Arbay
Arbay Joined: February 26th 2006
Logged in: September 17th 2011
Logged in: September 17th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Gorge Pool
Hot Hot Hot weather for the Australian white water kayaking championships in Launceston today! the Lonnie gorge is normally a pretty laid back place where families go for a picnic, kids go for a swim, and I run most days, but today open the dam upstream and add 24,000 litres of water a second to the equation and it becomes all good fun! Apparently it is the only place in the world with class 4/5 rapids that actually flow into a city... cool The rapids are level 4/5 out of a 1-6 grade range, so they are pretty full on! quite a few competitors came to grief right in front of our viewing spot on the bank of the gorge, not sure about the sense in kayaking upside down over rocks and rapids, but a few ... read more
Main Stage 07
Yup, twas a goodie. Michael Franti & Spearhead were very much as good as we had expected, Eskimo Joe played a great set, couple of smokeys stepped up including Dan Sultan, Labjacd (lab-jacked ala Ozomatli in full flight!) Poodle, Marsh, Moo and Me in the Camper of luv caught up with lots of the folks from uni and had a ball. Throw in a Messy Kirbstar, Claire and Spidey and you have a good time just add water/beer.... Good weather, great bands, far better vibe than last year, and the bratwurst were as good as eva! ... read more
Me and tha beach
Hi, Looks like the year will end the same way it began, in a camper/tent at the Falls Festival (see journal entry no.1) with Poodle, Moo, Messy Kirby, Claire, Spidey and who knows who else..... Featuring Michael Franti, Wolfmother, Eskimo Joe, Hilltop Hoods and more, should be a cracker! These are some pics from last weekend in the caravan @ Bridport. It was a total fire ban because of the bushfires, so we were restricted to the anex and van for the evening. But, during the morning I took my trusty camera with me on a run around the town and beaches to get some pics. I got home from Ulverstone after another week of swim teaching for a couple of bevys with Shep, only to find the house deserted. A phone call, and a short ... read more
Ulverstone Pool
Ahhh, routine. Up early, off to the pool for a swim before the kids get there, teach em how to blow some bubbles and then home for a snooze or a run as the whim takes me. That's about it at the moment folks. Ulverstone is a small town located pretty much dead centre on the northern coastline of Tasmania only 15min drive either side of Devonport and Burnie, Tassies 3rd & 4th largest 'cities'. Its a neat and tidy little place where beach culture (surf & lifesaving) is pretty popular. Its not located far from Cradle Mountain (our most popular mountain range), Stanley with its giant nut (no I don't mean an oversized testicle, actually an inactive volcano with a flat top), Dismal swamp and its giant slide which winds down a massive slope into ... read more
Abe, Adam & Erin
Hiya, continuing with some blog enteries for the good people abroad, trying to entice them into a trip or two to Aus/Tassie with some sights from home. Please feel free to remove yourself from the mailing list if your sick of me clogging up pefectly good email space.... otherwise cheers! Been an interesting week settling back into the swing of Tassie life, very layed back... Figured a good way to run out all those Grand Final beers was to enter the Burnie 10, the "premier" 10km road race in Australia! Being a B10 virgin I headed off excitedly on Sunday morning to the chilly North West coast, about a 90 minute drive from my home in Launceston. This year was the largest field in the races history (helped by favourable weather) with a field of just ... read more
Fed Square AFL exhibit
Gday guys, Transit police. Friendly folk they are. Dion and I were were travelling home from a GF function in the city @ Nate Browns pub when we were nabbed for putting our feet on the seat. Are you serious?!?!?! Being that we were slightly lubricated we attempted to wrangle our way out of the charges, but when it was evident that we were no chance the smartarse comments came out. Dions claims of needing to elevate the lower extremities due to intermittant Claudication were recorded, the officers refused to believe that my mailing address was 820 2nd Ave Calgary and suggested that I might like to be arrested for providing false info. Ha! Anyway, that aside I spent a nice few days recovering in Melbourne with Dion, Amanda and Emily. Emily is a cutie, walking ... read more
Flames Game: Goal!!!
Hi Guys, Just landed in sunny Melbourne a couple hours ago, greeted at the gate by the grin of one D. Mitchell, and was I glad to see him! I had left home in Cowtown about 32 hours earlier, and it was a bit of a trek.... My last few days in Calgary were pretty busy, taking in my first Flames game thanks to the generousity of Grant, seeing off Matty back to NZ, hitting the zoo for a nice afternoon 'date' with Muks, another keg party (minus the keg stands this time...) with Lynn and Brandon, and a big night out @ the cricket dinner. The flames game with Grant was awesome, the Saddledome holds aboot 20,000 people I believe and despite it being a practice match, it was a great game against arch rivals ... read more
Freezing Cavs
Hi Guys, Well, only 7 sleeps to go till I touch down in sunny Melbourne! Been pretty busy the last week playing cricket with eskimo's, making curling look like brain surgery and giving Matt a decent send off... Last monday the temp was about 27 deg, sunny and beautiful, by Saturday morning it was -3deg with wind chill, and Matt and I set off to Riley Park in search of the mercy rule. It wasn't to be. Despite making a point to wear 3 tea-shirts and (i shit you not) 5 jumpers & 3 beanies, some genius decided that the game would go ahead. I will never again complain about playing in cold weather! we scrambled to 140 odd in our 40 overs, a fair target considering the conditions. St Johns did their best to ... read more
St Andrew's by the Lake
Hi guys, I was waiting to get all of our awesome pics from this trip before i posted, but G & G & M are slackers and haven't passed 'em on yet... keep an eye out. Not entirely sure what is wrong with people in this country but they actually get excited about the prospect of driving 700+ Kms across the country to sleep in a tent beside a lake! Grant, Giovanna, Matt, Maria and I set out on a rainy & cold 6deg Thursday morning in Cow-Town headed West for Penticton, a "small" town (of about 70,000) around 400kms inland of Vancouver and 50kms North of the US border with Washington. All was well until around 30minutes into the journey when 2 cars tried to put us into the snow ditch seperating the dual ... read more
Major League Baseball
Flip a coin. If its heads I'll jump a flight to LAX and get my butt home in time for GF day... Tails says I stick around to see a little snow, skiing, and the Flames go at it... Not sure what to do. I have had a fantastic time and it seems a shame to 'cut and run' when there is still so much to see and do. But at the same time finding a job I would actually enjoy & that I'm qualified for is proving elusive. Spent an enjoyable morning with the folks at Canadian Immigration today, the conclusion reached is that I would be more than welcome to teach here in around 4 months after medicals, police checks and paper work have been approved. Yeah, cheers guys. Basically I can't work ... read more
