas, now we just need to find the men with the convertibles! (I'm a big fan of '69 corvettes in case you do stumble upon a good-looking chap :-).

Stop #2 was the Umbrella Factory & handpainters! I have a love for Asian umbrellas- and was thrilled to be spoiled with the factory tour on our second day in Thailand! Stop #3 was a brilliant silver factory/workshop/retail store. I think the artists were busy making products for Pandora as we toured through- the pieces were intricate & beautiful! Having our very own friend along as our tour guide proved to be a neccessity while purchasing items here! The ladies working the shop told us the only reason they were giving us such a good price was because our friend spoke Thai- thank you Carol! Valena is now the proud owner of a custom-made starfish pendant (again, we have Carol to thank for negotiating this one), and I am glowing with my new silver ring. I absolutely love it- it has a Citrine stone in it, which is famous for it's healing properties & for being the King's colour! Random fact: Thai people associate a colour with each day of the week. The King was born on the yellow day, hence yellow is his colour! Speaking of royalty- we felt like princesses ALL DAY LONG! Most of the places we visited also had photos up from when Princess Dianna herself visited these places. Some of the employees were eager to tell about their experiences 'the day the princess was here'- especially our chatty friend at the umbrella factory. He really liked to talk.
We got to quickly meet Carol's husband, and see his Tailor Shop business. Hard to believe- but Carol had even more up her sleeve- and swept us away to get pedicures soon after! Hands down, the best pedicures we've ever recieved. The Thai girls that gave us our pedis did them with such precision, care & artistry- I don't think anything will ever compare. We now have little flowers & artwork on our big toes- gotta look flash when you're backpacking! Carol took the time to run down the street for us, and returned with cold drinks as we got spoiled- and introduced us to Oishi Green Tea! Not only was she the greatest tour guide, she also playe social convenor & arranged for us to meet back up with Grant later that evening.
We got to the mall in time to see the Strawberry Festival, and models walking up & down the runway representing different countries around the world. We shared a great meal with Daniel & Carol, and they helped us scout out memory cards, and other supplies for our upcoming travels. We simply cannot thank these beautiful people enough.

We headed to the night markets & indulged in $4 full-body Thai massages. Heavenly. All 4 of us took the 1.5 hr massage after about 20 minutes in. I swear they put you in a trance- and you can't see life past getting the best massage you've ever had. Easiest decision i've ever made. They pulled moves on us- cracking toes, cracking our backs, twisting our spines, stretching our torsos....the list goes on and on. It was incredible! We ended our evening with a little more shopping at the night markets (because we're girls, and we have energizer-bunny built-in stamina for shopping all day long). Poor Grant, it was obvious how painful our shopping habits are- and he was only with us for 2 hours! I think he was quickly re-thinking travelling SE Asia with 3 girls. I couldn't even sleep that night, my mind was whirling in overdrive from the excitement of the day. Peace. d.

To SE Asia We Go.....

My desire to go to Asia dates back to my book-worm days as a child in
Spring Coulee. I would go to the library and check out books on Chinese, Thai, Japanese etc mythology and just fall in love with the culture. More than a couple times in the last few years, I have looked longingly at trips to Thailand but the occasional horror stories of trips gone bad made me change my destination to Europe or South America. But when we were in Perth, we just couldn't not go to SE Asia. It is so close and so cheap to fly here from Perth. Countless Aussies each year flock to SE Asia for that same reason which is why I've discovered that the best people to ask re: safety in SE Asia are Aussies. And it was 99.9% favorable so after debating about it for 3 minutes, we booked a ticket to Thailand...

As hard as it was to leave our new family, the Ashes, and all our friends in Perth we are all excited to being moving on to another adventure. The only down side is that we are split again; Danielle, Brittany and I are off to tackle SE Asia on a poor-man backpacker budget and Jodie is bound for the Philippines to volunteer with a church group and provide love and care for locals.

Our journey began with 3 flights, 3 countries, 5,245 km all within 24 hrs in order to reunite us with our Team NZ friend, Grant, who'd we met on our Stray Tours in October... He was kind enough to wait in Chaing Mai in Northern Thailand for us so, it was a marathon travel session to catch up.
Our first stop in our journey was a lay-over in Singapore, which I had just previously discovered last month is both a city and country in one. We choose this lay-over destination specifically so we could reconnect with a newly-made friend from our time in Melbourne, Alex!!!! Alex just graduated Uni, moved back to Singapore and was such a trouper that he met us at the airport at 4:30 am so we could make the most of our 6 hr stint in this amazingly, immaculately, clean city. I have never had such a whirlwind tour but it was great; we had a daring breakfast of fish balls, laksa, sugar cane juice and more before jumping on the public
transportation (which is freakily clean, enough so to eat off the floor I swear... All thanks to a total ban of food and drink on all forms of transportation) I've always heard about the fantastic shopping in
Singapore, but luckily for my already-anemic wallet we were touring the city before business hours so we were thankfully resigned to window shopping...

I must say how lucky we are to be Canadian. We touched down in Bangkok and had a good sweat over possibly missing our connecting flight after seeing the border guards in Bangkok give the third degree to Russians. Luckily, we just walked right through without even a single question... Then we were on the plane and only 1.5 hours from our destination, Chaing Mai, the 2nd largest city in Thailand located in the northern tip of the country. We mused how lucky we were that after countless flights this trip, this would be our first that we wouldn't have someone waiting for us upon landing... Little did we know that once we landed we would walk off to someone holding a "I LOVE AB BEEF" sign. Turns out that Danielle's family friend had previously moved to Chaing Mai years ago and heard that we were landing and thought we would like a welcome crew. Just another example of the kindness of people we have run into. It really made our day seeing that sign.

I could go on for ages about how much we love Thailand after only one day. 'Love at first sight' is a phrase that comes to mind.
In the first day we rode elephants through stunning greenery, rode a bamboo raft down down a lazy river, played and swam in waterfalls, and bartered with vendors at the nights markets and walked away worried for our backpack's capacity to hold bargains. My favorite part of the day was when we visited a village of a long-necked Padaung tribe from the northern hills of Thailand. It was surreal seeing the stunning women and girls with gold rings around their neck and knees; I felt as if I had accidentally stumbled into the pages of National Geographic. Traditionally, only Padaung girls born on a Wednesday of a full moon were destined to have their necks fitted with the coils, but now other youngsters are enlisted to meet the tourist demand. At age 5, women of the tribe receive their first golden rings around their neck. Until age 25, they continue to receive additional rings that will gradually depress their collarbone which leads to the "elongated neck". They remove the golden coils yearly to allow one 'ring-free' day; their weakened neck muscles could not support the head much longer.

It feels good to be back in backpacker mode and we are in our best form yet. We have even whittled our luggage down (<29 kg between the 3 of us) so much that viewers of our previous amount of luggage (Unc Doug, Daniel, etc) would hardly recognize us. We have a lot of SE Asia to see in a limited amount of time. We mean business...

Love you all!!
xoxo V

A day in our life in Perth

Go for a weekend trip to Rotto with cute Aussie boys. Return from the boat and jump in the pool because it is 43'C in the city. Get out and stay in aircon in the house. Sleep. Eat. Attempt to watch a movie from the endless supply of tv series and movies brought back from Bali. Sleep. Wake up and go for a run along the Swan river. Go for a swim after the run. Go inside in aircon. Go for a swim. Go grocery shopping. Jump back in the pool to cool off and have competitions of; holding your breath the longest, handstands, backward flips and frog jumps. Watch Rod vaccum and clean. Offer to help but get denied and go back into the pool. Hang out with the family. Eat an amazing meal that Jenni cooke (homemade sushi, roast lamb, curry chicken). See friends. Go out. Come back and sleep. Life is good!

There's a what on board?! AUSSI DAY 2010

Our amazing Perth friends invited us out on their boat, once again- lucky buggers we are, to celebrate Australia Day January 26th. We had heard boasts, stories, & even legends about how awesome Aussi Day is, apparently surpassing New Year's as the country's reason to party and celebrate.

We had an early start, and boarded the boat by 7:30 Tuesday morning. Spent the day crusing out to Rotto, in a much smoother fashion than our previous journey out to this stunning place. No swinging from the bars or men overboard this time. We just have to say that people from Perth are wonderful. If you're reading this- you know who you are- and know you have a very special place in our hearts. Thank you for your generosity, and for always going out of your way to make our stay amazing! Aussi day did not disapoint! We had an absolutely blast on the boat; partying with friends and making new ones. We had another night on Rotto, and a very rocky sleepover on the boat. We awoke to the sunrising over the ocean with Mumford & Sons for our listening pleasure (thanks Brett & Ricky). We did more swimming in the perfectly clear turquoise water, and while some swam, others napped. A particularly impressive move was when Stu managed to pop & slither his way onto the back deck of his boat, using no arms whatsoever. I think Valena owes him for losing a bet there- turns out he does have quite the unique talent & skill. Even more entertaining was watching the attemtps come afterwards- no one could match this new form of sport.
We arrived back at Perth, and while unloading the front cabin of the boat we heard an unimpressed question fill the air: "Who brought the Quokka onboard?!" There was literally a timid little quokka in the basement of the front cabin, rolled up in a map of Rottnest. Marsupiel lesson from Wikipedia here: The Quokka (Setonix brachyurus), the only member of the genus Setonix, is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat.[2].The Quokka has no fear of humans and it is common for it to approach them closely, particularly on Rottnest Island. It is, however, illegal for members of the public on Rottnest Island to handle the animals in any way. An infringement notice carrying a A$100 fine can be issued by the Rottnest Island Authority for such behaviour.[3] However, prosecution of the offence can result in a fine of up to $1000.[4] Such fines are implemented in the rare cases that Quokkas are abused or killed by visitors to Rottnest.[5] There you have it, my isn't Wikipedia informative. The fines have gone up since then. Feeding & petting can get you a $500 fine, and I believe if you injure or kill this protected animal, the fine can be up to $20,000. Oh dear. We had quite the predicament on our hands. What to do. The options were flying out left and right. 1)Drive the boat 2 hrs back to Rotto and drop it off (problematic because the boys had to get ready for a trip to Asia the next day, and time was of the essence) 2) Tie a weight on and sink it (this didn't go over so well as you can imagine, and never was actually taken seriously 3)Call the Ranger (yeah, this was the wisest & chosen option). Because the Quokka had left the island, it was questionable whether or not the ranger could take it back. Rottnest was in discussion with the Perth zoo about what to do with our little Quokka problem.
We missed making the Perth news by 1/2 an hour! The crazy story has a happy, and quite hilarious, ending. Channel news picked up the story, and documented the Quokka rescue from Mt. Henry bridge Jetty. The news & zoo team flew the little marsupiel back to Rottnest island (because he had never left the boat to Perth land, he could return home. Yay!). We watched Stu @ 6pm on the bigscreen explain the Quokka 'prank' and rescue to the public. Well done Mr. Farquharson- you looked great! The night 'prankster' has yet to confess he brought the poor little thing on board with him. As for us, it makes yet another great story to tell about our adventures in Perth! We have the newsbroadcast & newspaper clipping of evidence of another fantastic day on the boat! Cheers! d.

Rottnest Island Weekend

So you think that life has been pretty good so far and there can't be anything better than what the past two months have held. Well we thought this until we got to go to Rotto Island (a small island just 16 km west of Perth). These Perth boys took us out on their crayfish boat to Rotto for the weekend of January 16/17. It was amazing!! We were so excited to go that the day seemed to take forever until of the boys could pick us up. We even made cookies to pass the time! Needless to say when Andy came to get four girls for a two day trip he was quite surprised with the massive amount of stuff we had. We just wanted to be prepared that is why we each had a bag of clothes, pillows, blankets, towels and enough food to feed heaps of people; we didn't want anyone to go hungry! Soon we were boarded on the boat and headed out to sea. The winds were up and the waves high. These two factors made the trip out the funniest ride we have ever been on!! Even the boys said they have never taken the boat out on that rough of water!! We had to have a grip on the railings or ceiling at all times for fear of being cast over and at one point a wave rocked the boat that I was literally swinging from side to side parallel to the floor! Stu and I had a contest of who could remain balanced the best on one foot on deck and sadly I lost to this sea veteran with a near slip over the side! The only other metionable incident was a very close encounter with a yellow sailboat that seemed to appear out of nowhere and come within a foot of our ship! Later in the weekend the skipper of that sailboat found us and had a friendly chat of the close proximity of the two boats.
Arriving at Rotto at sunset will be one of the most beautiful sites of this trip. The glow from the sun cast an air of magic over the water and boat. Life doesn't get better than this! We docked the boat...well the boys did as we sat and watched. They tied it a little far back that in order for all the girls to make it the jetty we needed a guy to give us a hand. A smart trick of the Aussie's to use as a ploy to keep us on their boat until they lend us their hand. Always cheeky these ones! At the back of the boat, Danielle leaned over the edge a little too far and the boys didn't pull her in in enough time that she fell overboard and tested out the waters for us! Soon we all joined and christened the Rotto weekend with a swim in the ocean. The boys pulled out the BBQ for some sausages, steak and veggie skewers (I will give you one guess to what we girls provided!) Danielle nicked her fingers twice cutting the vegetables, granted we were using a tiny torch (flashlight) and had a few beers by this point! Nothing a nurse can't handle though! The evening continued with a relaxing pace on the boat getting caught up with tales of contiki days and sharing stories. There is a cute pub on the island that we went to and on the way we had our first encounter with Quokkers. These creatures are tiny little marsupials that look like miniture kangaroos and are only on this island. They are protected and even touching them is a hefty $2000 fine!
Now one would wonder where do you use a bathroom or get ready to sleep but the boys have thought of everything with their boat and there is in fact a little toilet to use on board that is very handy. Since we are docked we also can just walk to the public toilets...it's as simple as that! Sleeping on the boat that night was like being rocked heavily to sleep. It was so bad that the next morning we all were swaying on dry land for a few hours until we adjusted to being on land again! It may take a while for these Canadian girls to get there sea legs but we will by the end of this trip!
The boys took the boat out and went fishing and to catch some crayfish as we girls went to the Basin beach to play in the water. Today the water was flat and I swear we could have been in the Caribbean for the torquoise blue waters that were teasing us to come play in. It was amazing!!! The day was toasty so we couldn't be on the beach for long and took breaks in Dome (a coffee shop) for Chai lattes. We waited for the boys to return anxiously seeing if they were actual fisherman or posers. We were thrilled to find fish was indeed on the menu for supper. Jan was champion and caught the biggest fish...talent or luck we are happy with either! Stu proved to be quite the chef as ge seasoned and grilled up the fish and we all had a taste along with an amazing salad by Jenna. Another night of hanging out on the boat with friends as the sun dipped into the west and we had round two of sharing stories and getting to know each one even better. I can't tell you how amazing it is to have these boys take us on their boat, give us the only bed-like mattress (that all four of us shared comfortably) and see Rotto from the eyes of Perthites but it is priceless!
The following morning we had brekkie on land of smiling toast with eggs in it and 10lbs of bacon! We didn't even get through half of it but one of the boys works for a butcher and that was his 'little' contribution. When renting a space on the jetty you have to have your boat out by 10am so we were at sea early in the morning and our only task was to find the most beautiful cove around the island to play in. Hard task but we aim high! It is an incredible experience to see the island using the boat because you get access to beaches and coves that has no bike trails to. The seclusion makes it feel like we are taking part in a movie and we are still waiting for a director to pop out and yell cut...but our movie just keeps going!
About into 45 minutes at sea we found the perfect cove and as Stu pointed at the most beautiful water stated "I want to go play in that!" Here we spent a few hours cliff jumping, swimming, finding seals, snorkling and sunbathing. This day could not have been more perfect if we had wrote it ourselves. The water was glass, the weather was a warm 41'C and when we got to the point of heating over, just jumped into the water and cooled off. This is the only way to spend a 40'C or above day...on the water, well in the water! We were soooo sad when the boat turned towards Perth. This weekend went by too fast and there was no way we wanted to leave these beautiful coves or these fun boys! But Sundays are always followed by a Monday which means the work week begins for almost everyone but us!
The ride back was vastly different then the ride there. There were some spots so clear that you could see straight down to the sea floor! We even got to see a few dolphins as we approached Perth. I even got to steer the boat with Jenna on my right giving me pointers! I think we could be Perthites. Work in the week, get a boat, take the boat out to an island on the weekend, swim, fish, eat and be with friends. Yep we could do it!

Almost Certain Death

It's been a long time since we've been surfing and we miss it. So you can imagine our excitement when we went down south knowing that we would be passing by some of the beach surf beaches in Australia. On our way home to Perth we stopped at Yallingup Beach, near Margaret River. We decided to take a walk down the beach and quickly realized that we were out our league. Gone were the pure sand beaches and the soft beginners' surf that roll right into land; instead we found massive waves that were a ways of the coast and would require top notch paddling... Then IF we finally got out there (there have been times that we've paddled for an hour or two and got nowhere... haha) we would still have had to navigate around massive amounts of coral. Basically the only way I would be on a surf board in that surf would be if I had a death wish.... Luckily for our families and friends back home, none of us did.

Once our surfing dreams were dashed, and it was too cold to sunbathe, we settled for a stroll down the beach. Lucky we did because soon we came to a separate beach that had the biggest, fastest and just plain craziest waves I've seen yet. It looked like madness but we couldn't resist. We stripped off our clothes and jumped into the waves to body surf... It was a riot!!! Only after we had played in the waves did we think to try and take evidence of the experience but sadly the biggest of the waves had passed so our videos and photos just did not do it justice. I guess you readers back home with just have to settle for our description... If I were have to guess how big the waves are I'd want to say 12 ft but I have been known to exaggerate. Case in point, when asked how big they thought the waves were, both Dan and Britt guessed 6-8 ft... haha... Almost half!!! I'd make a wicked fisherman eh? But to be fair to those who have not surfed, I'll explain a lil about how waves are measured, the are measured a certain way, so while the official height may be 6-8 ft it can actually be 8-10 ft tall... But anyway, we got tossed, turned, flipped and dragged around like rag dolls in the waves. It was unreal. We were careful to stay within the flags (the lifeguards mark out the safe areas to swim) but there were moments that I was surprised that we were still allowed in the water, it was so rough. We were like little kids in the water, we just couldn't get enough of being flipped like clothes in a washing machine. By the time we stumbled out of the waves, we had a couple close calls. Brittany got dumped hard on the sand and came out of the water so dizzy she needed help out, Dan came away with a nasty bruise on her knee (the same knee that she previously injured.. it's like a magnetic for trouble), and all of us had at least one wave that enveloped us so deeply that we weren't sure when our next breath would be. To sum up the experience. It was a rush: a fantastically fun, sometimes intimidating rush but it was nice to be on dry ground again.

Camping in southwestern Australia

After New Years and spending a few days at Daniel's place, it was time for us to meet the Ash's. Jenni and Rod Ash are friends of my cousin Shelley and have been to Canada a few times for business and to visit. They actually have been out to my parents farm a couple years ago. Who knew that we would meet again! We pulled up to their place and were shocked that this was where we would be staying for the next little while. They have a beautiful house with a pool in the backyard, which is perfect for the never-ending hot days here in Perth. We could fit our camper-van inside their kitchen and not only did they have a room for us, but two! We didn't know what to do with all the extra space! Not only did Jenni and Rod invite us into their home, they invited us to go camping with them and some friends near Augusta at the Molloy campground. Originally we were only going to stay a few days, but that quickly changed once we got there and discovered all the fun and relaxing to be had, plus the good company that came along with it all. We met Rod and Jenni's good friends, Steve and Jenni, along with their two kids, Travis and Teneille, Bev and her adorable boys, Nick and Ben, and Maria and Tad and their son Trevor. We soon felt the outstanding hospitality of Australians as they provided us with places to sleep, food to eat, kids to play with, and entertainment.

Steve and Jenni brought their ski boat along since Travis is into competitive trick skiing and slalom skiing. They were kind enough to take us out on the boat, giving us tons of time to brush up on our wake-boarding skills and improve our skiing. Soon enough, early mornings were routine, getting up as early as 5:00 a.m. to beat the other boats and take advantage of the flat water on the river. Some mornings there was mist above the water and it was an amazing sight. Dan, V, and I learnt to love these mornings, but Britt took a bit more to come around. It's a fact that she is not a morning person and she proved this to be true on these boat rides. While we were all waking up as we drove off with the boat, excited to get into the water, Britt would be bundled up in her blanket with her eyes barely open. Even the coffee and chai teas that Jenni prepared for us each morning on the boat couldn't wake her! She was a good sport, however and managed to somehow climb into the boat every morning. Steve would show off his bare footing skills, while Trav would capture all of our attention as he did tricks on the ski. V and I had a go at skiing, whereas Dan mastered slaloming...something she's definitely going to take home with her to show her parents. Most days started off with a couple hours on the boat and if we were lucky we'd get a second go in the afternoon with the knee boards and tubes. We will be forever grateful to Steve for taking us out on the boat...definitely one of our highlights of the trip!

In between skiing and relaxing, we were kept busy playing with all the kids that were there. Teneille, at only 4 years has great aspirations to be a pediatrician and boy does she know her stuff already! She would love to play house and doctor and one time made sure that Dan went through all the steps when delivering a baby. Trav and Trevor were always keen on skiing and showing their mad skills. Ten year old Nick, already a ladies man, won over all our hearts with his dimples, meanwhile Benny, who looks all cute and innocent, surprised us all with his mischievous side, with heaps of plans to prank us. All of these kids are gems and we loved being around them, reminding us of our younger siblings and cousins. In the early evenings the kids would take us out hunting for the kangaroos that took over the campsites. They are like deer at home as they would hop right into your campsite scavenging for any leftovers/garbage that was left out.

Once again our backpacking skills came in handy as we had only packed a couple of shirts and shorts and soon ran out of clothes. We thought that since we were camping that it was no big deal to wear the same outfits over and over again, but it was quickly pointed out that we were always wearing the same things. They caught on quickly though and soon enough it was overlooked and instead they focused on rewarding us when we took showers. Our style of camping is a bit different than theirs. Whereas we were content with eating our canned tuna and corn cakes, we quickly got drawn into eating the amazing meals they made us, from curry to pizzas, we never went to bed hungry. Steve is a baker and challenged us to a bake off one morning after we told him about our banana pancakes. Well, the contest was very close, but the baker did win in the end...I still think that the judges were a bit biased...maybe paid a bit of money on the side. With his bread maker in tow, Steve made us homemade pizzas one night, which were delicious, and a fresh loaf of bread would be waiting for us every morning. Let's just say that we never went hungry. I must point out that this was a bit of luxurious camping. Even though we were sleeping in a tent, that's about the only "roughing it" that we did. A cappuccino maker, TV, bread maker, and pizza oven are just a few of the luxuries that were available to us. From now on, we know who to call when we want to go camping. I mean, who uses little butane stoves and instant coffee anymore?

A couple of the days we ventured off to explore and our first stop was at the Jewel Caves, were Marc, Erin and Amy joined us for the day. After doing some exploring, we then made our way to the Cape Leuuwin lighthouse, and made a stop on the way at Cozy Corner, which is an amazing beach with white sand, turquoise waters ,just gorgeous. We made a little time for some leap frog and pictures and then were off. At the lighthouse we had a quick lunch and went to explore where the Southern and Indian Ocean meet. The path to the lighthouse was surrounded with high, dry grass, ideal for snacks to live in and on the way back we finally saw our first snake, a Dukeit. Well, at least those of us who weren't too petrified did. After much convincing, we managed to get everyone down the path and back to the carpark. Another amazing spot that we checked out down south was Meelup and Eagle Bay beach. Erin and Marc brought us out there with their family and introduced us to probably the most spectacular beach and water that we have seen. People aren't lying when they say that western Australia has the nicest beaches. We no longer felt the need to go to Bali or Thailand to find crystal blue water. It's hard to really describe it, but hopefully the pictures give you just a glimpse of how beautiful it was. We spent some time on the beach and then in the water floating on Marc's pimped out tube, which had an ipod dock and speakers and everything. Funny story about that though, our first experience on the tube was actually back at home at the Calgary Stampede, when Marc and Erin came to visit. Britt's sister Meghan had this tube and we floated down the Elbow River all afternoon on it. Marc loved it so much that he bought one in Canada and got it shipped out all the way to Australia. And the first time he used it was with all of us Canadian girls! I guess he felt that the best way to break it in was with those who came from the same place it did.

We finally decided that it was probably time for us to head back into Perth and start looking for jobs and figuring out what we were going to do for the next little while. It's only a 3.5 hr drive from Augusta to Perth, but it ended up taking us 10 hrs to make it back since we made so many stops along the way. We took Caves Road, which takes you along all the wineries of Margaret River and surrounding areas and made a couple of stops at some wineries for pictures and wine-tasting. One of our tastiest stops was at Providore, where in one building they have samples of dips and jams and recipes, and just around the corner is the chocolate factory, with heaps and heaps of different chocolate. The best part of it all though were the samples of chocolate that they had. They had 3 massive bins of white, milk and dark chocolate pellets that you could scoop out and snack on. We really were in heaven and kept going back for more and more until we started to feel a bit guilty...but that didn't stop us from all taking another handful on our way out! Back on the road we went but didn't make it very far before we made a stop at Yallingup beach and braved the massive waves. We made a few more quick stops in Dunsborough and the Busselton Jetty and finally we were back home in Perth. Going down south in Western Australia is a breathtaking experience and should not be passed. We were fortunate enough to be able to go down that way and spend it with 3 amazing families and had an incredible time. We cannot wait for what else Perth has to offer.
Cheers,
Jod