Extra extra...

So I just wanted to thank all of you who religiously tuned in to the blog... so I figured as a reward I would post here that I am writing this from Esterhazy, SK at 2am. My sister and I have been scheming for two months now and finally I have returned to Canada a month early to surprise everyone. Hope everyone is doing great because now I actually get to see you again.

Ryan

New Zealand to Australia (again)

So last you read I was in Queenstown (beautiful small city vibe). After Milford Sound I spent the rest of my week relaxing and checking out more of the town/lake/shops. A few days later I caught a ride on my last Kiwi Experience bus to the city of Christchurch (it was a long 9 hours). When I arrived I was suppose to give James (Lori's friend) a call so that he could pick me up. However, the city of Christchurch seems to have done away with payphones, and since I had no cards on hand I ended up wandering around town for a bit. Luckily when I returned to the hostel James was there with a rough description of what I looked like and he picked me out of a sea of backpackers.
We headed out to his place (which is just outside of Christchurch) and we met up with a few of his friends from the area. And we made plans to get me out hunting wild pigs the next morning (didn't end up working out unfortunately). Instead we went over to his co-workers house to help trim some trees (using my extensive landscaping experience). After that we went to the local pool with his daughter Kara (around Ayla's age... not that I wanted that reminder). We rented some movies and I got one last chance at an authentic New Zealand roast supper (roast beef - can also be lamb or chicken - fries, gravy, pumpkin, peas & carrots, and a sweetened potato like vegetable) before James drove me to the airport at 5am. I caught my flight to Brisbane and lets say that practice makes perfect as I quickly boarded the skytrain and made it to the bus station to catch my bus to Surfers Paradise.
Surfers so far has been pretty slow as the weather hasn't been the nicest, but the hostel I am staying at has a t.v., bathroom, and balcony all in/attached to the room. I did a little souvenir shopping the other day and plan on finishing it up before I head off to my next destination which is Byron Bay in a couple of days.
Hope that everyone enjoys their Easter holidays. Take care and see you all soon.
P.S. save some perogies, cabbage rolls, diabetic saskatoon cheesecake, sweet potato & turnip bakes for when I get home.
Ryan

OKAY!

So I have 30mins of internet time so I figured that perhaps it's time I updated the old blog... I will try to make this as painless as possible, but expect this one to be a multiple sitting read.
Wellington - So I met up with Lori's friends Vonnie & Eddy for supper and a tour around some of the surrounding areas... some nice pictures of me from one of the lookouts. Later that night I met up with the three English people that I had been hanging around with recently (Jess, Chris, and Luke) for some good old fashioned lazer tag (decided to splurge since it was our last night together). The next morning I was up for my 7am ferry across Cook Straight (Cpt. Cook was the first European explorer to set foot - so you could say that my roots are actually in NZ (my moms maiden name is Cook for those of you not following)).
Picton to Nelson -
We arrived in Picton and quickly jetted off in our bus to Nelson where I was to stay for a few days. On the second day I did some trecking and made my way down to a beach (just a 45 minute walk one way... what I won't do to come home tanned). I found a landmark that said I was 7352 miles away from Vancouver... so just think of me as being next door. Aside from that the hostle in Nelson wasn't the nicest as the facility wasn't built with backpackers in mind (especially the small kitchen).
Westport / Lake Mahinapua
The next day we made a stop at Lake Rotoiti (a glacier fed lake) for the crazy ones to jump in... I chose that my health was slightly more important. For those of you who didn't know I got a bit of a head cold (I know there is no sympathy coming my direction but you want the details so here they are). I also spotted a Kiwi bird (a National symbol - but a rather ugly bird), which are typically nocturnal... but I have seen two of them in broad daylight?? The hostel in Westport (The TripInn) was beautiful and made up for Nelsons shortcomings. I went for a short jog here and quickly realized the difference in climate from Australia as my lungs felt like they filled with phlegm (again... details). The next day on our way to Lake Mahinapua we made a quick stop at Cape Foulwind. Now Cape Foulwind (so named because the person who discovered it encountered a storm in the area or a 'foul wind') is famous for its fur seal colony! Now if I am not able to be reincarnated into a koala I would like it to be known that I am okay with being a seal... they are so funny and lazy... got tons of pics! After this stop we drove a short bit to the Pancake rocks/Blowholes. Essentially these are a series of stratified limestone stacks which, over many thousand years, have been eroded to resemble a giant stack of pancakes (crepes if you ask me). Pretty cool... although the water was too calm to see the true effect of the blowholes. That night we stayed in the Lake Mahinapua Hotel (run by a 90 publican named Les), where I only had to pay $10 ($6 if you convert to Canadian dollars) for a place to sleep! We also were served an amazing meal and had a themed party that night... which 'unfortunately' I again wasn't feeling up to. Les actually only runs his hotel for the bus company that I am travelling with so it is quite an experience that not many travellers get.
Franz Josef -
On the way to Franz we stopped at Pete's Bushman's Centre (overrated and run by one of the rudest locals I have met to date... drive past if you have the choice) which educated us on how people of the bush lifestyle survive... by jumping on deer and selling them live for $2000... ask me about it for better details. Once in Franz Josef I signed up for the steepest guided GLACIER walk around! That's right... ICE and COLD... if felt like Canada. I even got to wear some crampons (spikes to help me not fall on the ice) and managed to get some really amazing pictures... reminded me what I left behind (and wasn't missing) back home.
Wanaka -
The next day on our way to Wanaka we stopped for a short hour walk around Lake Matheson... which is where you can get some amazing postcard photos as Mt. Cook (I think I explained why this is important to me earlier) reflects upon this beautifully calm, mirror-like lake. It appears like you are seeing double. In one of the pics I posted it's of a mountain upside down... it's actually a picture of the lake! Crazy I know.
Queenstown -
On the way to Queenstown... which is where I am now... we stopped at Puzzling World (aka my heaven). It has a 3D maze and loads of brain teasers and puzzles. I took on the maze and completed it in 28mins (it is supposed to take 30-60 mins... so I'm a pretty big deal). Then we made a stop at AJ Hackett's first commercial bungy jump (where Amanda and Justing took the plunge) and we watched a video explaining the science and excitement behind the sport. Pretty interesting as we got an insight into the early stages of it all.
The following day (yesterday) I went on a mountain hike. It was an ambitious hike to the summit of one of the higher mountains surrounding Queenstown (expected time it takes is 8 hours return... we gauged it taking us 6 hours... but it took under 4... but don't ask me how close to death I felt). Great exercise and worth doing (even if you break your camera trying to take a picture of yourself at the summit... disposable cameras it is!)
Today I went on a Milford Sound cruise... essentially you are on a huge body of water that was created by glacier movement... you are surrounded by mountains in every direction (again formed by glaciers... and you see some of the most breath taking scenery) But that is all for now talk to you soon. Ryan

Photos

I am trying to load some pics as we speak... I'm loading 42 we'll see how many make it on!

River Valley & Wellington

Alright so after Taupo we headed to a secluded area of NZ known as River Valley. Essentially you take a million turns down a winding road until you get to this very large cabin. It really gives you a feeling of being in the outdoors as there is no t.v., no internet, and no cell phone service for miles... Beautiful! When we first arrived it didn't take long to realize that there was a beach volleyball court so I got right on top of that. Later in the evening presented an opportunity to really get to know some of the people that you are travelling with. So far I have been making a lot of acquaintances on these bus trips, but recently I have also made a couple of friends that I will be keeping in contact with later. There is a couple from Slough, England - Jess (a teacher like me) and her boyfriend Chris (who is wickedly funny). I have pretty much been a shadow to these two recently and have enjoyed getting to know both of them (Jess came bungy jumping with me). There is also a younger traveller that has completed our 'clique' - Luke also from England. The four of us decided to do the white water rafting offered in River Valley and it was amazing... even though I fell out of the boat at one point. We got some amazing pictures and even got a chance to flip our boat three times (once we made it so that the bow went perpendicular to the river for about five seconds before flipping over... AWESOME). Since then we have done a few nature walks... and for all of you Lord of the Rings fans... I have several pictures of Mt. Doom and some of the other amazing landscape from the films (even if I haven't watched any of them).
I am now in Wellington (the capital city) and have enjoyed some of the luxuries of being in a larger centre... like cheap internet! Tomorrow I plan on doing a little more touring around before I meet up with one of Lori's friends from over here and then I will get to bed early as I have to catch a 7 a.m. ferry to the South Island the next morning. Talk to you all soon... hope to have many new adventures for you soon... and luckily for you mom none of them should involve life risking adventures.
Take care, Ryan

P.S. I miss you all too... and for the billionth time I'm not coming home early. Ha.

Oh Yeah...

I forgot to mention... but the reason that I was up so early this morning and able to write out my experiences was because I was scheduled to do an activity at 10:15 am. Oh the activity you ask... a BUNGY JUMP! It was amazing! And once again I am happy to say that I live to tell about it... plus I bought the dvd so feel free to have your stomach enter your throat when I get back home with it. It was 47 meters above a river. You had the option of a water touch... so I said yeah lets get my hands wet... only they misjudged and I came up about 3feet short... and they wonder why I didn't trust being fully submerged!
Anyways for those of you who are concerned for me you can breathe easy because this was the last of the crazy things on my list of things to do while on this vacation so relax.
As usual take care,
Ryan

New Zealand!

Okay so this is an impossible task, but I will try my best to summarize my trip so far. Started on the 8th when I arrived in NZ. I landed in Auckland and didn't get a chance to do much sight seeing but from the sounds of it I didn't miss much. Then we headed out to Mercury Bay the next day. On the way we stopped at a dormant volcano for pictures and also at Cathedral cove which is a beautiful beach with a naturally created archway. From Mercury Bay we drove to Rotorua and on this trip we did a hike through an old gold mine and and some tunnels with glow worms (worms whose poo glows to attract other insects into a sticky weblike string they lower - so they can eat... however, after leaving the larvae stage they do not develop mouths so their lives are short lived and their only job is to procreate for the next couple of days). From here we ended up in Rotorua and I took in an amazing traditional Maori cultural show... so amazing I am really glad that my trip has been equally educational for me. The next day I toured around Rotorua (which stinks of rotten eggs and burnt rubber) a location for lots of geothermal activity. I saw bubbling puddles of mud and steaming bodies of water (more exciting than it sounds) as well as a building that was erected for a coronation ceremony for Queen Victoria. After Rotorua I went to Waitomo. On the way there we took in a NZ farm show... saw/touched all 19 breeds of commercial sheeps here in NZ... watched a cow get milked and saw sheep dogs in action. Afterwards I went Blackwater rafting which is essentially hopping in a thermal wet suit and an innertube and floating along underground river systems and jumping off waterfalls (definitely recommend giving it a go). I also did an amazing walk here and saw some really cool caves and historical sites. Now I am in Taupo and have a couple of days to relax and check out the sites... likely going to check out the thermal pools today. Otherwise I am healthy and happy and will see you all before you know it... so stop counting down the painful days that you are away from me... haha.
Take care,
Ryan

Pictures

So there is a new link to get to the pictures... as I didn't remember how to access Amanda's account... so take a look at my trip thus far... and forgive me for some of the pictures and their explanations.
Take care, Ryan

Great Ocean Road

Okay... so once the manager arrived and was looking to book me into my room a group of people started talking to him about the trip they were about to take on the Great Ocean Road (which is basically a long stretch of highway along the Southern coast of Australia... with land on one side and the ocean crashing on the other side) in a few hours. Their discussion revealed that they still had room for one more person if I wanted to go along.... but I would have to make up my mind within an hour (at this point I still haven't slept). I told them that I would think about it and decided that I would have a shower before any decision... so that I could actually be semi-conscious. In addition the manager of the hostel said that since my bed wasn't ready yet anyways he wouldn't book me in yet... and if I chose to go on the trip he wouldn't charge me for the nights that I would be away (which is a rare thing for hostel owners to do). After thinking about it I decided that this trip had actually been something I planned on doing this time around in Melbourne anyways... and this way it might be a bit cheaper. Needless to say... I went on this trip... (with complete strangers - don't try this at home kids...haha). We took off at about 1pm and headed down to the coast making stops at all the scenic stops along the way (pictures will be posted soon). We decided that it would be an overnight trip (to allow for a slower pace) and so we checked into a Cabin (which was actually a box-trailer that was slightly bigger than our car... but managed to comfortably sleep all five of us... I have a picture of this too). Originally we had talked about tenting, but apparently someone read my blog because we had a mix of cold/showers for the majority of the trip (something apparently incredibly uncommon here). Aside from some of the amazing sights (the Twelve apostles (there are only 8 or 9 remaining) - which are free standing columnar rocks; the Loch Ard Gorge - a shipwreck sight) we also managed to take in some wildlife in their natural environments. I saw an achidna(sp?) digging its nose in the dirt at the Twelve Apostles, and of course we spotted several KOALAS in the trees munching on some gum leaves!!! Overall it was an unexpected twist that worked out really well. And even better than that if you do a day trip tour with a company you'll pay $90-$140, whereas, I paid under $80 and that includes my food, transportation, accommodation and a two day trip! So taking the risk saved me a good $40, and if you've seen my bank account you would be smiling like I am... haha. Anyways I am going to go and eat something... 2 days and I am on my plane to New Zealand!

Back travelling!!!

So as of yesterday I returned to the world of a world traveller. At 2pm I caught a bus out of Bunbury to Perth... then I waited around Perth until I could catch my plane which didn't take off until 1am (made a few phone calls to pass the time). Then I landed in Melbourne 3 and a half hours later... but with the time difference it was close to 7am (and I got about 30 mins of sleep on the plane). From the airport I caught a shuttle to downtown Melbourne... then I decided that it would be a good idea for me to walk the rest of the way to my hostel... let's just say that it ended up being a hour and a half walk with my forty pound backpack and my fifteen pound carry-on bag have left me with slightly sore shoulders... but I am here now and just waiting to check into my room so that I can go to sleep for a few days. Mom asked me to write about the weather... so here goes... it is hot! Not dying in the heat hot... or some of the dry heats that we can get back home... it is a very manageable heat and my tan supports that. In the three weeks that I was in Bunbury since Amanda left there was one afternoon of rain. Although from time to time it does cool off quite nice in the evenings and I even get to wear my jeans (which is a nice treat from wearing the same clothes week after week). Another interesting tidbit that I could mention to help make this seem more exciting is how they deal with money over here. First off they have all the same bills as us, but for coins they have $0.05, $0.10, $0.20, $0.50, $1, and $2 coins. You'll notice the absence of pennies... that is because everytime you buy something they just round your bill up or down to the nearest $0.05 (less change in your pocket... something Canada should look into)... they also include all taxes in sales prices so when you want to buys something you know exactly what it costs without having to do Math in your head (not that I advocate Math being taken out of your everyday life...but when you're on a budget it's nice to be able to do the easy calculations). Anyways that's about it for this side of the world. I fly over to New Zealand on Sunday which is only four days away! Take care and write to you all soon, Ryan.

Okay

Well I wish that I had some amazing news that would make this blog entry incredibly interesting; however, I don't. For the past two weeks I have been saving money and energy (in fact I don't think I've spent a cent in the past week (rent excluded). So for all of those of you worried about my financial situation I should be able to make it home alive... with all of my organs! I suppose I could give you a heads up though... on the 4th of March I fly to Melbourne (my favourite Australian city - to date) for a four day visit... then I fly over to New Zealand on the 8th for roughly four weeks... haven't quite decided on the length of the stay yet. I was a little concerned about having to finance travelling around both of the islands... that was until I checked the KiwiExperience website... they do hop-on hop-off tours (for some reason I think I have told you about this already... but I will continue anyways) I got it on sale for $500 and I will get to visit: Auckland, Mercury Bay, Rotorua, Waitomo, Taupo, River Valley, Wellington, Picton, Nelson, Westport, Lake Mahinapua, Franz Josef Glacier, Wanaka, Queenstown, and Christchurch to name the major stops. There are also a few day trips so this is sure to be an action packed month (one of the reasons I am resting up). I have already made contact with some friends of friends and am quite excited to meet some true locals and here their experiences of their country. After that month (I'm anticipating the 4th or 6th of April) I will fly over to Brisbane and do another hop-on hop-off bus trip down the East coast. This should take me up to the beginning of May and that will give me enough time to relax and enjoy Sydney before I fly back to SK (by the way the snow had better be gone when I get there)! I finally can check my e-mails on a regular basis (hint hint).... Take care and I'll post again when I don't feel so repetitive.
Ryan

safe and sound

After a few days of trains, busses, and planes I made it home safe and sound. Catch up with everyone soon.
Amanda

Not to worry...

So I did end up in Mandurah and Amanda did go to Perth :(. I spent the day looking around the city for work and a place to rent... and found little so I headed back up to Perth for a few days and decided I would look for work in the big city... but all the other backpackers had the same idea. So a few days later I headed back to... BUNBURY. I really do enjoy this town. And as luck would have it I was able to find a place to rent for cheap and it includes my food, laundry, and internet (which I use sparingly... instead I walk to town and use the internet at the library). I will be here for another couple of weeks while I look for the odd jobs to save up some money and then on March 4th I fly to Melbourne and a few days later I'm off to New Zealand!!! I am doing pretty good myself... and as for a description of the place I'm staying at mom... my room is about the size of the one back home with a double bed. There is a nice backyard, a fair sized kitchen, two other bedrooms and that's about it... I have a picture of the room and another time I may post it... until then though take care everyone.
Ryan

Quick Blurb

For everyone hearing about the disasters happening over hear (floods & fires) I am on the opposite side of the country... and SAFE. Thank you all for being concerned about me. Talk to you all soon... Amanda hope you are home safe!

All by mysel-e-elf...

Alright so as you may have guessed from the title Amanda and I have parted ways. The last week we spent enjoying the beach in Bunbury and this morning we both hopped on the bus. I got off in Mandurah (about an hour and a half out of Perth) and I plan to find work and a room to rent for the next three weeks (make a little money before I finish the last two months of my trip) and Amanda took the bus all the way up to Perth. Then tomorrow she flies to Sydney and the craziness continues for her as she makes her way back to Canada eventually. Figured I would let everyone know that we are both doing fine and that I am safe (yes mom that is directed at you). Take care everyone and I will check in soon to let you know how I am getting on.

Ryan (*note the new signature (sans Amanda))

hmmmm...

Hey Everyone,
I am trying my best to put more pictures on the blog but the computers at the library are not cooperating right now. Hoping to have a few more up before I leave.
Amanda

Margaret River

Alright... so this is the last portion of our trip that needs to be updated (with the exception of the present). So originally we headed down south so that we could look for work in a vineyard... however, for those of you who have been closely following our trip thus far you'll notice that we have the tendency of changing our minds quite rapidly... so when we realized it would be a few weeks before the grape picking season began we decided that we would only spend a week in the small country town. While there we did our best to just relax (Amanda leaves me in less than a week so we are in full vacation mode). We spent a lot of our time here reading and relaxing, with the odd jog and viewing of cricket matches. To end our week here we went on a wine tour since it is what this region of Australia is reknowned for. Although the entire time we were tasting the various wines, cheese, and chocolate we couldn't stop thinking of all of the people in our lives that would likely get more out of this. Hope everyone is well... we are currently in Bunbury... no it's not a typo we have returned to the same town so that I can try to find work. Take care... Ryan & Amanda

Bunbury/Busselton

Alright so again in an attempt to catch up the blog I will try to summarize the week and a half that we spent in Bunbury and Busselton. First off Bunbury. We booked into this small city for five days and for the most part we spent this time just relaxing and recovering after having spent almost a week in Perth. The running I am happy to announce has continued and Bunbury has a beautiful beach and many paths that we ran/hiked. As I said there are some beautiful beaches in Bunbury so we spent many afternoons basking in the sun (ask Amanda just how much time we spent in the sun -- let's just say we got a good reminder of why we wear sunscreen). In Bunbury on Wednesday evenings they have free sailing down at Koombama Bay so we took in some sailing... a lot more technical than you expect it to be. An extra bonus was the fact that everyone who was sailing could opt to race around the course at a specified time if they wanted to... being that we are competitive it wasn't even a question. Aside from a katamaram? nobody was able to pass us... therefore we have unofficially declared ourselves the VICTORS since the other boat is not in our class... and with that I have retired from the competitive world of sailing.
Now onto Busselton. We only spent three days here but we happened to select a good point to visit this small town. Aside from the chickens and less than clean hostel the town itself was very welcoming. We visited Busselton originally because of its 2 km long jetty (dock) that was used to transportgodods into the harbour from ships. In addition to this amazing walk "on" water we also caught the end of the Festival of Busselton. This is an annual festival that precedes the Australia Day weekend. There is a lot of entertainment and Amanda and I went to the crowning of the Festival Charity Queen which was announced right before the Burning of the Festival Spirit (a large man made of plaster floating on the river). At the end of the festival right before they set off the fireworks they light this giant figure on fire and let it burn to close the festival... However, the year that the Canadians came to visit it appears that the person in chart of lighting the man hopped on the stand and shifted the weight enough to tip the whole thing over in the river... so instead of seeing it go up in flames... the 2009 festival was declared closed as the Spirit was submerged in the river... quite memorable... We are now on to Margaret River next (wine country)... catch up with you all later.

*Note: in my rush last posting I forgot to mention that while in Perth we also visited the Western Australia Museum, which gave a brief look at the history of the state of Western Australia (along with a wide variety of stuffed animals -- a true taxidermist's dream) and we checked out an outdoor art show that viewed the world from above as we got to see some of the most beautiful and stricking pictures from all over the planet... along side each of these pictures was a caption that highlighted and emphasized some of the many economical, ecological and political problems that we as human beings are currently facing.

Take care and thanks for reading.

Perth (I'll try to be brief and little by little catch this thing up to speed)

Alright so after Alice Springs we headed over West to Perth. It is the last major city that we planned on visiting that we hadn't yet (that means that soon enough it will no longer be a WE in these sentences :(. ) . We arrived in Perth on the 13th and for the most part our trip to this city ended up being more of a reunion with some old faces. We first went out for lunch with our friend Nozomi, who we met in Mooloolaba. She took us out to a Japanese restaurant and Amanda tried tuna and sushi... pretty big day. Then later on in the week we met up with the Scottish girls a couple of times... even squeezed in a movie night... little things that you take for granted at home. On one of our last nights we went to one of the many Karaoke restaurants in the area and I sang a duet (which means I actually sang into a microphone! Let me just say that that took many months of preparation for me to actually do it... luckily no casualties and therefore no regrets). The next day Amanda and I took the train to Fremantle, which is a city close by, so that we could check out their market (which was decent, but we weren't overly in the mood to do any serious shopping - the town itself is very beautiful and looks like a classically restored town). Aside from that Perth was just a quick stop in our tour over here... although we did begin training in Perth. And Michelle you had better watch out because we are both planning on entering the half-marathon this year.
Miss you all terribly. Take care, Amanda & Ryan

Sorry about the delay!

Hey Folks,
I apologize for not posting pictures or updating lately but internet has been super expensive lately. I am presently trying to load pictures but I only have 5 minutes left and it is about half way done. Hopefully they all load but I doubt it. As soon as we can find some cheaper internet we will give you a more detailed report on our travels as well as some more pics.
Take Care,
Amanda
PS We are OK and travelling to Margaret River today.

Alice Springs

Well for those of you who follow our blog religiously you are in for a treat! Two posts in the same week!! Crazy I know. Well we are now in Perth and figure that it is time that we back track and update you on our tour through the Red Centre (literally the sand is red). We flew in to Alice Springs on the 8th and were immediately hit with the heat (at this time of year it gets up to 40 degrees on average) and also literally hit, mostly in the face, with FLIES! I have never been so close to going crazy in my life as I was constantly swatting flies from my face and anything else they fancy. The next day we took off for our tour at 5:45am! (We actually woke up early enough for that pick up)
This portion that explains the trip is pretty much from the brochure with a few personal insights.
1st Day - Kings Canyon - spend the day hiking (a good couple of hours up and down) the canyon, with plenty of time for the north and south walls, and a swim in the Garden of Eden waterhole (slippery rocks as you try to gracefully slide your way in to the cold/hot water that is home to many tadpoles). We have dinner (pasta & meat sauce) while viewing the sunset over the ranges (personally we enjoyed the sunset at Carlo Sandblow better). Then we slept under the stars on top of our swag (essentially a bigger version of a fully body sleeping bag with a mat inside) in our own sleeping bags (I woke up to the sight of a bull about thirty feet away from me - making a lot of noise I may add).
2nd Day - The Olgas (Kata Tjuta) & Ayers Rock (Uluru) - the morning's spent on a rewarding hike through the Valley of the Winds at Kata Tjuta. After lunch it's off to Uluru for a leisurely guided base walk around the rock and visit to the informantive cultural center. Then we watched the sunset on the rock.
3rd Day - Ayers Rock (Uluru) - did a 9km walk around about more than 3/4 of the rock's perimeter. Amanda and I did it in an hour and a half much to the surprise of our tour guide. Woot Woot! And we still managed to take about 40 pictures of the massive rock. We will be sure to post all of them soon.
After our tour was done Amanda and I spent an extra day in Alice Springs so that we could do a tour of the School of Air, which is essentially a centralized correspondence school that allows students in isolated areas of the Northern Territory to receive education. Everything is done through a live feed. The teachers teach lessons from the studio that we visited while their students follow the lesson on a computer answering/asking question over microphones, head sets, and chatrooms. It was incredibly interesting to learn about and even more refreshing to hear about how engaged the students are in their own learning - no behaviour problems and no late assignments. I may just have to come and teach here...ha. The students also have a home tutor that can be hired or just a parent that will retain weekly contact with the instructor to make sure that the student is on the right page. Really an interesting concept.

That is all that I can think of for right now off the top of my head. Hope to talk to you all soon again.
Ryan and Amanda!

Melbourne...still

Okay so while we are no longer in Melbourne we figured that we should conclude our update on all of the activities that we took part in while in Melbourne. First off on the fourth we took a day of rest after having a bit of a busy weekend with Mattea, Tim and his family. The only thing I did that day was meet up with RJ, the son of one of the teachers that I taught with in my short stint in Vibank. It's crazy how seeing someone who actually knows where Saskatchewan is can make your day.
We at some point visited an art gallery that spanned three stories and included Aborigional artwork along with some other not quite as professional artwork (or at least that is my non-educated opinion). I just can't justify hanging artwork that looks like a pile from the junkyard scattered around the floor or on a wall I guess.
We also got a chance to catch up with some of the most fun travellers that we have met to date -- the Scottish girls (who we plan to meet up with in Perth as well). Aside from meeting up with all of these people we also made it to the Queen Victoria Market, where we bought some souvenirs. However, the most exciting bargain were the strawberries and the mangoes (Amanda picked up a container of strawberries for $2 and I the thrifty shopper walked away with 20 mangoes for $5 - of which we could only eat four before feeling full -- don't worry we passed them on to the Scottish girls).
After the market we headed over to the Old Melbourne Gaol (Jail) where we got to go on several tours that landed us in the same jail house as Ned Kelly (Australia's Billy the Kid), the reenactment of his court case, and even in a padded room (more Amanda's thing I suppose). Quite and informative day if I do say so myself.
That pretty well wraps up our experience in Melbourne - very cultured, very educational, and very beautiful - one of our favorite cities to date!
We will catch you all up on our adventures in Alice Springs another day, as we have both been catching up our journals like mad this last week and are going to do our best to condence it all when our brains are functioning again. Thanks for reading!

Melbourne

Wow, this seems a bit weird. I haven't wrote on the blog since Ryan arrived. I am a lot less descriptive than Ryan so I will apologize ahead of time to both our mothers for the short blog entry.
After a rough flight due to a bit of turbulence and interesting shuttle ride we arrived safe and sound in Melbourne on the 29th of December. We have been keeping busy by visiting the different museums and art galleries in the city. On New Years Eve we walked to Federation Square to take in the festivities. Arriving at Fed. Square around 9pm we watched some traditional live music, firethrowers and acrobats. When 2009 hit there was a beautiful fireworks display which I tried to capture on my camera but it definately does not do it justice. On the way back to our hostel we ran into a bit of pepper spray. Fortunately we felt the effects early enough and got out of the area immediately. No harm done though just some runny noses and burning.
On the 3rd Mattea and Tim took us out to Inverloch to spend a few days at the beach. We stayed with Tim's family, which was so amazingly hospitable! Great ambassadors for the country! While there we watched the penguins walk up the beaches back to their burrows for the night. It was quite surreal to watch these penguins waddling up on the beaches of Australia.
We will be in Melbourne until the 8th of January before we fly to Alice Springs to do an Ayers Rock tour.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!
Ryan and Amanda