http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Trish-Code/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Trish Code en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:18:42 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:18:42 +0000 What a month and Spring is officially hereThe flowers are starting to bloom the evening sea breeze is now warm and you can smell jasmine in the air ahhhhh. Although winter is not hard to take especially after Canadian winters itrsquos still a relief to feel the warmth again and to have the days getting longer. After a month of complete and utter gluttony in Canada I faced the City 2 http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Jervis-Bay/blog-439002.html Well this is probably my last blog entry before Canada Since winter has set in life has been a little less hectic and a little more relaxed. So letrsquos see April and May....visiting with friends and family Mudgee Wine and Food Festival in Manly I bought a sewing machine found a yoga class and a friend to go with said bon voyage to good friends Dale and Samina who are off on a year http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-412419.html And the cleanest air in the whole worldWow. I had to dig out my trip journal to write this part of the blog since we packed so much activity into our 5 days there. WARNING Lots of pictures I couldn't bring myself to cut out any moreOther than where I was going and to pack all my warm clothes the trip was a complete surprise I woke up on Thursday morning in Hobart as Mattrsquos grinni http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/blog-387730.html February and March have passed like a flash as always. I feel like Irsquom living every day I just need more days Some random fun things around at the momentThey are filming Australiarsquos Biggest Loser Couples here in Manly at North Head. I can actually see their training grounds from my bedroom window. Kind of funny to think they are running this TV show a few kms away....hasnr http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Jervis-Bay/blog-387724.html Ok application is in Mine and 33999 others for The Hamilton Island Caretaker Job The Best Job in the World It was really fun making the video application THANK YOU MATT and someone has to win right And this time here is all about getting out of my comfort zoneHere are the detailsThe official website is httpwww.islandreefjob.comaboutthejobTo see my video go to httpwww. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Whitsundays/Daydream-Island/blog-376090.html I didnrsquot expect to be starting out this blog entry on such a tragic note but given the events of last weekend itrsquos hard to think of anything else. The bush fires in Victoria have devastated families businesses and whole towns a complete tragedy. Itrsquos something not many people can comprehend even if you are Australian but itrsquos hard to compare it to anything Irsquov http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide/blog-372254.html As I sit here on holiday yes again I thought I'd make one last blog entry for 2008. 3M Australia like many other companies has asked everyone to take their vacation days for financial reasons. I have no problem with that it's only a matter of deciding what to do with them Luckily I received my company car just in time a brand new Honda Civic Hybrid. She's no 1995 Civic Coupe but I do http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Manly/blog-352687.html So it's been pretty much nonstop since my September visit to Canada then to Vanuatu. In between the trip and returning to real life work laundry groceries we celebrated Melbourne Cup Day and squeezed a weekend hike on the six foot track. Tuesday November 4th is Melbourne Cup Day and a big day in the state of Victoria they get the whole day off but also a pretty big day in Australia. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Manly/blog-352656.html It's almost Christmas and this entry has been sitting in the queue for a while so it's a bit dated....I only realized today that it has been exactly one year since I landed on the beach in Australia with no place to live and not knowing a soul. I'll never forget my first 5 days of 'waking up' in the Collaroy hostel a beach about 10 minutes up the coast from Manly. And so it has been a year. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Collaroy/blog-352659.html Vanuatu not just the a of SurvivorWarning this entry contains a ridiculous number of photos I was going to break it up into two entries but well whatever...We arrived at the Port Vila airport on the island of Efate in the early afternoon and Chris Mattrsquos cousin was there to meet us whew. Chris is an expat Australian works for ANZ Bank and agreed to let us stay with him whi http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-337566.html Another big goal completed The City2Surf run on August 10 2008 sponsored by the Sydney Morning Herald was a total blast It was way more fun than I had expected. I read about the running race in my Lonely Planet Guide to Sydney before I came and the incentive....my name in the newspaper if I finishedI have to admit I was nervous leading up to the 14km race. Although the training schedule p http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Murwillumbah/blog-316681.html Well that was a close one. If someone had of called my bluff I would have been back in Canada by now Luckily I wasnrsquot in Sydney on July 27 when rumours of snow were flying around. Earlier this year when I was whining about the weather not living up to my unrealistic expectations I said outloud with witnesses ldquoThatrsquos it if it snows in Sydney Irsquom outta here.rdquo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Blue-Mountains/blog-308190.html So 'World Youth Day 2008' httpwww.wyd2008.org the week commuters have been dreading has just wrapped up here in Sydney. Ugh. It ended up to be over a week of more than 200000 'pilgrims' from all over the world taking over the City and surrounds the sidewalks the parks the transportation the markets everywhere. Basically we've been told months ago to avoid the City and if you http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Manly/blog-300453.html Check out some of these videos we took while on vacation hopefully they workIt seems that depending on your computer and video setup they can be a little blurry. May have to get myself a new camera... http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Ningaloo-Reef/blog-288240.html Ningaloo Reef My vacation from my holidayWe spent Tuesday night in Balmain with Mattrsquos Aunt and had a delicious dinner and were a little closer to the airport for the 6am redeye flight to Perth that means up at 445 am. It was an uneventful day of travelling to get from Sydney to Perth to Exmouth 1270 km North of Perth. We stepped off the plane in Exmouth into the hot humid sunshi http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Ningaloo-Reef/blog-287114.html It's been a great month Lots of ocean related updates for you...Last Friday Matt got tickets for the Sydney Showboat Dinner Cruise So I rushed home to find a bunch of cars parked haphazardly at the end of Addison Road in front of our apartment. My guess which turned out to be right was that the humpback whales were in town The peninsula on which we live is a great place to have a look http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Manly/blog-286313.html Canberra the capital of Australia does not usually make the list of 'Places I'd like to see in Australia' however I eagerly accepted Matt's offer to meet him while he was there on business. He did live in Canberra for a bit and thought we could spend the weekend seeing the sites. It's a 3 hour drive South of Sydney or a really short flight. I chose to fly Friday night and drive back with Matt http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Australian-Capital-Territory/Canberra/blog-286305.html My laptop was acting up and the repair has wiped out my camera software so no pics this time except for some that Matt took on his phone. Hopefully I will figure something out for the next entry and be able to get the pictures off my camera. This also meant that I wasnrsquot able to SKYPE for the last few weeks. If you donrsquot have SKYPE www.skype.com you should get it Then we c http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Coffs-Harbour/blog-276431.html As you are seeing the light of Spring in Canada we are heading into Fall or Autumn as it is called here which makes me wonder where the term Fall came from leaves Anyway... I hate to say it but I might miss some of my fall clothes. As I was packing for Australia it didn't really enter into my thoughts that I might not be on the beach every day in 30C sunshine. Sydney weather seems to be http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Palm-Beach/blog-263543.html Time is just flying by all of a sudden it is Easter Weekend and Bluesfest time httpwww.bluesfest.com.au Here in Australia the school kids have a couple weeks off and we get both Friday and Monday off from work but that wasnrsquot quite enough time to get to the Bluesfest 2008 aka Byron Bay East Coast Blues Roots Festival so I took Thursday off too. Byron Bay is a famous beach and http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Byron-Bay/blog-259177.html