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.