Mushy Mallow, a chocolate covered marshmallow from Western Australia, was desparate for a makeover. Covered in Mission Brown House paint and an interior of has been 1970’s print fabrics, she needed it desperately. So with the help of this makeover and all of the lovely people involved, she would become a hot commodity!
Let’s see what she had done:
****MECHANICAL****
1.) New (and under warranty) 2.0L Engine (only 20,000km on it)
2.) Rebuilt 4 speed transmission
3.) New clutch
4.) New Starter
5.) Rebuilt Throttle Body
6.) New suspension
7.) New Tyres
8.) New oil/oil filter
9.) Repaired pop-top struts
10.) Fabricated new passenger window lock
11.) Repaired rear license plate lights and welded on new latch
12.)
****INTERIOR****
1.) New carpet
2.) New paint (water based so there is no noxious smell!)
3.) New upholstery for cushions
4.) New blinds
5.) New Hinges for storage area
6.) Re-fabricated Windshield washer bucket and bracket mount
7.) New hinges/mount for glove box
8.) Seal repair done to fridge
****EXTERIOR****
1.) Rust free (all rust has been removed, cut out, ground off, re-welded and filled!)
2.) Beautiful New Paint (1 pack Acrylic Lacquer from Paint City, color codes and touch up paint included)
3.) Completely redone wheels/rims with matching bolts!
Now let’s meet Luscious Lollie!
Lucious Lollie
Keep the love coming!!
Tara and Jonathan
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Raining in Bed!
What is hot, sticky, and gets rained on while lying in bed? The World Ramblers!
Yes it is true! Our delightful little van has decided to show us another one of its challenges. Our pop top on the van leaks especially during the huge downpours that we have been having everyday and all night in Cairns. Jonathan and I agreed that was the first time we had ever been rained on while lying in bed, hope it never happens again!
So we are now in Cairns up in the Northern part of Australia and we are enjoying it very much! We even got to get into a salt water swimming lagoon right off the Esplanade! We have taken refuge in the shaded parts of the lagoon almost every day we have been here! It really is a fabulous city!
We took a trip up a little farther north to Cape Tribulation. We really wanted to be able to explore the Daintree Rainforest, which is a Wet Tropics World Heritage site. It was wonderful. We stopped at the Daintree Discovery Center which had loads of great information on the different types of plants, animals, and other life in the rainforest. We were fortunate enough to spot a large Cassowarie bird off the side of the road. They are a huge black flightless bird, with a helmet structure on their heads and bright blue and red warblers. Jonathan went swimming and caught a turtle in the big swimming holes which are crocodile free and safe to swim in! We had local ice cream at the Daintree Ice Cream Factory, four delicious flavors; macadamia, blueberry, jack fruit and something else that we just cannot remember! All of that in just two days in the rainforest! After the Daintree we spent a night at Tinaroo Lake which was absolutely beautiful. However, the mozzies were so thick we couldn’t stay for more than one night.
We than headed back to Cairns and ended up staying at a really nice caravan park. It was actually a “Resort Tourist Park.” It was certainly the nicest place we have slept and showered since we have been on the road. They had a really nice pool and free mini golf and really nice facilities. They even offered free water aerobics which Jonathan and I went to while we were there! And of course when you are in Cairns you at least have to get out to the Great Barrier Reef…and so we went!
We decided to do a 2 day/1night live aboard with the same company that did Jonathan’s Advanced Open Water Certification back in 2002. Jonathan of course was diving and I was going to do some snorkeling. We spent the first day on Reef Quest and Jonathan did two dives and I went snorkeling twice! Okay so here is the most impressive part. Most of the time when I snorkel I get a little freaked out and have some trouble breathing for the first little bit and I won’t go out into the water unless someone is holding my hand. This time I didn’t have Jonathan there since he was out diving and I figured if I wanted to see the reef I was going to have to JUST GET IN. And so I did. I jumped off the back of the boat all by myself, I didn’t panic and I swam around on the reef for a little over an hour the first time! Of course there were a ton of other snorkelers around the boat but I got over a lot of my huge fears and did it by myself! Damn I’m a big girl! Throughout my snorkeling I got to see lots of turtles and tons of beautiful fish and amazing colonies of coral!!! And I even saw a shark! Ahh! I was so excited I squealed into my mask! You are SUPPOSED to keep calm and not make any noise, yeah whatever I was so excited! And for the record you could definitely get a great feel for the reef even if you are just snorkeling! Jonathan did a total of seven dives over the course of two days but I will let him tell you all about his experience and what he saw! *enter Jonathan* The diving was amazing as expected. The corals here and sea life are truly second to none and at this point I feel quite comfortable saying that! I shot some pretty good pics and vids of the underwater world including 3 new species (to me) of nudibranchs and several underwater worms! They are hard to spot but you’ll see that they’ve some of the most amazing colorations ever! My night dive was spectacular as I got to witness Travelli’s hunting by the light of our underwater torches. They were whisking so close to me that a couple of times they actually brushed my sides and shot out between my legs! WHOA! I also perfected my buoyancy and completely ditched my weight belt! But despite the massive quantities of fish, sharks, corals, urchins, nudibranchs I was most amazed at Tara – snorkellin’ all over creation SOLO in the Great Barrier Reef! She saw sharks AND turtles before I did and even pointed a turtle out to me when I came out to meet her. I’m way proud of her Well that’s it, the boat life was good and the bed was a welcome reprieve from the van! *Jonathan out*
There is so much rain up in Northern Queensland. Enough that we are stopped in traffic waiting for the tide to go out so that we can hopefully get through the town and continue heading down South. But you will know we will made it safely it you are reading the blog! And the fact that it took us two weeks to get this blog onto our site…oops!
http://picasaweb.google.com/WorldRamblers/TripToTheGreatBarrierReef?authkey=Vol7C1sjFFw
Yes it is true! Our delightful little van has decided to show us another one of its challenges. Our pop top on the van leaks especially during the huge downpours that we have been having everyday and all night in Cairns. Jonathan and I agreed that was the first time we had ever been rained on while lying in bed, hope it never happens again!
So we are now in Cairns up in the Northern part of Australia and we are enjoying it very much! We even got to get into a salt water swimming lagoon right off the Esplanade! We have taken refuge in the shaded parts of the lagoon almost every day we have been here! It really is a fabulous city!
We took a trip up a little farther north to Cape Tribulation. We really wanted to be able to explore the Daintree Rainforest, which is a Wet Tropics World Heritage site. It was wonderful. We stopped at the Daintree Discovery Center which had loads of great information on the different types of plants, animals, and other life in the rainforest. We were fortunate enough to spot a large Cassowarie bird off the side of the road. They are a huge black flightless bird, with a helmet structure on their heads and bright blue and red warblers. Jonathan went swimming and caught a turtle in the big swimming holes which are crocodile free and safe to swim in! We had local ice cream at the Daintree Ice Cream Factory, four delicious flavors; macadamia, blueberry, jack fruit and something else that we just cannot remember! All of that in just two days in the rainforest! After the Daintree we spent a night at Tinaroo Lake which was absolutely beautiful. However, the mozzies were so thick we couldn’t stay for more than one night.
We than headed back to Cairns and ended up staying at a really nice caravan park. It was actually a “Resort Tourist Park.” It was certainly the nicest place we have slept and showered since we have been on the road. They had a really nice pool and free mini golf and really nice facilities. They even offered free water aerobics which Jonathan and I went to while we were there! And of course when you are in Cairns you at least have to get out to the Great Barrier Reef…and so we went!
We decided to do a 2 day/1night live aboard with the same company that did Jonathan’s Advanced Open Water Certification back in 2002. Jonathan of course was diving and I was going to do some snorkeling. We spent the first day on Reef Quest and Jonathan did two dives and I went snorkeling twice! Okay so here is the most impressive part. Most of the time when I snorkel I get a little freaked out and have some trouble breathing for the first little bit and I won’t go out into the water unless someone is holding my hand. This time I didn’t have Jonathan there since he was out diving and I figured if I wanted to see the reef I was going to have to JUST GET IN. And so I did. I jumped off the back of the boat all by myself, I didn’t panic and I swam around on the reef for a little over an hour the first time! Of course there were a ton of other snorkelers around the boat but I got over a lot of my huge fears and did it by myself! Damn I’m a big girl! Throughout my snorkeling I got to see lots of turtles and tons of beautiful fish and amazing colonies of coral!!! And I even saw a shark! Ahh! I was so excited I squealed into my mask! You are SUPPOSED to keep calm and not make any noise, yeah whatever I was so excited! And for the record you could definitely get a great feel for the reef even if you are just snorkeling! Jonathan did a total of seven dives over the course of two days but I will let him tell you all about his experience and what he saw! *enter Jonathan* The diving was amazing as expected. The corals here and sea life are truly second to none and at this point I feel quite comfortable saying that! I shot some pretty good pics and vids of the underwater world including 3 new species (to me) of nudibranchs and several underwater worms! They are hard to spot but you’ll see that they’ve some of the most amazing colorations ever! My night dive was spectacular as I got to witness Travelli’s hunting by the light of our underwater torches. They were whisking so close to me that a couple of times they actually brushed my sides and shot out between my legs! WHOA! I also perfected my buoyancy and completely ditched my weight belt! But despite the massive quantities of fish, sharks, corals, urchins, nudibranchs I was most amazed at Tara – snorkellin’ all over creation SOLO in the Great Barrier Reef! She saw sharks AND turtles before I did and even pointed a turtle out to me when I came out to meet her. I’m way proud of her Well that’s it, the boat life was good and the bed was a welcome reprieve from the van! *Jonathan out*
There is so much rain up in Northern Queensland. Enough that we are stopped in traffic waiting for the tide to go out so that we can hopefully get through the town and continue heading down South. But you will know we will made it safely it you are reading the blog! And the fact that it took us two weeks to get this blog onto our site…oops!
http://picasaweb.google.com/WorldRamblers/TripToTheGreatBarrierReef?authkey=Vol7C1sjFFw
Friday, February 1, 2008
East Coast Journey!
Knock knock
Who’s there?
The Police
Ah hell…
and that’s how we started our day a few days ago. I suppose you’re somewhat of a bonafide wanderer once you’ve been told by the local police you’re getting a warning for parking overnight in a ‘no overnight’ zone. The fine for this is $375. Ouch! Get just one of those bad boys and so much for saving money on a room by sleeping in your van. Tara and I have been movin’ on up in the world, instead of carrying our home we now drive around in it. We eat where we sleep, we sleep where we wash, we wash where we sit and we sit where we cook. We have one room, it is our livingkitchendiningbathbedroom, it sits on 6 tyres and once you add two people it is about the size 2.5fleas x @$# I just hit my head. This makes dorm room living feel like the 100th floor penthouse spread. Welcome to Australia on a shoestring. After working for a week, Evan and I made so many improvements to the van it’s crazy! New tyres, mounts, brackets, rivets, sides, hinges, battery – you name it and it’s been done! Tara and I are lovin’ it and guess what? We just got electricity in our house! Yup, a whole 300 watts @ 240 volts is flowing like soy milk and organic honey from our 2nd deep cycle battery. WOW! That trickle charged juice can run a 15cm fan at night, charge a laptop or even a camera battery. CRIKEY! We’ve retrofitted our water system and we now have a portable shower with a whole 5 gallons of water. That’s like enough water for four whole showers. CLEAN!
So aside from fixing up our home we’ve been enjoying our time in Oz very much. We’ve covered about 2500 miles and still have another 300 to go before we reach our costal destination, the city of Cairns. After that we’ll have covered the entire east coast and will head to the outback. The beaches have been beautiful and we’ve really enjoyed Queensland. As we have moved up the coast though we’ve encountered a harsh reality of summer here…jellyfish. The little bastards are about the size of a chicken bullion cube and their stings can be fatal. The other day we were camping next to the beach and I got in the water. I noticed a strange looking fenced in area down the way. It looked like a dog run and everything else was deserted. I entered the water to my waist and then got out quickly because I got a bad feeling (I always listen to that feeling). I went and asked a local and guess what? You can only swim in the fenced area because there are crocodiles. Did I mention this is the ocean? I love wave crashing and I love diving b/c I feel I like I belong in the ocean and can synchronize with it. But walking in and swimming on some deserted stretch like a lunatic just isn’t my idea of fun. You know what kind of people do that? Food. There’s the tropics for ya– sure the picture looks pretty but everything bites, stings, pushes, punches and scrapes like a barbed-wire tumble weed in a hurricane. We are both excited for the Great Barrier Reef though! We’ve visited the Ginger Beer Factor, Ginger Processing plants, the Crocodile Hunter’s Zoo and much more. It’s the little gems that shine like finding the Alaskan Malamute breeders at a random rest stop or the best meat pies ever! Well that’s all for now – we’ll write again soon enjoy the pictures!!
Jonathan and Tara
Australia Part Deux
Who’s there?
The Police
Ah hell…
and that’s how we started our day a few days ago. I suppose you’re somewhat of a bonafide wanderer once you’ve been told by the local police you’re getting a warning for parking overnight in a ‘no overnight’ zone. The fine for this is $375. Ouch! Get just one of those bad boys and so much for saving money on a room by sleeping in your van. Tara and I have been movin’ on up in the world, instead of carrying our home we now drive around in it. We eat where we sleep, we sleep where we wash, we wash where we sit and we sit where we cook. We have one room, it is our livingkitchendiningbathbedroom, it sits on 6 tyres and once you add two people it is about the size 2.5fleas x @$# I just hit my head. This makes dorm room living feel like the 100th floor penthouse spread. Welcome to Australia on a shoestring. After working for a week, Evan and I made so many improvements to the van it’s crazy! New tyres, mounts, brackets, rivets, sides, hinges, battery – you name it and it’s been done! Tara and I are lovin’ it and guess what? We just got electricity in our house! Yup, a whole 300 watts @ 240 volts is flowing like soy milk and organic honey from our 2nd deep cycle battery. WOW! That trickle charged juice can run a 15cm fan at night, charge a laptop or even a camera battery. CRIKEY! We’ve retrofitted our water system and we now have a portable shower with a whole 5 gallons of water. That’s like enough water for four whole showers. CLEAN!
So aside from fixing up our home we’ve been enjoying our time in Oz very much. We’ve covered about 2500 miles and still have another 300 to go before we reach our costal destination, the city of Cairns. After that we’ll have covered the entire east coast and will head to the outback. The beaches have been beautiful and we’ve really enjoyed Queensland. As we have moved up the coast though we’ve encountered a harsh reality of summer here…jellyfish. The little bastards are about the size of a chicken bullion cube and their stings can be fatal. The other day we were camping next to the beach and I got in the water. I noticed a strange looking fenced in area down the way. It looked like a dog run and everything else was deserted. I entered the water to my waist and then got out quickly because I got a bad feeling (I always listen to that feeling). I went and asked a local and guess what? You can only swim in the fenced area because there are crocodiles. Did I mention this is the ocean? I love wave crashing and I love diving b/c I feel I like I belong in the ocean and can synchronize with it. But walking in and swimming on some deserted stretch like a lunatic just isn’t my idea of fun. You know what kind of people do that? Food. There’s the tropics for ya– sure the picture looks pretty but everything bites, stings, pushes, punches and scrapes like a barbed-wire tumble weed in a hurricane. We are both excited for the Great Barrier Reef though! We’ve visited the Ginger Beer Factor, Ginger Processing plants, the Crocodile Hunter’s Zoo and much more. It’s the little gems that shine like finding the Alaskan Malamute breeders at a random rest stop or the best meat pies ever! Well that’s all for now – we’ll write again soon enjoy the pictures!!
Jonathan and Tara
Australia Part Deux
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Mission: Get to Cooroy!
Jonathan and I began our road trip with the mission to get to Cooroy, Queensland. It was a 3000 km journey but we had a great time and our little van was even better than we could have imagined!
Before we began our trip up North Jonathan and I decided to venture out West and see the Great Ocean Road. The Great Ocean Road, known as the Surfcoast Highway, runs along the Southeast Coast of Australia. We took this drive because of the outstanding views of the Australia coast and the unique rock formations found in that area. It was the beginning of a really long road trip in our new little van.
We camped in beach parking lots with other campervans or in the rainforests at designated camping spots. We found a delightful camp site outside of Lorne that had a little lake where the Kookaburras were fishing for Yabbies, otherwise known as crawfish. We drove along stopping at all of the lookout points, exploring lots of little walks down to the beach. In Victoria, due to the drought they have been having for quite some time, the black sand flies are overwhelming. They are everywhere and have no problem risking their lives at the chance to be ingested at any moment when you may smile or laugh or even try to talk.
We stopped at Apollo Bay to view the 12 Apostles. They are large limestone rock formations amongst the swirling waters of the ocean. They are massive in size and lovely to photograph. We ventured down to the beaches to be able to take photos up close and had a good time goofing off and playing on the beach. We stopped at a cheese factory to buy some cheese and wine which is our newest and favorite indulgence!
We visited Loch Ard Gorge which became a grave for the Loch Ard ship that wrecked there quite some years ago. There was a place called Thunder Cave which was the opening from the ocean to a long tunnel which lead to a saltwater lake about 100 meters inland from the ocean. The tunnel makes loud noises that sound similar to thunder as the waves rush through the tunnel and into the blowhole!
After our adventure on the Great Ocean Road we began our massive drive up to the state of Queensland, where my Grandpa’s wife, Alyce, was up at her sister and brother in laws house about an hour and half North of Brisbane. Family in Australia! WOOHOO! Of course the Eastern coast is the most traveled part of Australia and there is lots to see. We didn’t get to enjoy it this time but we will be traveling back down towards Melbourne after our trip up the coast to Cairns.
We made a few stops in little seaside towns and enjoyed the beach and the waves. Well… Jonathan enjoyed them, enough so that he volunteered his sunglasses as a parting gift. I, tried to get in only to have my swimsuit prove that it is not sturdy enough to withstand the waves…like a PG-13 take on the Waterbabies sunscreen bottle…oops. Enough waves for me.
We spent a day in Sydney on the hottest day of our road trip! We played in the fountains by Darling Harbor, enjoyed Starbucks on the water, went to Paddy’s market and visited the Sydney Aquarium. We did not make it to the Opera House but we will be back to visit within the next month.
Drive, Drive, Drive…… got new carpet for the van and installed it ourselves…Drive, Drive, Drive….
Finally, last Tuesday after about a week of driving we arrived at Rosella Roo which is the name of Daryl and Lynette’s property! It was absolutely breathtaking! They have made themselves a beautiful retreat out here! It was wonderful to meet new people and make new friends and be able to spend time with Alyce! Also at the house were Ronald and Sybil, Alyce and Lynette’s father and step mom, Evan and Les, caretakers and friends extraordinaire. They took us to Massimos, which is the best Gelato we have ever tasted! Jonathan was in heaven because Daryl let him use his shop to work on the van. Not only did he get to use the shop but Evan who happens to be allknowing when it comes to these “fix it” projects has been helping him out! The van got its pop top hinges fixed, rusted parts grinded away from the side and replaced new riveted sheet metal, 4 new tires on the rear (yes it has 6 in total) and we are getting ready to install a 2nd deep cycle battery for our fridge and fan! It already looks much better! We played endless games of SkipBo, had wonderful culinary journeys and experiments in the kitchen, shared favorite moments of Grandpa and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!
Oz East Coast - First 3500km.
Before we began our trip up North Jonathan and I decided to venture out West and see the Great Ocean Road. The Great Ocean Road, known as the Surfcoast Highway, runs along the Southeast Coast of Australia. We took this drive because of the outstanding views of the Australia coast and the unique rock formations found in that area. It was the beginning of a really long road trip in our new little van.
We camped in beach parking lots with other campervans or in the rainforests at designated camping spots. We found a delightful camp site outside of Lorne that had a little lake where the Kookaburras were fishing for Yabbies, otherwise known as crawfish. We drove along stopping at all of the lookout points, exploring lots of little walks down to the beach. In Victoria, due to the drought they have been having for quite some time, the black sand flies are overwhelming. They are everywhere and have no problem risking their lives at the chance to be ingested at any moment when you may smile or laugh or even try to talk.
We stopped at Apollo Bay to view the 12 Apostles. They are large limestone rock formations amongst the swirling waters of the ocean. They are massive in size and lovely to photograph. We ventured down to the beaches to be able to take photos up close and had a good time goofing off and playing on the beach. We stopped at a cheese factory to buy some cheese and wine which is our newest and favorite indulgence!
We visited Loch Ard Gorge which became a grave for the Loch Ard ship that wrecked there quite some years ago. There was a place called Thunder Cave which was the opening from the ocean to a long tunnel which lead to a saltwater lake about 100 meters inland from the ocean. The tunnel makes loud noises that sound similar to thunder as the waves rush through the tunnel and into the blowhole!
After our adventure on the Great Ocean Road we began our massive drive up to the state of Queensland, where my Grandpa’s wife, Alyce, was up at her sister and brother in laws house about an hour and half North of Brisbane. Family in Australia! WOOHOO! Of course the Eastern coast is the most traveled part of Australia and there is lots to see. We didn’t get to enjoy it this time but we will be traveling back down towards Melbourne after our trip up the coast to Cairns.
We made a few stops in little seaside towns and enjoyed the beach and the waves. Well… Jonathan enjoyed them, enough so that he volunteered his sunglasses as a parting gift. I, tried to get in only to have my swimsuit prove that it is not sturdy enough to withstand the waves…like a PG-13 take on the Waterbabies sunscreen bottle…oops. Enough waves for me.
We spent a day in Sydney on the hottest day of our road trip! We played in the fountains by Darling Harbor, enjoyed Starbucks on the water, went to Paddy’s market and visited the Sydney Aquarium. We did not make it to the Opera House but we will be back to visit within the next month.
Drive, Drive, Drive…… got new carpet for the van and installed it ourselves…Drive, Drive, Drive….
Finally, last Tuesday after about a week of driving we arrived at Rosella Roo which is the name of Daryl and Lynette’s property! It was absolutely breathtaking! They have made themselves a beautiful retreat out here! It was wonderful to meet new people and make new friends and be able to spend time with Alyce! Also at the house were Ronald and Sybil, Alyce and Lynette’s father and step mom, Evan and Les, caretakers and friends extraordinaire. They took us to Massimos, which is the best Gelato we have ever tasted! Jonathan was in heaven because Daryl let him use his shop to work on the van. Not only did he get to use the shop but Evan who happens to be allknowing when it comes to these “fix it” projects has been helping him out! The van got its pop top hinges fixed, rusted parts grinded away from the side and replaced new riveted sheet metal, 4 new tires on the rear (yes it has 6 in total) and we are getting ready to install a 2nd deep cycle battery for our fridge and fan! It already looks much better! We played endless games of SkipBo, had wonderful culinary journeys and experiments in the kitchen, shared favorite moments of Grandpa and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!
Oz East Coast - First 3500km.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Tasmania!!!
After four and a half months in Asia we finally landed in the wonderful world of Oz! Australia that is! The Western world has never seemed so fabulous!!! We met Catherine, Jonathan’s mom in the airport in Melbourne and hopped on a plane to head to Tasmania, a little island off the Southern coast of the mainland!
Tasmania was wonderful! Catherine had rented a car so we had freedom to explore and go anywhere on the island. The first day we drove through the Northern part of Tasmania from Launceston to Devonport. We stopped and got fresh cherries, raspberries, went to a cheese factory and a bakery! One of the things we were most excited about in traveling to Australia was that we would have access to dairy and wonderful dairy products. We hadn’t had good quality cheese or milk since we had left the US! Yum!
We continued to travel around the coast taking in the beautiful landscape and keeping our eyes open for any signs of wildlife! We explored parts of Cradle Mountain National Park and walked around Dove Lake in the freezing rain! The night we stayed in Cradle Mountain we got to go to the Tasmanian devil wildlife park and watch their feeding habits and we even got to pet one! It was really neat. After the park we got out our headlamps and while Jonathan drove Catherine and I searched the bush for wildlife. We saw wallabies, pademelons, a spotted-quoll, wombats and possums! It was so wonderful!
We celebrated our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Queenstown Tasmania. We went to mass on Christmas Eve and had a wonderful spaghetti dinner. On Christmas Day Jonathan made his State Fair winning green chili whiskey stew for dinner. He cooked it all day which of course made our little cabin smell delicious. I made chocolate chip cookies for our little something sweet on Christmas! We exchanged gifts and got some special little treats from home. That was really special for both of us! I especially loved getting a photo album that my family had put together for me!
The next day, which was Christmas back home, we got to call friends and family! I called my family who was all at my grandparent’s house from outside a café, while sitting in the car. It was pretty funny but we didn’t have any other way to get internet!
We finished up our trip in Tasmania by going to St. Clair National park to try to find the platypuses, going to Hobart to watch the end of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, exploring wine glass bay and nine mile beach!
On the 29th we headed back to Melbourne to spend a few days there before Catherine headed back to the US. On our first day we explored the Victoria Street market and other parts of the fascinating city. The next day we took a tour and got to experience some bush Billy tea, a ride on Puffing Billy a steam train, we did some wine tasting and got to get up close with some of the wildlife at the animal park! That night we celebrated New Years Eve by going to a wonderful dinner on Victoria Harbor and watching the fireworks off of the Yarra River! Happy 2008! It is going to be a wonderful year! Catherine left the next morning, we had a wonderful visit with her and it was such a treat to have her with us for part of our travels!
We had decided a while back that to explore Australia we were going to buy a campervan and than resell it before we left. And so we did! It is an old Ford Econovan that has been converted into a little camper! It has a stove, a sink, refrigerator and a bed! So now we are busy living, cooking, driving and sleeping in our little van! Mechanically it is a gem; it just isn’t the prettiest to look at…. So Jonathan and I have been busy doing things to spruce it up and coming up with ideas to make the outside more exciting!
We have been traveling in the van for about a week and are having a blast! It has been wonderful and definitely more cost efficient! We have beautiful pictures from the Great Ocean Road and are other travels but we will post those in the next blog since our Tasmania Album is already up!
Something to look forward to right?!
Love,
Tara and Jonathan
Tasmania and Melbourne
Tasmania was wonderful! Catherine had rented a car so we had freedom to explore and go anywhere on the island. The first day we drove through the Northern part of Tasmania from Launceston to Devonport. We stopped and got fresh cherries, raspberries, went to a cheese factory and a bakery! One of the things we were most excited about in traveling to Australia was that we would have access to dairy and wonderful dairy products. We hadn’t had good quality cheese or milk since we had left the US! Yum!
We continued to travel around the coast taking in the beautiful landscape and keeping our eyes open for any signs of wildlife! We explored parts of Cradle Mountain National Park and walked around Dove Lake in the freezing rain! The night we stayed in Cradle Mountain we got to go to the Tasmanian devil wildlife park and watch their feeding habits and we even got to pet one! It was really neat. After the park we got out our headlamps and while Jonathan drove Catherine and I searched the bush for wildlife. We saw wallabies, pademelons, a spotted-quoll, wombats and possums! It was so wonderful!
We celebrated our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Queenstown Tasmania. We went to mass on Christmas Eve and had a wonderful spaghetti dinner. On Christmas Day Jonathan made his State Fair winning green chili whiskey stew for dinner. He cooked it all day which of course made our little cabin smell delicious. I made chocolate chip cookies for our little something sweet on Christmas! We exchanged gifts and got some special little treats from home. That was really special for both of us! I especially loved getting a photo album that my family had put together for me!
The next day, which was Christmas back home, we got to call friends and family! I called my family who was all at my grandparent’s house from outside a café, while sitting in the car. It was pretty funny but we didn’t have any other way to get internet!
We finished up our trip in Tasmania by going to St. Clair National park to try to find the platypuses, going to Hobart to watch the end of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, exploring wine glass bay and nine mile beach!
On the 29th we headed back to Melbourne to spend a few days there before Catherine headed back to the US. On our first day we explored the Victoria Street market and other parts of the fascinating city. The next day we took a tour and got to experience some bush Billy tea, a ride on Puffing Billy a steam train, we did some wine tasting and got to get up close with some of the wildlife at the animal park! That night we celebrated New Years Eve by going to a wonderful dinner on Victoria Harbor and watching the fireworks off of the Yarra River! Happy 2008! It is going to be a wonderful year! Catherine left the next morning, we had a wonderful visit with her and it was such a treat to have her with us for part of our travels!
We had decided a while back that to explore Australia we were going to buy a campervan and than resell it before we left. And so we did! It is an old Ford Econovan that has been converted into a little camper! It has a stove, a sink, refrigerator and a bed! So now we are busy living, cooking, driving and sleeping in our little van! Mechanically it is a gem; it just isn’t the prettiest to look at…. So Jonathan and I have been busy doing things to spruce it up and coming up with ideas to make the outside more exciting!
We have been traveling in the van for about a week and are having a blast! It has been wonderful and definitely more cost efficient! We have beautiful pictures from the Great Ocean Road and are other travels but we will post those in the next blog since our Tasmania Album is already up!
Something to look forward to right?!
Love,
Tara and Jonathan
Tasmania and Melbourne
Monday, December 31, 2007
Goooooooood Bye Vietnam!
It was a whirlwind 14 day adventure through one of the most interesting parts of Asia yet. Bouncing over mountain passes we covered 1200 km in the first 6 days on motorcycle with our personal guide, Minh. He was, sadly, a bit of a twit – but an endearing twit. We witnessed the very best of what it means to be human as we were greeted with smiling faces and enthusiastic waves while riding past the locals in remote villages. We stopped several times just to play with the children and what a delight that was. We bought some indoor basketball sets in Hanoi and passed them out while teaching the kids the game (soccer after all IS the primary sport over here). They loved it and many of these kids didn’t even have a real ball to play with. We took many memorable photos and video clips. One of the most stunning portions of the ride was Heaven’s Gate on Vietnam’s highest pass. Earth and Wind combined to give us breath taking scenery. The wind howled endlessly and blew the clouds by us almost as fast as the eye could track them.
While the ride was a great time it was hard because Tara got sick…really sick. She peaked a temp at 102.5 and that’s the last thing you want when you are quite obviously, in the middle of no where. She spent several nights with a temperature and had an awful stomach bug. It could have been from the dorms we stayed in or it could have been the food we ate. The food quality in Vietnam leaves much to be desired… However, Tara spent the next week recovering and is feeling much better now!
Once we finished motorcycling we slowly worked our way south to Ho Chi Minh(aka Saigon). We took many buses, including our first sleeper bus. I speak for both of us when I say we much prefer the sleeper trains. They go a nice even speed whereas most bus drivers in this side of the world are on a mission to meet death without actually having to die. We also took a 26 hour sitting bus…ugh. Those damn buses would cramp a midget.
Ho Chi Minh was a place we enjoyed. They had great Italian food and we even (finally) found some Vietnamese food that was delicious.
After 4.5 months in Asia it’s time to say goodbye!! We’ll continue our Journey in Australia starting with Tasmania…that update will come soon!!!
Love,
Jonathan and Tara
Vietnam Photo Album
Beijing Album *fixed*
While the ride was a great time it was hard because Tara got sick…really sick. She peaked a temp at 102.5 and that’s the last thing you want when you are quite obviously, in the middle of no where. She spent several nights with a temperature and had an awful stomach bug. It could have been from the dorms we stayed in or it could have been the food we ate. The food quality in Vietnam leaves much to be desired… However, Tara spent the next week recovering and is feeling much better now!
Once we finished motorcycling we slowly worked our way south to Ho Chi Minh(aka Saigon). We took many buses, including our first sleeper bus. I speak for both of us when I say we much prefer the sleeper trains. They go a nice even speed whereas most bus drivers in this side of the world are on a mission to meet death without actually having to die. We also took a 26 hour sitting bus…ugh. Those damn buses would cramp a midget.
Ho Chi Minh was a place we enjoyed. They had great Italian food and we even (finally) found some Vietnamese food that was delicious.
After 4.5 months in Asia it’s time to say goodbye!! We’ll continue our Journey in Australia starting with Tasmania…that update will come soon!!!
Love,
Jonathan and Tara
Vietnam Photo Album
Beijing Album *fixed*
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The 8th Wonder of the World, a Shanghai Thanksgiving, and freezing in Beijing!
The 8th Wonder of the World, a Shanghai Thanksgiving, and freezing in Beijing!
After the visit with the Pandas in Chengdu we flew to Xi’an, which is the third largest city in China with about nine million people! It is such a neat place. The entire city is walled in with ancient fortress walls. The reason for the venture to Xi’an was to explore the area of the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses. It is a UNSECO world heritage site as well as being the 8th Wonder of the World, which was a pleasant surprise! It was absolutely amazing and we tried to capture it the best we could through the photos. There are three large pits that are available for viewing and a museum. We were only able to visit two of the pits and the museum because one of the pits was being renovated. The restoration effort for the Terra Cotta Warriors is huge! There is a continuous effort to reconstruct the warriors and horses and maintain the pits. The rest of the magic can be explained through the photos!
Xian Web Album
I can think of thousands of reasons why I am thankful that I am a member of Pi Beta Phi Women’s Fraternity, but on Thanksgiving I got to add a lot more reasons to that list! On Thanksgiving we flew to Shanghai, where my sorority sister Nicole and her mom, Vicki, met us at the airport! Nicole and her family are currently living in Shanghai while her dad is on a business assignment. Nicole happens to be living in Shanghai with her family right now and attending a local university and learning Mandarin! Nicole had seen that we were traveling through China and her and her family invited us to stay with them! It was wonderful! Our first day there the McCarty’s treated us to a wonderful lunch of REAL milkshakes and hamburgers! Including American sized portions! It really did feel like we were back at home eating someplace like 66Diner!
We got the VIP Ex-Pat tour of Shanghai. We went to the Jin Mao tower, the Bund and got to see the knockoff market that they typically go to. On Friday we went to a friend of the McCarty’s, Bob and Marilyn, for Thanksgiving dinner! There were a lot of American Ex-Pat families there to celebrate and we had all of the usual Thanksgiving dinner things; Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, Jell-O, rolls with butter, and pumpkin pie! Not only did we get that Thanksgiving dinner on Friday on Sunday we got to have another one! Remember how I said that Nicole was taking classes to learn Mandarin, well her family invited all of her classmates, who are from all over the world, to participate in a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. So on Sunday Vicki cooked three turkeys, made so much stuffing, lots and lots of mashed potatoes, four pumpkin pies and one apple pie, fruit salad, and lots of other things! We had a feast! It was really fun because we got to meet all of Nicole’s classmates and her teacher and we all got to bond through karaoke and Dance Dance Revolution!
Speaking of dancing, Jonathan, Nicole and I went out dancing one night at a club called Bon Bon! We also got to take Nicole on her first trip on the Shanghai subway, woohoo! Jonathan and I hadn’t been out dancing at all during our travels so it was nice to go out and have a friend to show us the good places to go! We had a blast! Apparently we were such good dancers that our pictures ended up in the Shanghai Daily, the local newspaper, on the picture pages of the “cool” places to go on a night out! Our pictures were on the page almost as many times as Paris Hiltons! How cool! I think that makes us semi-celebrities!
The day after Vicki and Nicole took us to Xitang, which is a local water town. It also happens to be the town where Tom Cruise filmed Mission Impossible III. Haven’t seen it?! Good neither have we, it’s just what we were told! We had such a great time in Xitang. We visited all the little museums and took tons of pictures of the wonderful architecture and got to see Nicole’s favorite spots in Xitang as well! We also ate lunch at a fabulous restaurant and had some really different Chinese food. We had some wonderful eggplant, a fried corn and a fried pumpkin dish that were so yummy! When you have been traveling in China for about three weeks and have been living off of rice noodles a change in diet is a very welcome thing!
Throughout the rest of the week we got to see more of Shanghai. They took us to the Yew Yuan Gardens and we got to do some shopping and exploring, the history museum to see the development of Shanghai over the last few decades. It was fascinating because its one of the fastest growing cities in the world! Shanghai is a must see in China!
Shanghai Web Album
We were sad to leave the comforts of home and friends but were excited for a new adventure! We took the overnight sleeper train into Beijing to finish out the last few days on our Chinese visa. It was about 12 hours, but this time we took a soft sleeper which was really nice. The train ride flew by and we woke up in Beijing! We began our first day by putting on all of the warm clothes we had because it was only about 40 degrees! The air was much cleaner than I had expected but nowhere near my expectations of clean. It is said that breathing the air in Beijing is the equivalent to smoking 50 to 70 cigarettes a day, GROSS! Also I was expecting the yellow haze everywhere, but the skies were blue and there was no visible yellow cloud!
The first morning we explored Tianmen Square and the Forbidden City, which was just down the street from our hostel. Of course when you are in Beijing you have to go the Great Wall! Jonathan was unable to see the Great Wall last time he was in Beijing so he was really antsy to see the Great Wall this trip. We made quite the adventure out of the Great Wall trip. We met another American couple, who was also traveling for a year, and we all went to the Great Wall together! In a country where you don’t speak their language and they don’t speak much of theirs and you want to take the local bus instead of doing a tour, sometimes it is a little complicated and takes much longer. After about five hours we got to the entry to the Great Wall, phew! It was cold, but it was so beautiful! There was snow on the ground and the air was clean and the skies were bright blue! We could not believe our luck, we could see for miles once we got on the wall. We climbed the Great Wall from Jingshaling to Simatai which is about a 10 km trek up and down steep parts of the wall that have not been restored. It is a thousand years old you expect it to look that way, and it did! It was just a perfect day! We celebrated our Great Wall victory that night with a meal at a restaurant called “Amuseful/Happy Customer Easy Meal!” I love China!
Our last two days in Beijing we went and explored the Summer Palace, which was beautiful, and again we lucked out because the skies were so blue. We took a trip back to Tianmen Square so that we could visit the mausoleum where Mao is preserved. We had tried to get in the first day but we couldn’t bring anything that could break glass in, which includes cameras or tea thermoses…. Anyways we got to see him. It was a surreal experience, but we were glad we went! That evening we raced to the airport shuttle station only to figure out we were running too low on time and would have to take a taxi. Our taxi driver raced us to the airport and we made it with only 23 minutes until the check in counter closed! China was a blast!
Beijing Web Album
All of our Love,
Tara and Jonathan!
After the visit with the Pandas in Chengdu we flew to Xi’an, which is the third largest city in China with about nine million people! It is such a neat place. The entire city is walled in with ancient fortress walls. The reason for the venture to Xi’an was to explore the area of the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses. It is a UNSECO world heritage site as well as being the 8th Wonder of the World, which was a pleasant surprise! It was absolutely amazing and we tried to capture it the best we could through the photos. There are three large pits that are available for viewing and a museum. We were only able to visit two of the pits and the museum because one of the pits was being renovated. The restoration effort for the Terra Cotta Warriors is huge! There is a continuous effort to reconstruct the warriors and horses and maintain the pits. The rest of the magic can be explained through the photos!
Xian Web Album
I can think of thousands of reasons why I am thankful that I am a member of Pi Beta Phi Women’s Fraternity, but on Thanksgiving I got to add a lot more reasons to that list! On Thanksgiving we flew to Shanghai, where my sorority sister Nicole and her mom, Vicki, met us at the airport! Nicole and her family are currently living in Shanghai while her dad is on a business assignment. Nicole happens to be living in Shanghai with her family right now and attending a local university and learning Mandarin! Nicole had seen that we were traveling through China and her and her family invited us to stay with them! It was wonderful! Our first day there the McCarty’s treated us to a wonderful lunch of REAL milkshakes and hamburgers! Including American sized portions! It really did feel like we were back at home eating someplace like 66Diner!
We got the VIP Ex-Pat tour of Shanghai. We went to the Jin Mao tower, the Bund and got to see the knockoff market that they typically go to. On Friday we went to a friend of the McCarty’s, Bob and Marilyn, for Thanksgiving dinner! There were a lot of American Ex-Pat families there to celebrate and we had all of the usual Thanksgiving dinner things; Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, Jell-O, rolls with butter, and pumpkin pie! Not only did we get that Thanksgiving dinner on Friday on Sunday we got to have another one! Remember how I said that Nicole was taking classes to learn Mandarin, well her family invited all of her classmates, who are from all over the world, to participate in a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. So on Sunday Vicki cooked three turkeys, made so much stuffing, lots and lots of mashed potatoes, four pumpkin pies and one apple pie, fruit salad, and lots of other things! We had a feast! It was really fun because we got to meet all of Nicole’s classmates and her teacher and we all got to bond through karaoke and Dance Dance Revolution!
Speaking of dancing, Jonathan, Nicole and I went out dancing one night at a club called Bon Bon! We also got to take Nicole on her first trip on the Shanghai subway, woohoo! Jonathan and I hadn’t been out dancing at all during our travels so it was nice to go out and have a friend to show us the good places to go! We had a blast! Apparently we were such good dancers that our pictures ended up in the Shanghai Daily, the local newspaper, on the picture pages of the “cool” places to go on a night out! Our pictures were on the page almost as many times as Paris Hiltons! How cool! I think that makes us semi-celebrities!
The day after Vicki and Nicole took us to Xitang, which is a local water town. It also happens to be the town where Tom Cruise filmed Mission Impossible III. Haven’t seen it?! Good neither have we, it’s just what we were told! We had such a great time in Xitang. We visited all the little museums and took tons of pictures of the wonderful architecture and got to see Nicole’s favorite spots in Xitang as well! We also ate lunch at a fabulous restaurant and had some really different Chinese food. We had some wonderful eggplant, a fried corn and a fried pumpkin dish that were so yummy! When you have been traveling in China for about three weeks and have been living off of rice noodles a change in diet is a very welcome thing!
Throughout the rest of the week we got to see more of Shanghai. They took us to the Yew Yuan Gardens and we got to do some shopping and exploring, the history museum to see the development of Shanghai over the last few decades. It was fascinating because its one of the fastest growing cities in the world! Shanghai is a must see in China!
Shanghai Web Album
We were sad to leave the comforts of home and friends but were excited for a new adventure! We took the overnight sleeper train into Beijing to finish out the last few days on our Chinese visa. It was about 12 hours, but this time we took a soft sleeper which was really nice. The train ride flew by and we woke up in Beijing! We began our first day by putting on all of the warm clothes we had because it was only about 40 degrees! The air was much cleaner than I had expected but nowhere near my expectations of clean. It is said that breathing the air in Beijing is the equivalent to smoking 50 to 70 cigarettes a day, GROSS! Also I was expecting the yellow haze everywhere, but the skies were blue and there was no visible yellow cloud!
The first morning we explored Tianmen Square and the Forbidden City, which was just down the street from our hostel. Of course when you are in Beijing you have to go the Great Wall! Jonathan was unable to see the Great Wall last time he was in Beijing so he was really antsy to see the Great Wall this trip. We made quite the adventure out of the Great Wall trip. We met another American couple, who was also traveling for a year, and we all went to the Great Wall together! In a country where you don’t speak their language and they don’t speak much of theirs and you want to take the local bus instead of doing a tour, sometimes it is a little complicated and takes much longer. After about five hours we got to the entry to the Great Wall, phew! It was cold, but it was so beautiful! There was snow on the ground and the air was clean and the skies were bright blue! We could not believe our luck, we could see for miles once we got on the wall. We climbed the Great Wall from Jingshaling to Simatai which is about a 10 km trek up and down steep parts of the wall that have not been restored. It is a thousand years old you expect it to look that way, and it did! It was just a perfect day! We celebrated our Great Wall victory that night with a meal at a restaurant called “Amuseful/Happy Customer Easy Meal!” I love China!
Our last two days in Beijing we went and explored the Summer Palace, which was beautiful, and again we lucked out because the skies were so blue. We took a trip back to Tianmen Square so that we could visit the mausoleum where Mao is preserved. We had tried to get in the first day but we couldn’t bring anything that could break glass in, which includes cameras or tea thermoses…. Anyways we got to see him. It was a surreal experience, but we were glad we went! That evening we raced to the airport shuttle station only to figure out we were running too low on time and would have to take a taxi. Our taxi driver raced us to the airport and we made it with only 23 minutes until the check in counter closed! China was a blast!
Beijing Web Album
All of our Love,
Tara and Jonathan!
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