Aug
31
Wow… can you believe its been 8 months since our wedding… a lot of things have happened since that day and it has been one big blurry rollercoaster ride! Just recently we got our wedding photos book sent to us from Australia and also our DVD video. I must say our photographer Russell Barton did an amazing job at compiling it with such short notice… the end product… just perfection!
Here’s a quick highlights clip that was part of the DVD that our videographer put together… aaaaah memories…
Aug
29
At the start of this month we went out to Cyrus’s family lodge that has been named “Billabong Lodge” which is located about 2 hours east of Vancouver in Sunshine Valley. The hand built Morgan log cabin can be hired out and is the perfect holiday retreat… Cyrus’s dad has spent a lot of time renovating the basement and the interior. I couldn’t get over how homely and cozy the cabin was… The large “farm style” kitchen counter is the perfect place for large groups to chat over a meal and being nestled in the hills with surrounding trees you always get a visit from the local fauna like rabbits and chipmunks. During winter time the place is covered in a blanket of snow and the Manning Park Ski and Recreational resort is not far away.
 
 
The whole gang spent the long weekend there and we tried our luck at some fly fishing for trout at one of the local lakes. Cyrus wasn’t having much luck (probably because he was fishing in a recreational lake with so many people) and even tried to stack the odds in his favour by adding more than one lure to no avail!!Â
This region is the perfect place to have a bbq, picnic, go for a swim or just get away from the busy lifestyle of the city… You know that you’ve achieved that when you lose you cell phone reception!! *note to self* make sure you know how to get there because you can’t call up for directions!!!
For those of you who are interested in checking it out, you can make bookings at www.billabonglodge.com . Its definitely a trip worth making…
Aug
29
It was great to have our friends Jade and Teneille come and visit us as part of their around the world trip. We always look forward to catching up with people from back home and this was no exception. Unfortunately we didn’t have as much time with them as we would because they had to go on a cruise around Alaska, but the time we had was great. Actually my sister Erandi and brother in law Heath were meant to come with them, but because my sister got “knocked up” (I’m allowed to say that) they couldn’t fly so much… You better make it here next year!! 😛
Being “locals” now we find ourselves in the same situation that we were in Perth. There’s plenty to see around here but since we live here we have the attitude of “oh we have plenty of time to check that out… we’ll see it later”. The problem with that is you never end up doing it! So, it’s always good when we have guests because it gets us out and about and we actually do get around to seeing all the local sights…
So during the short time that they were here we managed to check out the Totem Poles at Stanley Park and Capilano Suspension Bridge. They’re both located just outside of downtown and are very pretty areas of Vancouver. You get a nice view of the city from the North shore and being a Vancouver summer… it managed to rain every single day that they were around us. Prior to that we had sunny blue skies and a pleasant 25 degrees.
Other than that we ate… and ate… and did I mention we ate? I don’t think I’ve stuffed myself consecutively night after night to the point where it hurts to move or breathe…
I hope you guys had a great time… pitty about the weather though… I guess you brought the winter rains with you from Perth! Oh yeah… nice effort trying to sneak Jasmin home in your backpack… next time you could be a little less conspicuous by not having an empty backpack Teneille! jks! 
Aug
28
Over the past week I’ve been in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I had to go there to setup the network for our new office. There’s a few local jokes about the landscape in the area… One is that its soooo FLAT that if you’re dog ran away you’d still be able to see it 3 days later… and that if you park your car you don’t need to put the handbrake on because it won’t roll anywhere!
I must admit… it is very flat… even more so than Perth… I was lucky enough (or unlucky considering I had to walk through it going back to my hotel while it bucketed down) to experience one of their prairie storms. Because the landscape was so flat and our office was on the 11th floor, you could see for miles and the entire horizon was lit up with lightning bolts. At any one time you could count at least 20-30 bolts!
Anyways, enough about the region… During my stay there they had the Saskatoon Air Show which was a local event highlight. The International airport located there dedicated one of the runways for the show and there was everything from hand gliders to F-18 Hornets, Hercules aeroplanes and Jet cars. We got VIP tickets so were treated to free food and alcomohol while we spent the entire day watching areoplane stunts, parachuting and co-ordinated fly overs. I’ve never seen an F-18 jet flighter in action and boy can I tell you… it’s amazing. They did simulated attacks with pyrotechnics and boy was the power and speed of the Hornet impressive! Doing 500 knot speeds it made you feel like you body was going to explode due to the vibrations and that isn’t anywhere near the speeds it can achieve! It can break the speed barrier creating a sonic boom but they’re not allowed to near Urban areas because they would blow out all the windows.
Other than the Hornet demonstration, the Canadian Air force Snowbirds show was very impressive. This crew of 12 aeroplanes do precision movements and formations and make it look like child’s play.
Enjoy the videos…Â
Aug
27
A few months ago sometime in early April, there was this green magazine kiosk like the ones you see in New York built right in front of the building where I work. I thought to myself “Great.. I can buy mags and nick nacks from there and don’t have to walk so far now”. Only a couple of days later that I realised that it was built purely for the making of a movie. Later on that week, on Saturday to be exact, I went to work at 7am and found myself stunned to have seen such a dramatic overnight transformation of the whole street at the front of my building. I had to walk through cables, lights, cameras, trucks, screens, people etc. It was really messy at that time and I guess they were just starting. I wondered what’s going on…
Only then I realised that they made the whole street into New York. It was awesome! I was really amazed by the whole scene… Although I was spewing that I didn’t bring my camera with me. You really felt like you were in New York, the whole street was blocked and there were yellow NYC Taxis everywhere, Newspaper posts, grafitti, an abundance of extras who dressed up like New Yorkers, a hot dog stand and of course the green magazine kiosk..! That stand has everything.. from small lollies, cigarettes, snacks, souvenirs and of course, magazines and news papers. I tried to sneak out and watch the shooting as much as I can and at the same time tried to figure out what movie is this for. I looked around and hope to get a glimpse of some famous actors.. All they did for that whole day was shooting the part where the NY times van came by and threw the newspaper near the kiosk, and the camera man came running towards the newspaper and zoomed into it. They must have done it for at least 200 times… I kid you not. It must’ve been something to do with the angle of the front page of the paper or something, because I could see the director was very frustrated by the end of it and started screaming. I still didn’t know what movie it was for and I was going to ask them after work only to find out that they’ve packed up and left..:( I was told that the area of where I work do lots and lots of movie making and Vancouver is the 3rd most common movie making city in North America, the first being LA and New York City comes second.
So the other day when Saj and I were watching Fantastic 4 and I saw that scene about the newspaper. I was like… OMG.. that was it!! So we rewound it and I could see the bridge and steps at the front of my building. Mind you, most of the scenes of Fantastic 4 were shot in Vancouver, even the part where they were in China (it was done just behind my building too) but I didn’t get to see it. It’s pretty cool I thought..
Too bad about the kiosk though, I really like the idea of having something like that around… they took it apart the very next day. 
Aug
13
Today we had to take Candy to the vet because she had a problem with her right eye. She couldn’t open it and we found out that she has an ulcer on her eye. Good news is that we caught it early enough and it should clear up quickly. The lighter side of it is what she has to wear for the next few days. She has been given a cone to wear to stop her from scratching her eye and she’s so cute when she wears it. She hasn’t grasped the concept of the fact that the cone makes her head 3 times bigger (and I don’t think she will grasp it anytime soon), so every time she walks around tables, chairs or even doors she gets stuck because she doesn’t remember that she is wearing the cone.
And now we introduce the latest in doggie fashion…
Â
Aug
12
Happy 25th Birthday babe!
You’re finally catching up with me now but not for long.. :(Â Hope you’re having a great day in this beautiful weather. I’ve ironed all your shirts too by the way.. and pants, thought I should not have posponed it any longer 😛
xoxo *muah*
Â
Aug
01
Today I got the sad news that my rabbit “Beetroot” had passed away. He was such a friendly bunny… He would hop up onto the couch and make you pet him and he would also let Bluey our Budgie ride on his back.
 
 
The funny thing was he was meant to be a grey, female, dwarf lop eared rabbit… and he ended up being a FULL SIZED rabbit with ears that DON’T LOP and ended up turning FULLY BLACK!! As for his gender… it took us a while to realise that he was a boy and let’s just say we found our after he decided to get intimate with one of our guinea pigs!! He was a very cute bunny with a little a white paw and the rest of his body was black and he had aquired a taste for expensive Jarrah wood furniture much to mom and dad’s dismay!! (he decided that his chewing block wasn’t as nice as the dining room suite that mom and dad have!!)
He had quite a long life filled with much affection and plenty of carrots… hope you’re enjoying bunny heaven little guy… we’re going to miss you heaps!