I blog from a land down under

First things first... what the hell happened on February 20th? If anyone has any exciting or extraordinary tidbits of information Dan and I would really like to know as this day did not exist in our lives, or should I say, we ceased to exist on February 20th? We left LA on the 19th and arrived in Nadi, Fiji on the 21st at 615 am Fiji time. As we didn't fly to Brisbane until 1pm we decided to have a bit of a look around. We hired a taxi who was kind enough to take us to a nice beach resort (as he thought the local beach might be a bit much for us as they drink, swear, steal and smoke somthing that I think started with an M). We then sunned ourselves, had our first dip in the Pacific, got bit by a crab (Dan), and had a crab try to drag my bra into a hole. Very interesting and funfilled topped off by a lovely continental breakfast at the resort. We can now say we have been to Fiji! We arrived later that afternoon in Brisbane to 30 degree weather and the aim to find a job as quickly as possible. We didn't exactly blow through our money in the states quite as mom predicted but we decided that we might as well get busy and make as much as we can. We were in bed by 9 on both Saturday and Sunday nights.... slightly jetlagged and decided Monday would be our best bet at finding a job and getting out of Brisbane. It wasn't that Brisbane wasn't a nice enough place but we had spent the last 3 weeks exclusively in cities and decided to hit the country.

This next bit might be a bit of a shocker to my family... the ones who though I would never get a job, or accumulate any assets... well boy were they wrong. Day 3 in Australia Dan and I made our first major purchase together... a sweet, gold 1989 Volvo something or other that we affectionately call Vulva. She cost about 800 bucks and has so far got us 500 km up the coast to a lovely town called Childers. We parked last night at a truck stop (not sure if you are allowed to do that, but we survived) and pitched our 2 man tent (also a new aquisition) that neither Dan nor I can fully stretch out in. Today, after Vulva's first 500 km trip under her belt we arrived in a lovely town called Childers about 100 km south of the Tropic of Capricorn (slightly hot here as well). We got ourselves situated at a nice camp site a few km out of town and start our first job as tomato pickers on Thursday courtesy of the lovely English lady who runs the campsite. As long as we stay with her for 3 weeks she will continue to find us work with all of the local farms. We are hoping to do the tomatoes for about a week or two before moving onto the big bucks that are avocados. A lot of these jobs pay piece work but if you get lucky you can make up to $17-20/hr which ironically the Aussies aren't too keen to do. I would have given my right arm for a job that paid that well in highschool or university (or now for that matter) so we are ready to get started. We have a day off tomorrow (a day off from what I hear you asking...) so are kitting our tent out with something other than the one blanket we currently have.

In response to my yellow coat (which I will not be wearing for some time I might add) Dan has made the effort to one up me infinitely by purchasing a cowboy hat which he refuses to take off. Very urban cowboy, we just need the shirt Chris wore to his wedding :)

We should be able to post frequently over the next few weeks as we will be working 530am-130 so keep checking! Lots of love, ash and dan

PS we also acquired a mobile phone - we are unsure if we get charged if you call it, but as Harry Hill would say - "There's only one way to find out...." so the international code in Australia is 61 and our number is 424894802 (so I think the dialling goes something along the lines of 01161424894802 - if that makes sense).

We have uploaded various photos of Vegas, LA, the grand canyon, Fiji and our beloved vulva so enjoy

What happens in Vegas stays in..... (oh forget it ill tell ya!)

So after LA we head to vegas in our slick white chevy cobolt....(its a lame duck). But after the 4 hour drive through the amazing scenery and straight roads of the Mojave desert we come to the lights of Sin city. It was a breath taking sight after 4 hours of the same joshua tress and rocky mountains over and over again to see the lights of the MGM grand and the Vegas strip.

Las vegas didnt let us down, the weather on the whole was good and the lights and the atmosphere were everything i had imagined it to be. Just walking the strip itself is worth every minute of the drive and so much more. But other freebies we took advantage of were the Belagio fountain display, the mirage volcano, the MGM lion habitat, the Fashion shows (The girls from runs house), the grand canal at the veniatian (a mock indoor venice), the flamingos, and of course the free booze whenever you sat down at a slot machine!!! ( we would play with $1 for 5 min get two drinks and move on to the next casino!!!)

While using this ingenius system we managed to win $50 dollars from 40 cents!!! So that was the next couple of days covered!!! We are dam lucky!! The next day on the 6 wheel I also won another 35 dollars from $1 dollar... again paying for the days ahead... turns out by the end of our time in the casinos and with the food, drinks, gambling and show we only REALLY spent around $75 over 4 days....not too shabby eh?
The show we went to see was the Mentalist....for the brits he was just like derren brown, a mind reader kinda guy, it was mind blowing! not to mention that i was pulled on stage for his grand finale....predicting the lottery numbers...it was amazing!!! (youtube him if u have a spare minute).

Ash did manage to drag me out of the city to both the Hoover dam (which again was a site that needs seeing to believe.) and to the Grand Canyon, which was petrifying....the area we went to was the one with the skywalk which is run by the native indians...who seem to have no regard for health and saftey....you could just walk right up to the edge where there was a mile drop straight down!!!! Oh and it was a rip off, those buggers!! But, macho aside i was nervous leaning over the side......(the photos show this and will add in OZ).

Anyway to summerize VEGAS ROCKED MY WORLD...i did a hell of a lot of woooooing and whooping down the strip..(was the done thing after midnight) much to ashs embarressment...hee hehehe.

Further good news is that the yellow coat has been put to retirement due to the improvement in the weather.....however an aqua blue zip up top has replaced it. (not sure where this neon fashion trend of ashs is going next but ill keep you posted). Its my theory that this is what attracts the bugs!!! (which ill never hear the end of!)

Right now we are killing time on Venice beach before we fly to Australia.... My time is running out yet again..so ill catch up with you all soon........

OUT.

West coast tourin'

San Francisco was definitely a change from the hustle and bustle of the east coast however for me it had one major downfall...I was eaten alive by bed bugs - AGAIN!! Last time this happened in a very budget/sketchy "hostel" in Cinque Terre, Italy so I was not too surprised however the hostel in SF was by far the nicest we had been at thus far so I was not too impressed. 2 tubes of cortisone cream later and the ones on my face are finally fading so that I no longer look like a pubescent teenager.
One of the best parts of SF was meeting a very lovely couple from New York named Jess and Tom on the boat back from Alcatraz. They were heading to LA the following day as we were so offered us a lift (instead of taking the bus) so we would have been foolish not too accept. The ride was amazing and we were up to altitudes of over 4000 ft through the mountains. To be honest LA has by far been the biggest disappointment of the trip. It is really spread out and can be tough to get around if you don't have a car. We stayed in West Hollywood so had quite easy access to the sunset strip and Hollywood Boulevard however there are two things worth noting 1. NOBODY walks in LA so every five steps taxi's are pulling over to see if you want a lift and
2. It POURED rain for the majority of our time there. One rainy day walking down Melrose a seemingly nice chap stopped to chat with us. His name was Darwin and we soon found out he was the be all and end all of Los Angeles, not to mention he had been part of the Montreal Ballet and had lived in Vancouver, Denmark, New York, had a brother in Perth etc, etc. This all seemed innocent enough until he started telling us how he had lost 150 million dollars because someone had stolen the songs we had written for Leona Lewis, Beyonce and Amy Winehouse. Didn't you also know that he introduced Brad and Angelina?!?!? I should have known this would happen because Dan tends to attract crazy people (a ninja on an LA bus to name another) and before I knew it Darwin was dragging us by the hand into fancy boutiques and shops trying to get me to try on Isaac Mizrahi shoes (a very fancy/expensive designer grandma). Had I not been soaking wet, wearing hiking boots, smelly socks, my stinking yellow coat with bed bug bites all over my face this might have only been slightly embarrassing however I was mortified. Dan on the other hand was enjoying this man's craziness. We managed to lose him just after he told us what Oscar party he was attending.
The rest of our stay in LA was enjoyable enough and we did enjoy a nice walk down Santa Monica beach the one day it was sunny (and a not so brief stroll down the side of the Pacific Coast Highway but that's another story). We then headed to pick up our rental which ironically, was almost exactly the same as Courtney's.... good thing I have practiced driving on hers many times so I will be an old pro...
Happy birthday Jim and Jenn! love ash and dan

(photo thingy wont work...will post later)!!!

Chi town and California Dreaming

The Whirlwind across the US of A continues as I am writing this from the not so sunny Californ IA. (but more about that later...need to get the blogspot fans up to date with the trip so far).

In Chicago, we continued our sightseeing by ascending the highest building in the Western Hemisphere...Sears tower, as you can see the views of the city and of the lake were amazing. As it was clear we were told that we could see 50 miles in any direction. Unfortuneatly, that meant we still couldnt quite see our hostel....which im pretty sure was in a different state!!!

Once returning to earth we mooched around and took in the citys atmos, seeing the must sees and stuffing our faces before our flight. (with $2 dollar beers and $1 cheesburgers...the Manhatten prices are long behind us now).

So later that afternoon we flew 4 hrs to sunny San francisco...where it was raining..apparently my fault due to listening to Rhiannas Umbrella on the plane. (gotta stick wit ma girl R during these tough times). Worse news still than rhiannas slap was that once again it was time for the Yellow coat to rear its ugly head. With the rain and the coat we looked round the city and got a bite to eat then hit the sack.

Today, weather on and off all day, we went to Alcatraz which probably was the highlight of the trip so far. Amazing tour and experience...all done in a classy way (not that flashing lights and neon signs typical of america)...One thing to note was that we met an ex con...one of the 5 surviving people to have served time in the prison.....MAN was i excited, he had a book to promote and he had been hyped to be a great guy....(sorry for this Barb) but he was a real penis...grumpy and short wouldnt answer any of my questions!!!! tosser!

Times running out.....but after we caught the tram and rode up and down the streets and hills of San Fran... Here comes the first shot of the Coat;

Anyway,,,,times up but all is good and loving San Fran...its alot less serious here than on the East coast, lots of smiles and laughs.

Peace!

the goings on of Dan, Gary and Todd (and I suppose me too...)

After the adventures of the White House, the Pentagon and all the gloriousness that was Washington DC we hopped on a night train yesterday afternoon headed for the windy city.  The trip started off relatively uneventful however at around 830 or so there was some commotion at the front of our car involving a black lesbian couple (I only mention they were black because of an upcoming quote).  Apparently keys were stolen from a dining car and the employee pointed the two of them as the culprits.  You can only imagine the drama that then ensued when the "train police" asked to look through her bag and she dumped the whole thing on the ground and then proceeded to tell the "racist" employee to sift through the stuff herself.  These ladies brought a whole new meaning to the term attitude.  All the while her girlfriend proceeded to list off how much money they had and why she wouldn't need to steal from the train.  The quote "Go ahead and call my momma - shit, go call Obama" was one of the lines of the night.  Needless to say they were escorted off the train somewhere in Maryland and we continued on our journy.  During this escapade Dan and I struck up conversation with our surrounding train mates, Gary - a four time divorce and self-proclaimed cowboy from Northern Idaho and Todd, some guy who kept hinting at Dan to buy him beers (thankfully I have a bit more backbone than Dan in times like those).  They regaled us with great stories of women, bar fights, Gary's battle with "copper tunnel"and what it is like being forty-five and never having left the US of A.  I went to bed at the decent hour of 1130 as Dan had found a new BFF in Gary.  After quite a wild night we arrived in Chicago this morning.  After two amazing days of sun and warmth in Washington we arrived in the windy city to some pretty dreary weather.  We wandered around Millenium park and the magnificent mile before eating the BEST deep dish pizza ever at some place called Giordanas.  It has to be good because Oprah eats there.  We have another full day here tomorrow before we fly to San Francisco tomorrow night.

A Capital Letter.....

First time "Blogger" so bear with me........ This morning after 5 days and with mixed feelings we left NYC for Washington DC. I say mixed feelings because New york has been pretty good to us, in fact it has been great...we did so so much, however the color of Ashs' coat has meant that she has been mistaken for a cab far too often. (LOTS OF WHISTLES AND HOLLERING). Our time came to leave and we decided on the chinatown bus. This was one of the most random and surreal experiences thus far, we were accosted by a woman yesterday who it seems had supernatural senses and knew that we were travelling to DC so sold us the ticket: $20...we thought bingo, strange being chased down the street by someone knowing what you wanted and when....but convienent to say the least.

So today, with a little hesitation and no more than an address as to where the bus would be we arrive in chinatown and find an unmarked bus at sed place. There was a gathering of 4/5 people all of whom seemed to have the same idea as to the protocol we did....NO IDEA... there was no REP no Driver and noone who could guarentee where the bus was going.... so we get on around 20 min before the bus was to depart and wait it out..... 5 min later driver gets on... and leaves. Shouting in broken english (after departure 15 min early that it was indeed the DC bus).
this was the first of a comedy of errors...but my time is running out.....eeeeeekkk

Anyway, we are here in DC. And have seen most of the famous sights already... White House, Bank, Washington Monument and Capitol Hill... all while the sun was setting!! (bit of a bonus).

Tomorrow the mission is to buy Ash a Barack Obama t shirt.. :-S

Welcome to Queen's Boulevard

After visiting Madison Square Garden this morning for one fantastic tour (and the meeting of the Knicks dancer's as you will see from the great photo I snapped of the two of them - Dan thinks they look like a couple ... I beg to differ!) we headed out of Manhattan to visit Queens and Brooklyn. As you can see from the photo above Queens was definitely a far cry from the skyscrapers and many parks of Manhattan... it was more graffiti, derelict buildings and 75 cent coffees. Not that we were complaining though as we are on a budget and still had a good time getting off the beaten path. Brooklyn was amazing, full of neat shops, boutiques and cafes though Dan couldn't help but point out that we stuck out like "diamonds in the rough", and he constantly badgered me that my fluorescent yellow coat didn't help us fit in any better. We walked across the Brooklyn bridge back into Manhattan and that was definitely worth the hike.

Yesterday we toured the New York public library which was beyond amazing and puts both the Bromyard and St. marys libraries to shame as you can imagine. Last night we went to a Snowboard half pipe contest that red bull put on in the east village. The constructed a huge hill for the snowboarders to do tricks off and trucked in heaps of snow. It was pretty cool and we saw Sean White who is rather famous. Unfortunately Ross Rebigliatti wasn;t there and I have yet to hear of him since his gold medal at the olympics many moons ago. Perhaps he hangs out with Michael Phelps now ??

We are off to Washington DC tomorrow and are catching a bus from China town so hopefully dan won't get distracted by all of the "great deals" they offer us on the way by. As you can see I am not very good at posting the pictures (they are dan on the brooklyn bridge, queens graffiti and dan and the dancer - professional dancer, not stripper). Thats all for now! Have fun in Calgary mom and dad and say hi to Chris, Marla and the Rubster for me - and Kent! Love Ash and Dan

NY NY

So far Dan and I are getting slightly worried; why you may ask? Well, so far we pretty much think New York absolutely kicks ass and this is worrying because we endured a blizzard yesterday and very below freezing temperatures today and we STILL loved it. This means that every other place we visit is going to have to roll out the red carpet. We can't understand why everyone thinks this place is so busy and chaotic - I like to think it's more just pure reckless abandon. Today we took the Staten Island Ferry to see the statue of liberty and New York skyline and that was pretty much awesome. Then we went to the free taping of the David Letterman show (English translation: Late night with Jonathan Ross) and that was even better. THEN we went to the biggest used book store in New York and anyone who knows me will know that that was secretly the highlight of my day. I have to say that the big disappointments were the Hersheys and M & M stores in times square - not one free sample in sight and all of the gaudy souveneirs prompted us to ask who buys this crap? Asians. That's who.
Tomorrow we are going to check out some new areas and wander through Chinatown and Little Italy. We are also going to hit up Brooklyn because it is the new hipster area and we are both pretty hip :) Bye for now! ash and dan

Entering the blogosphere...

Hello to all! We arrived in New York safe and sound last night to find that getting to our hostel would take longer on the subway than our flight from Toronto. Nonetheless we survived alright and manged to visit Time Square and the surrounding area before hitting the sack at around 11 last night. Dan didn't take too well to his first 12 bed dorm experience so he napped this morning while I ran in Central Park. I didn't see any famous runners but it was snowing/raining quite hard so I will try again tomorrow. Today we toured around Greenwich village (very quaint and cute) and then went down to the financial district to take a look around Wall Street and ground zero. Both were rather depressing but things started looking up when we got offered free tickets to the David Letterman taping tomorrow afternoon. We don't know who the guests are but anyone who knows Dan knows he will be causing some raucous in the audience so we very well might get on TV!
The weather has been on the side of blizzard/horrendous/extremely annoying so hopefully things will look up for tomorrow! Tonight we are going to a near by comedy club owned by none other than the Jerry Seinfeld but I doubt he or Adam Sandler will drop by as the ticket seller hinted sometimes happens ...( he sure hooked Dan in though!)
Bet you didn't think I would blog so soon did you ... MOM! Love ash and dan