Sleepless in....

This weekend jut gone we hit the road to Seattle.

Well we hit the ocean first on a ferry and then the road once we got to the main land. We planned a cheeky weekend away with good friends Kiah and Kasia. Also Australians, also from Adelaide, also lived on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, also worked at Hot 91 and also appeared in Adelaide confidential several times. It's complicated.

So the plan was up early on Saturday morning to get the first ferry off of Vancouver Island at 7 am. I know... we can hear you laughing already. Mitch and Fumbles up early... we didn't disappoint. The alarm was set for 4:00 am to catch the bus at 5:35. We woke at 5:15 am. So Zoe took a quick 2 minute shower that lasted close to 15 minutes, we chucked some clothes on and we legged it to the bus stop... We made it... just... kind of... sort of. The bus was pulling around the corner as we made it to an imaginary bus stop. The bus driver was kind enough to pull over.

Once we made it to the mainland Kiah and Kasia were there like the reliable friends they are.



It was such an amazing weekend. Quick but such fun. Kiah and Kasia are such good company and who knew Seattle had so much history.

The border crossing was a bit of a drag.



Once we made it through it was great.

Highlights:

The underground tour. When Seattle was first settled they made such a shambles of building the city that lead to the down town core being rebuilt. Via building up and filling in the 8 foot walls surrounding the underlying streets. Hence. The underground tour. Sounds weird and I haven't done it justice but if you are really intrigued look it up and if you ever head to Seattle the tour is a must do. The nerd inside you will love it.



We were in the States a few weeks before the now famous 2008 Presidential race... the tension and atmosphere was evident everywhere.






















We had such a great time over a very short period. 4am Saturday morning to 11pm Sunday night. Bus, ferry, car trip, border crossing, car trip, hostel check in, walk about, dinner, drinks, more drinks, sleep, up early, markets, breakfast, shop, lunch, car trip, border crossing, car trip, ferry, bus, home, bed.











There was alos a group highlight. One of the first things we heard from a Seattle accent was this: A low flying pigeon poo'd and just missed some guys shoulder. his quote. "Damn that pigeon just violated me". Waa haa! So funny.

This is the family of Racoons that scared the crap out of Zoe and I after stepping off of the bus on the walk home.



Much love. Mitch and Fumbles xox

Tofino...

Yeeewwww!

Yeah, it was a long time coming. Catching a wave on the West Coast of Canada. We managed a cheeky weekend away in Tofino with good friends Anna and John before they hit the road in the US and then the UK. For John it had been almost a year since he had been for a paddle, for myself it had been 9 months. Too long.

We had to make the most of time because Tofino is a decent 5 hour drive from Victoria, so a 3:30 am start it was, on the road by 4. So at 4:15 am we hit the road, I won't say what made us late... Zoe. Anna did a lot of the early driving, after a pit stop at Port Alberni, we switched and I took over the driving. It was on this stretch of driving that John took over the title of 'Farty Pants". He tried to sneak a quiet one away, he did... however, it was silent but violent. So bad that Anna said the quote of 2008. "Uh I would rather smell my arm pits". Thanks Anna, thank you!

We got to Tofino by 9, hired wetsuits with hoods, boots, surfboards and racks for the car and were in the water by 9:45. Happy days.






The theory... surf as much as our small but fit bodies could surf. We did it! We were knackered, tired and irritable but well chuffed. Is that even possible?

We stayed at a placed called the Trek Inn, run by some Indian guy whose name I forget. This dude was smart. Has four degrees in things that I can't even pronounce let alone attempt to spell. Nice guy too. His story in a nutshell. Crap load of study, leave India, move to Canada, too smart for Canadians, can't get job in the promised land, travels, stays at Trek Inn whilst backpacking, next day buys it. Been there ever since. Is anybody else tired?

We had a great weekend with Anna and John who we love dearly. It was sad to see them off on the Sunday of surf trip. We will admit that we shed a tear or two driving away from their waving, smily, kiwi faces. We did however laugh most of the way home thanks to Anna's quote of 2008 "I would rather smell my own pits'!

More to come. Love Mitch N Zobo...

Update. Anna and John have settled in Chamonix, France. They are hosts to travel groups in a big fat French Chalet! Happy days!

Fumbles...

We have nicknamed Zoe fumbles because we have come to the realisation that she drops everything. Her phone, books, bags, sun glasses, her guts (not really but funny), take away coffee cups... everything! Fumbles... it is sticking like glue... well it would if she didn't stop dropping it...

Talk soon.

Mitch and Fumbles xox

Farty pants Mitchell...

The past fortnight has involved more time on the internet than a 16 year old kid who has just discovered Pamela Anderson's home page. We have moved from Vancouver to Victoria on Vancouver Island and had heard that there was a tight rental market here in Victoria. We didn't expect it to be tighter than Michael Jackson's new face! So being the tight fisted son of a Scotsman (no offense Dad)... I booked Zoe and I into the cheapest room at Ocean Island Hostel in Victoria... it had no window and was so small that we couldn't fit our luggage properly into the room with us. The idea was spend a few days looking for a place, move in and bobs your uncle. No such luck.

If looks could kill... i'd be a dead man ten times over. Embarrassing to blog... but to make matters worse... our first involved me pumping out more gas than the State of California. It was awful. To Zoe's credit she didn't cry but came well close. I'm ashamed to say it but I was stinky...

I earned the nickname... "Farty Pants Mitchell". Thanks.

On that note... there was one American guy at the Hostel who smelt lik a walking dump site. Bloody awful. It was so bad that he often cleared out the kitchen, the bar and any room he frequented! It was one of those BO smells that stayed in your nose hairs. Naturally on several occasions I was standing underneath the cupboard he would have to reach into to get a bowl or plate. Disgusting. Everyone knew who he was and how bad he stank... he was always in the top three dinner time discussions. We met an awesome Kiwi bloke called Dave too. A teacher who is taking a years break to travel. One night I made reference to the smelly American bastard and to my astonishment Dave said... "Hey Bro he is in the same Dorm as me". Dave is a better man than me... I probably would have used my pillow in the middle of he night to cover the Stinky Yanky Pants face. Was gutted for Dave... terrible stench to have in your room. Enough! Enough about BO!

More updates soon!

Love Mitch and Zobo!

Was there something in the air November of 2007

Huge congrats to Summa and Nathan on the birth of Gabrielle!

Good friends Scott and Emma also had their first born last night. Savannah Lily Tunbridge! Very proud and happy for you guys! Mums and Bubs all healthy!

Happy days.

Deep cove...

Kayaking...

Also known as, reason 421 for an argument.

Don't worry we had a great time. Along the way I just observed that at any opportunity arguments over the most menial things like to happen.



Hiding around every corner... are these:

1). Who is sitting in the front?
2). Are you flicking water on me on purpose?
3). Can you paddle faster.
4). Are you rocking the Kayak on purpose?
5). Why don't we go that way?
6). I told you we should have bought a rain jacket.
7). I told you, you should have bought spare clothes.
8). I told you we should have bought a towel.
9). I told you I should have told you so.
10). Don't throw rocks...
11). What was the point of picking up that stick out of the water.
12). I am holding the paddle the right way.
13). Stop paddling so fast.

The ones in bold are the disagreements we did have. 4/13... not bad for the newly weds! Alright! Well played Mitch N Zobo...


Zoe was really cold when we stopped... poor thing couldn't feel her fingers. Soft.


Mitch, Kiah and JP.

A top day was had with Kiah and JP! We kayaked, solved the problems of the world whilst kayaking, got lost, kayaked too far, didn't want to get whacked with the $50 late fee, paddled like Olympic Champions to get back and ate pizza (not whilst Kayaking). The bus ride home was a tired and irritable affair and even a little moist.



File: Kayaking;
Open file: Next time bring spare clothes;
Save as: I told you so.

Great weekend!

Much love mitchNzobo xox

Some people have too much time!

Despite the fact I found this on the internet at some ungodly hour... I still think some people have too much time!



I would also like to ask at what point did this person think... hey I know... if I stick two land lines next to each other, then put two cell phones next to those I'll be able to bang out some tunes? There are so many questions... How many times did they have to do it before they got the final take? Will they be doing an encore? Will they upgrade phones? Can they play a xylophone? At what age did they discover this ability? Can Macgyver do it?

That is all:

Gay Pride, radio and Rod Stewart...

BC 150!

What the hell does that stand for.... British Columbia reaching 150 years. Happy Birthday BC. This past weekend was a long weekend and to be honest it was nucken futs! There has been lots going on here at the moment. The HSBC Celebration of Light has just finished, which is three countries Canada, China and the USA competing against each other in four separate nights of fireworks running over two weeks... everybody likes exploding things in the sky especially when they are choreographed to music... its the simple things right! Gay Pride was on like a condom, a parade where gay people and their loved ones get to show a stack load of pride! I will touch on this as it is one thing I like about Vancouver... It doesn't matter what colour your spots are, what walk of life you come from, it is a very open arms community... to that I say... "well played Vancouver". To quote Bob Dylan... "The times they are a-changing".



Having said that... I'm not going to lie to you... Whilst 500,000 people watched the gayest thing in town since George Michael played GM Place... best mate Bowe and I skipped off to the local tennis courts. Usually packed, the courts were empty and we played 2-3 glorious hours of tennis. Genius... the old "Whilst people are looking at something over there... we'll do something cheeky over here". Question... does that mean lots of gay people play tennis?



Just quickly... this was the view for The Celebration of Light from the deck of 'The Boathouse'. For the last three nights of the fireworks I was broadcasting live for Rock 101 from here overlooking English Bay. Wow... did I get spoilt or what! So basically I was broadcasting from the sponsors event. 3 Course dinner and the rest... I will not say wether my words were slurred by the end of each broadcast. My favourite moment....

This Chinese guy leans over from his table and shakes my hand...

Chinese guy: "So are you broadcasting live from here?"
Me: "Yeah mate until midnight, great night, are you working here or working with HSBC?"
Chinese guy: "No, no I'm the Police Commissioner"
Me: "Cough... Oh right"

Awkward!! We did have a great conversation afterwards and I got to learn the ins and outs of the Vancouver Police Commissioners work day. Great guy. I did however feel right out of place, hobnobbing it with the Minister of Finance and the Police Commissioner when I am just a poor Australian trying to find his way in the world. Mum and Dad you will be proud this is the night I decided to wear my flip flops and jeans! Zoe joined me on the final night and we had a great time.

This is where Rod Stewart comes into the blog... One of the soundtracks to the fireworks featured Rod Stewart's 'Forever Young"... what a great song. Seriously, it has almost pipped Maggie May as one of my favourite songs ever! It made us think of our Mum and Dads. We got a little homesick I will not lie... even a little teary whilst watching the fireworks. Please reacquaint yourselves with the song below... What a great message!



Rocking Rod Stewart! Gotta love it.

Much love to our respective Mums and Dads!

An update too... I just got the gig as Kool Fm's drive announcer, I start August 25th. Very excited, we get to move to Victoria on Vancouver Island... stunning place! It is making us feel much more settled and we are really looking forward to getting there. On the same day all of Zoe's teaching qualifications arrived in the mail! We also just learnt that my parents, Deborah and Jim booked 6 weeks holidays with their friends Harry and Jackie and they are coming over here next April 09. Happy Days! Can't wait!

Thanks for stopping by, Mitch and Zobo xo

Emo's and Hippies are they the same?

The advantages of having a hot wife is the sentence I would like to use in kicking off this blog!

Zoe was doing her usual stuff at "The Red Umbrella" just around the corner from home on Davie Street. By usual stuff I mean being lovely. It is here that she was given two tickets to the 31st Annual Vancouver Folk Festival by a customer. Maybe he was trying to get into her pants and maybe he wasn't? I prefer to think of this scenario as...

Mitch:1
Guy trying to pick up wife: Nil.

Sucker!

Having said that, thanks brother because a tops day was had.


We drank some coconut juice...


Watched music and stuff, that is the city in the background...


And this was the view for most of the day as we laid back and listened to music...

We came to conclusion that Emo's and Hippies are the same. They are just on opposite ends of the scale.

Similarities: They stink, they have shitty hair cuts, they wear weird clothes to make statements, they have strange opinions about the world, some of their music tastes are questionable, they disappoint their parents, you can spot them in a crowd, they can't dance and finally they tend to be really annoying to listen to.

Emo's and Hippies please do not take offense... they are just observations. Ahh what gives... it is safe to blog about Emo's and Hippies because the only person an Emo is going to hurt is themselves and a Hippie is too busy googling carbon offset schemes and sustainability projects to read anything else.

The walk home was purely for fitness reasons...



It took us two hours. Mitch and Bozo xox

Job abandonment...

A post by Mitch:

Last night was not my proudest moment, however, it makes a bloody fantastic blog.

Since April 08 I have been trying to balance part time work at Classic Rock 101 and working at Levi's on Robson Street in Downtown Vancouver, BC... you have got to pay rent some how. At Levi's it has been a love/hate relationship. I have loved my days off and have hated being there.

Life is funny, at my young 25 years of age I feel like I am able to handle most things and handle them well. As an example, one only has to look at the way I can cook and have a clean kitchen by the time dinner is served. It is a fine art. Working in Canada's retail industry however, has undone me. It is oppressive and hard to do with a smile on your face for $10 an hour. Less for some. The way I felt about going to work everyday is really hard to put into words, so my friend 'Burger the Cat' gives an amazing and accurate account of my emotions before entering the red glass double doors at 1068 Robson Street. See below.



Thanks Burger, thank you.

This week for some reason, was the week that my skinny leg jeans broke the camels back. At 6pm last night (17th July) I went on my scheduled half an hour break as per usual. If you were wondering I had two slices of pizza, they were from Megabite and they were very tasty. During this half an hour break I had a mental break through. What the hell am I doing to myself? If you are not happy... leave. So I did. I walked back into work, signed out for the day and forever. I apologised to the assistant manager, who is a champion by the way, and left. If it wasn't for the sun gently shining on my face and some tasty garlic sauce on my beef pizza I may have missed the opportunity to seize my brain wave. I will treasure the alfresco seats on Thurlow street forever.

STAFF FILE: Simon Mitchell.

CATEGORY: Job abandonment.

A question of ethics: Is it wrong that I started writing this blog in my head before I was even out the red glass double doors?

That said and done I slammed the iPod on, walked home and listened to this...



Soundtrack of our lives... thanks iPod!

Floating pontoons still exist...

Seattle USA: "The Rain City" is only 141 nautical miles away from Vancouver BC, it's true we just googled it. Do you like how we used the word 'Nautical' just to make us sound smarter despite the fact we have no knowledge of the meaning? Whatever... Vancouver is very close to "The Rain City", therefore you would expect lots of rain in Vancouver. Correct!

However, the weather during the last several weeks has been amazing. Blue skies, temperatures between 22-28 degrees, eight days a week (Beatles reference). Happy days! So we have been making the most of it. Old mate John 'Bowe' Prins and Mitch even forgot about the arctic water temperatures of English bay and indulged in some floating pontoon slippery dip action.

Zobo would've joined us on the pontoon except the danger factor was high. The doggy paddle out to the pontoon was deemed too risky. Zobo and swimming don't exactly get along. Good friend Anna Saunders made it out to the pontoon after a casual half hour debate on the swimming conditions. There was lots to think about, sea weed, various litter, stones under foot, arctic water temperatures and would her bikini survive the post slippery dip impact with water. All said and done it was a success, Zobo even managed to capture the moment on camera. We will not talk about the swimming race that Mitch lost to Bowe. Mitch now suspects he is an easy beat in swimming and that Bowe plays on his competitive spirit every time he issues a swimming challenge. Cruel, but a clear indication that Bowe is destined for top line management some day.

Mitch and Zobo also really enjoyed the Canada Day celebrations earlier this month too. Catching the fireworks from Stanley Park looking back across to the city. Thanks for coming!



Peace Out.

Teaching certificates and the 21st floor of a downtown building!

It's been four months since we left Australian soil and what a grand four months it's been. Time has seriously flown by. It makes us feel incredibly grateful that our name isn't Schapelle Corby, four months must seem like an eternity to her! Chin up Schapelle... only 16 years to go!

Just a quick MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS to our friends Darcy and Lisa who last week had their first baby "Billie". She is absolutely gorgeous and we hope Mum and Bub are going great!

Two really good things have happened in the last fortnight! Zoe has finally received her teachers certificate... well technically she hasn't got it yet because it is in the mail... and I have been signed on as the permanent casual announcer at Classic Rock 101 here in Vancouver! Which means I will be doing weekend morning shifts from 6am-10am. Over the moon, the view from the studio is amazing...
So I have now gone part time at Levi's as their cashier and I work from Tuesday through to Friday. A few other radio shifts are popping up here and there such as this Wednesday and Friday night which is bloody awesome!

A few weeks ago we had to take a trip down to the US border to get Zoe's new work Visa activated. A bit of a hassle but well worth it because it meant that Zoe could then apply for her Canadian Teaching certificate. One problem, we don't have wheels. So we decided to hire a car, when we got to the lot... the only car they had available was a Mustang GT on special for half price... yes please!

So we set off with best bud Kiah, a fellow Aussie, keen navigator and operator of the satellite radio... Radio One Uk... yes please.

Highlight of the day:

US Immigration officer: Why did you come to the border?
Mitch: We came down here to get my wife's Visa.
US Immigration Officer: How did you get here?
Mitch: By car.
US Immigration Officer: Who's car?
Mitch: Oh we hired a car.
US Immigration Officer: Why did you hire a car?
Mitch: We don't own one.
US Immigration Officer: Why don't you own a car?
Mitch: Because we have only just moved here and we don't feel the need for one living in the city.
US Immigration Officer: How many people are in the car?
Mitch: Myself, my wife and our friend.
US Immigration Officer: I asked how many people are in the car.
Mitch: Counting myself, my wife and friend would make it three people.
US Immigration Officer: Can i see the car?
Mitch: Sure

Immigration officer proceeds to walk into parking lot, looks in the boot, in the car and then asks Zoe the same questions even though she was in front of Mitch in the line.

We now refer to him as Captain Douche Bag.

Box Ball... A post by Mitch

Although I have previously moaned and groaned over working at Levi's there are some highlights. The game 'Box Ball' is one, leaving at the end of the day is the other.

There are a few really cool people that I work with. Elliot, Mike, Yusuke, Zhi, Astrid and Trevon. Mike, Yusuke and Zhi are the funniest Asian blokes I have ever met in my life and they have made working upstairs a lot of fun. They introduced me to a game called 'Box Ball". Yusuke is also Japanese so we talk about how good Tim Cahill is! World Cup 2006 anyone?



As you can see from the photo above we have big jean walls at Levi's. Each box of the jean wall is filled with 8 or less jeans. To play the game of 'Box Ball" you have to nominate a box on the wall which you are going to throw a hacky sack into. Therefore, you dictate the amount of points you score on a given throw. Eg aiming for a box of 7 jeans means you score 7 points. Its kind of like the world wide popular game of darts, just on a lesser global scale. If you miss the nominated box you score zero points.

One game is the sum of 5 throws at the jean wall. Several games is the sum of a lot of time wasting. One thing I have become very skilled at.

Thanks Yusuke, Mike and Zhi.

Box Ball is the game of Champions.

Sunday Fundays!

Sunday: Formerly a day of the Lord... unlucky mate it's now a day of friends.

The term "Sunday Funday" is from our good friend Anna Saunders. It is derived from the notion of four or more friends having the same free play time on a Sunday.



SUNDAY FUNDAY CREW: In no particular order, Krissy, Kyle, RaRa, Matt, Anna, Bowe, Mitch and Bozo.

Sunday Funday Activites:
Walking, brunch, talking and walking, picnics, hacky sack, talking, watching Flight of the Concords, drinking, guitar playing, eating, quote boarding, food challenges, playing cards, rock throwing, people watching, and finally trash talking employers and land lords.

Sunday Funday Equipment Needed:
Free time, hacky sack (vital ingredient), football, picnic rug, good shoes, deodorant, iPod with speakers, frisbee, Flight of the Concords DVD, DVD player, TV, couch, coffee, mugs, beer, gin and tonic, one of Zoe's deserts, ice cream, Stanley Park, a spliff, switched on brains to avoid getting ripped of at Capilano Suspension Bridge, and finally a good cup of tea.





Sunday Funday has been good for the soul. It makes selling jeans, selling t-shirts, making coffee, making grilled sandwiches, reading contracts, shifting heavy stuff and doing odd jobs so much easier to bear when you have a Sunday Funday ahead.

Great initiative Saunders. Well played everyone.

Work and wanting to stab our eyes out with a pen...

After finding a place to live we realised it was critical to find some jobs to pay for it! We've had a great time over the last six months traveling down the east coast of Australia, kicking it like a red headed step child at home in Radelaide, a Wedding, a honeymoon and plenty of giggles in between... Therefore, our money has been walking out the door faster than people walking out of a Kevin Costner film.



It didn't take long at all, in fact both of us found jobs within one day of putting resumes into a store. Which at the time should have sent at least one alarm bell ringing. Zoe got her job first at a store called Roots. Ok don't flip out... she gets to keep her clothes on. Roots is an old Canadian clothing company built by the bare hands of two Canadian college students back in the 70's! It is a proud Canadian company who's clothes are still made in Canada, which is a small province just outside of Qun Xui in China. Lets face it, with a cute smile and the best personality Zoe made a gun sales person... but trying to make daily sales quota's of $2000 is bad for the soul. New job enthusiasm... went down hill very quickly. They seriously treat you like children. One of the things they expected Zoe to do was draw an A4 picture of herself in Roots clothing, that way she could envisage herself in Roots clothing whenever she was selling it. And they wonder why the youth of today turns to drugs. A small part of Zoe died every day she entered the store. Did we mention yet that the pay is $10 an hour.




Mitch found a job just as quickly at the Levi's store on Robson Street. Mitch never knew so many jeans existed and never knew people were so picky about jeans. He also didn't realise how many German tourists would remember his Uncle David playing for Eintracht Frankfurt in the 80's. This proves to be an interesting conversation in a new language Mitch likes to call 'Germish'. A fine mixture of German and English. Although the only sentence Mitch can really remember is; "Ya ich habe ein heft" translating to; "Yes I have my text book". After several weeks of employment it is amazing that he still turns up. A little piece of him has also died every day. He hasn't got much left to give.



That is all, hope you are well! Love Mitch and Bozo!

Where we live!

When we arrived back from our wee jaunt into the States we had booked accommodation in a share house just out side of the city. The place was huge, a mansion almost and we had booked to stay for one week! It was a steal at $39 a night and a very nice place. Finally a place to make our own meals, have cups of tea and sit in silence. Well that is when the juveniles next door weren't bumping uglies!

Our main objective in that first week was to find a place to live! This proved harder than we thought, the rental market here is very competitive and things get snapped up very quickly. So we got into the habit of heading into the city each day to look for places to work, places to eat lunch and to find rental properties to inspect. This provided a daily game of trying to catch public transport for free as much as possible. God knows what would have happened if we actually got approached by the taser trigger happy 'Mounties'. Anyhoo... we found this game to be challenging and somewhat enjoyable. After all we were saving $10 on a round trip. The game could be played two ways, get on the bus via the rear double doors or play the dumb tourist who had no spare change. If the bus driver was kind enough, they'd let us get on! Challenge complete!

One rainy afternoon... it rains a lot here... we were sitting in a Sushi Bar (no suprises there) plugging away on craigslist when we came across a one bedroom unit up for grabs in Downtown, Vancouver. It turns out we were the first people to get in touch with the Landlord and subsequently were the first people to have a viewing at 6pm that day. We were going to be catching up with our friend Kasia that night on Commercial Drive and were also going to be dropping into an open house for a unit on Commercial Drive at 7pm... so it was going to be tight if we made both. We arrived at the Downtown unit at the said time and met the land lord who was a really nice guy called Raymond, he showed us around the apartment and we even got to meet the last tenant who was also Australian... there are tons of us here! She was great though, she told it to us straight, what the neighbours were like, how expensive the bills were et cetera! We also really enjoy reading her mail which still gets delivered to the apartment... Joking, back to the task at hand... So we really liked the place but wanted to check out the other one on Commercial Drive, we told Raymond we were keen and could he hold the place for us... Not for long he said in between taking four hundred phone calls about the unit being on craigslist. At the same time people were ringing the buzzer from the street as they were booked in next to see the place, it was a little frantic to be honest. Raymond needed to talk to the last tenant to sort things out briefly so we left the apartment and stood in the outer hallway before the front door repeatedly saying... should we, shouldn't we, should we, shouldn't we???? We made an on the spot decision to take the apartment as Raymond stepped out of the unit to head to the front door to let the next potential renters in... He had to ask... are you sure... So there was one more look between us before finalising the deal! Done! We have a place to live in Downtown Vancouver!!!

When we walked outside, there were five people waiting! It was incredible! They were so gutted that the place was taken too! For good reason as well! We pay $875 a month plus the electricity bill. That is crazy talk for Downtown Vancouver. You are seriously lucky if you get a place for under $1100. So we couldn't believe our luck!

Over the moon we made our way to Commercial Drive to visit Kasia and popped out heads in to the other apartment we were going to see. It was a hole, half the size and more expensive! Good decision Zoe and Mitch!!!

Our next goal was to furnish the place, which turned out to be a lot easier than we thought! We were still staying at the share house for a few more nights. On one of those nights we spoke to the owner, Mary a Chinese lady with a not very Chinese name, about some of the things she had lying around the house. What things you ask??? We're talking pots, pans, plates, bowls, cutlery, tv, hand weights, kettle and double mattress! She got so excited and gave the lot to us for $80! Hilarious!

Later that same week we found a couch and dining table setting for sale on craigslist for $100. Sold! When we went around to pick up the couch some one else was giving away theirs... we now have two couches and a dining table for $100... well played!

So we have a fully furnished place in Downtown Vancouver for $875 a month! Top shelf! We live right near English Bay which sits just next to Stanley Park. Stunning place and lots to do as well. Our besties Anna and John also just live around the corner... one block south and three west to be exact! They have also bought some new besties from Banff with them, Ra, Matt, Kristy and Kyle. Happy days!

Our address is 2-1546 Comox Street, Vancouver B.C. Canada, V6M 3L8. Feel free to send any of the following: Vegemite, Vegemite, Twisties, Burger Rings, Cherry Ripes, Vegemite, Crunchies and Toobs... oh yeah Freddo's and Caramello Koala's too! Lol ;) Luckily Kinder Suprises are universal so Zoe gets her fix of those and then some!

You can see some photo's here http://picasaweb.google.com/sjm.mitchell

More updates coming soon!

Airport shenanigans part two (the night we slept at the airport)

So there we were... standing in JFK International Airport, over the moon that our flight had been delayed by two hours. All we had to do was stand in line and wait to be re-booked! Brilliant!

This took longer than we thought. It turns out people tend to get a little upset when their flights are delayed... you could even say that they become irate. Some people think that the sun shines out of their arse so much that the earth should be moved for them to catch their flight! They should try completely cocking up their schedule and rushing to the airport in belief that your flight is already on the run way... it's all about perspective sometimes. So we put up with some hoochie mummas giving it the "I have to be in Seattle tomorrow for work, are you going to pay me for the work I miss? Huh are you? I don't think so, dang!" Geez relax tiger!

Eventually we were seen to by a very friendly mexican woman... who was well into her religion, nothing against that! It was just glaringly obvious from the religious paraphernalia drowning her desk. Once we got talking to her we realised that we were going to miss getting our rental car the next day, no bother... we'll just book another. Then Simon had a brain wave, it went a little something like this: "So because of the inconvenience do you think it would be possible to get us on a flight straight into Vancouver instead of into Seattle?" Mexican woman... lets call her Nelli: "Ok, sure we should be able to do that!". God bless her cotton socks Nelli got us a flight straight into Vancouver even though we hadn't paid for that in the first place!

Are you serious. So in the space of an hour we had gone from utter desperation to sheer delight! Our new flight was scheduled to leave at 9:30pm that night! All we had to do was get through security and have a bite to eat and settle down for a nice flight to Van Van.



We lined up to get through to the departure lounge and to our suprise we both got pulled aside for a security check. No probing, just shoes off, bags searched and drug checked! Quickly scoffing dinner we made it to the departure lounge to hear an announcement that our plane was delayed, 20 minutes later there was still no plane. Another announcement... the plane would be delayed by a further 45 minutes. No probs... we had good books! A further announcement, the flight had been cancelled... Crap! In one swift crackle of the airport speakers and a barely audible announcement... there went our flight home to Vancouver!

Learning from his previous experience in the evening, Simon sat back and watched the drama unfold, there was yelling, pushing in, demanding, frantic mobile phone calls, tears and even some bribing. For some it worked out, for others it didn't! Simon waited until a lovely old duck working behind the counter had a spare moment, called her 'Sweetheart' and asked a simple question. A new flight to Vancouver was booked for 6am in the morning! All we had to do was waste 7 hours at the airport!

So we found a cozy little spot and slept at the airport. Simple as that. We witnessed something that night at the airport. Something we had never before seen at an airport. It was jealousy, those sleeping bags must have looked so damn comfy!

So there it was, the first time we had ever been late for a plane, had a flight delayed then cancelled and the first time we had slept in an airport. The next morning we made it onto the flight without a hick up, except there was another security check for the both of us... which was weird. Zoe must look dodgy!

More updates soon! Thanks for checking in! Mitch N Zobo xoxoxoxo

Airport shenanigans part one!

If you have read some of our blogs you will have recognised the theme of time and Zoe and Simon not getting along very well with it. We always seem to be late getting somewhere or sleeping in. We are bloody hopeless.

One scenario where you can't be lazy is with planes and airports... especially in the US. On Tuesday the 1st of April we had a flight booked from JFK International Airport in New York to get us to Seattle where we would hire a car to drive back across the border to Vancouver B.C. Despite the fact a car was almost three times as expensive as catching a greyhound we have vowed to never catch those servile pieces of trash again. The flight was booked on American Airlines for 8:10pm. Great... we had a whole day to waste in New York... There could be worse things to be doing right?

So we had our bags in storage, did some last pieces of shopping, wandered about town, checked out the museums and went to a Diner in the Upper West Side to catch up with Simon's friend Jill one last time before we flew out of NYC. The beauty of flying out of NYC is that you can catch the train from Manhatten to the airport and get on your plane... Bobs your uncle right? We had a casual drink with Jill from about 4:30pm in the afternoon, chatted about life, tried to solve the problems of the world over a chocolate milkshake and to our credit we did pretty well. Long story short, time ran away from us, looking at the watch at 6pm we thought.. ok time to get a wriggle on. Wriggle we did. With our bags still in storage, packed to the max mind you, we still had to go and collect them. We walked a few blocks to pick them up and then walked many more blocks to get to the closest train station. By this time it was 6:40pm. Suddenly the voices in the back of our heads saying 'You are pushing it' were starting to get a little louder... We got on the train not really knowing what we were doing, all the while thinking, we should have planned this a little better. Trains can be scary in the big bad city... get it wrong and it can all end in tears.

After getting towards the centre of the city we had to change trains but didn't know when to... so naturally you ask the closest person who doesn't look like a crack whore, luckily there was one standing just near Simon. Blind faith paid off. After asking a lady what we needed to do she told us to stick with her and her friend and that she would get us to the airport. Good news... the bad news... she told us we were dreaming if we wanted to get there before 7:40pm... uh-oh! It was now well past 7 and we still had ages to go. Oddly enough all we could do was pull faces at each other in a crammed subway carriage and shrug our shoulders.



Surely we wouldn't miss the flight... In these situations sometimes conversations come up in the funniest fashion, we started talking to two Indian guys on the train who noticed we were Aussies. We talked for ages about cricket and all sorts of things that Indians and Australians shared passionately... like racism for example. What we got from our Indian friends was a pep talk... "hang in there guys, you never know... we think you'll get there just after 7:40pm you could be lucky". Luck didn't seem to be on our side.... we had been underground now for what seemed an eternity, it felt like the never ending train ride. The worst part was is that we still had to do one last transfer to the airport shuttle. 7:40pm came and went. At 7:45 we got to the airport shuttle terminal. At this point we illustrated gracefulness, elegance and flair in one go as we turned, thanked the friendly ladies who guided us out of the big bad city, nodded to the Indian guys, picked up two back packs and two carry on bags and legged it to the platform like two overweight, uncoordinated Amanda Vanstones... naturally we got there as the shuttle doors shut and the train took off... bullocks! Ah well, forced to wait... The next train came and we jumped on. The airport shuttle is set up in a ring within the JFK terminals. The airport is massive!!! We frantically searched the airport map on the train for the terminal that American Airlines operated out of... found it... it was terminal 7... where was that located on the shuttle ring... the last terminal.... Looking back we are quite proud at how we managed ourselves... no arguing, no hissy fits just a dogged determination to get to that bloody check in desk... even is it was 7:55pm! We were like Liverpool in the 2005 Champions League Grand Final, 3-0 down at half time but never lost sight of the bigger picture, there was still a half to go. Great analogy if I don't say so myself.

Anyway, by the time the shuttle got to terminal 7 it was 8:00pm. No chance of getting on the flight, it would already be sitting on the runway ready for take off. Once again resembling two Amanda Vanstones running through the airport we got to the American Airlines check in desk. Fully loaded, completely crowded, what do we do. Push in of course! Simon pushed right to the front of the first class line ready to plead his case. As he got to the counter he could see it in the check in attendants eyes... you are an idiot... as if you thought you could make it on this flight, you should have just stayed in the city and drowned your sorrows at missing the flight. This is how the following conversation went.
Check in attendant: "How can I help you sir?"
Simon: " Hey, Oh my god, you wouldn't believe it, my wife and I got on the wrong train (trying the sympathy vote) and we got lost and I think we might have missed our flight" (Are you serious Mitchell its being taxied onto the runway)
Check in attendant: "Where were you flying to?"
Simon: "Seattle"
Check in attendant: "Ha don;t worry brother, your flights been delayed by two hours!"
Simon: "Are you taking the piss? That is hilarious, you are serious right?"
Check in attendant: "Absolutley man, just join that line over there and we'll re-book your flight".

I don't think American Airlines had ever seen two people more happy to have a delayed flight. Some people say that our wedding day is the happiest moment of your life, or the birth of a child etc etc... we can tell you right now... that is on of our greatest achievements! Well played Zoe and Simon!

The moral of the story "No matter how late you are for a flight never give up". Actually i was joking, it is "Make sure you research your travels properly rather than taking the it will be alright on the night approach. Bloody rookies!

Believe it or not there is more to this story. Part two will be uploaded soon.

Much love MitchnZobo xoxox

Quote Board Update: An idea from our kiwi friends Anna and John!

Updates to the quote board....

During our everyday lives we find that we say the stupidest things... Our friends Anna and John put any silly quotes of thiers onto a quote board so we have decided to make our blogspot a quote board!

.....................................

Simon: Wow look at the way the water crashes up against the ocean (Meaning: Look at the way the ocean crashes up against the rocks)

Zoe: I must say 65 is quite slow for a highway (Simon's response... Ummm its miles per hour Zoe)

Zoe: Its so weird driving on the left hand side... I can't tell when there is someone on my right hand side... how do i do that? (Simon's response... Look over your right shoulder)

Simon: How good is this LA weather... its sheets and t-shorts! (Meaning: It's shorts and t-shirts...)

Zoe: So is Mexico a big state in America? (Meaning: Is Mexico a big country... said whilst looking at a map of America... hmmm)

Zoe: Look thats the steam that makes Marilyn Manson's dress go up in the air... (Ummm Marilyn Monroe Zoe... whoops!)

Zoe: I feel like a turtle with my life packed in my back (referring to how wearing a back pack made her feel like a turtle)

Update 6th of April...

Zoe: It's good that you had a photo picture!

Additional Quotes:

Simon - 'This is the first time I've repeated this story'

Simon - (When refering to late night shift work where together time is minimal) 'I've promised Zoe I'd never take a gig like that again...unless I have to'.

More to come!

New York New York

Time of our lives!

We had four nights and five days in NYC (Arrive-Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Depart-Tue). You could stay here four months and still not see everything! Amazing place!

On our first day there we hit the showers hard, very hard, as you may have read earlier we had been on Greyhounds for the previous 3 days! With all that behind us we were so excited to be in the big bad city. We went for a walk though central park into the city. A casual 25 minute walk.... much longer than the "close to the city" as advertised on the website of the place we were staying. A very nice walk though and lots of squirrels. Ok so we know that they don't have squirrels in Australia, but seriously these little suckers are awesome! The funniest characters and we have become slightly obsessed with them!

We stayed on the Upper West Side which had a bit of character and to be honest it was really nice to stay in an area where real New Yorkers lived and not where there was stacks of tourists. We spent the first day or two just walking around with our mouths open. The place is a concrete jungle. So many varieties of people sqaushed into one place.

You may have heard people say that there is a magic in the air in New York and its true. There is a real sense of atmosphere and no it wasn't due to the mushrooms we had dropped. Before heading to the US we had so many people tell us that the clothes were cheap there. We kind of didn't believe until Zoe bought two pairs of boots for $18. It is ridiculous, Simon picked up a pair of jeans for $50 that would be worth over $150 in Australia. We simply don't understand and quite frankly we think it is unfair, but hey when in Rome! So we ended up buying more clothes than we could fit into our back packs which is another blog in itself. We also found speakers for our iPod for $10... crazy!

We were in NYC over the weekend and chose the Saturday afternoon to go up the Empire State Building... bad choice Zoe and Simon... correction bad choice Simon... it was so bloody busy, it took almost 45 minutes to get from the street to the out side platform. There was a line outside of the door onto the street when we first arrived and to make matters worse there were lots of tourists groups and christian camps getting off by the bus load. Damn christian kids getting in our way and being so happy about it at the same time... "Where are we from" Insert camp name in chant reply... end with a big "woo hoo yeah"! Nothing worse than standing in a line going no where with people who actually enjoy it! Ahh it wasn't all that bad... just different over here, they really get into it! Maybe us Australians are just too cool for school....christian school that is! Amen! Parts of the building are set up to accommodate large numbers of people, so when you finally think you are about to get to the level with the elevators to take you to the 86th floor, you walk round another twist to another turn to more barricades. If we had anymore "woo hoo's" and "oh yeahs" we were contemplating throwing someone over the side! When we finally got to the top though, it was all worth it! Stunning views! You realise the size of the place and how many things are going on. It is one of those moments when you can't really speak for a while as you try to take it all in. We are really glad we did it and we chose the perfect time, we went up in the late afternoon and witnessed the evening sunset turn into night time. Such a contrast in the day to night experience! We highly recommend going in the late afternoon and waiting for the sun to set! Amazing! Maybe check the weather though. We had a perfect clear sky but it was 0 degrees celcius... freezing!

On the Sunday we caught up with a friend of ours, Jill. Jill and Simon went to University together when Jill was an exchange student from San Diego State University. Jill has been living and working in New York for about 2 years as a pharmaceutical sales rep and is such a legend, we had a great time meeting her and her New York buddies over some Mexican for lunch. We also granted Jill some temporary Australian citizenship because she requested that we bring her some Vegemite from Australia. We could only oblige, spreading the love of Vegemite world wide... did you get it... it was a condiment joke... "spreading the love".

One of the things we really wanted to do was go to the live taping of a tv show, either Dave Letterman or Conan O'Brien. It is really hard to get tickets to these shows and you have to turn up early in the morning (9am-12:30pm) and line up to get yourself into the draw for a lottery type ticket system. We decided to do this on the monday morning because it was our last full day there and we were changing accommodation for our final night there, do it all in one big hit we thought. Wouldn't you know it... we slept in! So the plan for the day was wake up early... ambitious I know, pack our back packs put them in storage and get to the Ed Sullivan Theatre by 9:30am. We got there at 12:15pm wondering what the hell is wrong with us. The tickets are allocated via a lottery as mentioned earlier, so you put your name down and cross your fingers that you get called back in the afternoon to watch the nights taping. We got talking to one of the staff members Paul and were having a laugh with him when i mentioned that we didn't have any credit on our phones... he pulled us aside and said "At 3:30 this afternoon meet me at the corner of 46th and Broadway and i'll have your tickets". Nice work Micth and Zobo... it's true you get more with sugar than you do with salt... just ask any of Americas busy diabetes practitioners. Paul was a legend, we had a really good laugh with him later that day and we are now even facebook buddies. So we scored tickets to see Letterman in New York and we were stoked. The show was great fun live and it was really impressive to see how they worked people into a frenzy before the show starts. If you pay close attention you realise that they do it from the moment you line up for tickets... another well oiled machine. Jay-Z and Mary J Blige finished out the show and they were top shelf, so it was just a top day all round... even with the sleep in!

Just to finish off quickly, later that night we bumped into a lovely old man walking his dog. The dogs name was Chi Chi and the owners name was Ralph. Ralph was born in New York City and was 70 something years old. He has never been up the Empire State Building, never been to the Statue of Liberty, never seen a live taping of a tv show and has pretty much never left the island of Manhatten. He was such an interesting guy and almost the highlight of the day!

So much to blog about and sorry it has taken us ages to get the time to write some more stuff. You can see all of our photos from the link at the top left hand side of this page. I may even update this blog as i go along! Coming soon we'll blog about Vancouver and the flight out from New York... very funny... did we miss the flight or did we make it!

Thanks again for stopping by, although we are far away you guys are not far from thought... much Love MitchnZobo xoxo

We didn't change our undies for 71 hours!

First things first, news came through on our journeys that our friends Laura and Bill got engaged so a massive congrats to the two of you! We hope all your best wishes and dreams come true! Sorry for putting this congrats under the heading "We didn't change our undies for 71 hours!"

Wow!

On the 25th of March we jumped on a Greyhound in San Diego California.... destination New York City... arrival date 28th March... 3200 miles away.... yes miles. Do you want me to do the conversion for you... 5149.88800 km... mammoth right! The reason? Well when we initially did planning for the trip we realised that it was going to save us about $600... that is $600 to spend elsewhere and we thought that we would be able to see lots of America... once again putting a positive spin on a potential negative! We travelled through California, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and finally New York Sate... geez! If someone had asked us in Australia, 'Would you get on a Greyhound from Cairns to Perth for 71 hours straight?" we would have told them they were possessed by a retarded ghost!

After the first night we kept on saying to each other "this is ok, we'll be fine" because when you look at your ticket you can see scheduled breaks along the way. 1 hour in Vegas, 2 hours in Denver, 1.5 hours in Chicago. In our minds we thought great! Time to take a walk, grab some food etc etc... did that get to happen? No! The buses make so many stops that they quickly get behind and then they don't plan for stuff like bad traffic, federal police getting on the bus to check for drugs and bombs and massive, massive snow falls! All of which happened!










At one stop in the middle of no where this guy gets on the front of the bus and says "Hi ya'll i'm from the federal police and we're just gonna take a quick moment to have a chat and check the bus for any drugs, alcohol or explosives, ya'll don't mind do you?" That 'quick moment' took over an hour... there went that 2 hours in Denver considering we were already running an hour late! So as you can imagine 'time spent on the bus' was getting greater and greater... Along the way there was driver changes, obviously for safety reasons. You could tell each drivers favourite place to eat... because they would pull over for a rest and to give us the chance to stretch our legs. They would pull over at one of three places, a roadside dinner, McDonalds or Burger King. Gross! Try eating healthy with those options. We stuck to these rules. No burgers, no hot dogs and no sugar loaded drinks! That way we were able to feel somewhat healthy and Simon wouldn't load up the bus with flatulence! The bus drivers were interesting themselves, we had a big mean lezzer who liked to show who was boss, an over friendly fella who just thought every mountain and piece of countryside was beautiful, the mumbler (we could never understand his announcements) Queen latifah she drove like a maniac and old mate who felt like he was falling asleep sometimes... occasionally the bus would run over the sleep markers on the side of the road and wake everyone up. We later named them the "Oh Shit lines!"
At one stage we thought we were going to die... we were hitting the road through the upper mid east (Ohio) and it was snowing very, very heavily. So heavily that truck drivers and the majority of the people on the road had pulled over so that they didn't veer of the road, flip, roll, catch fire and die. What does the Greyhound driver do... hit mach speed like Maverick in a F-14 fighter jet. Crazy son of a bitch!

On the bus there were some really weird characters, lots of mexicans, trailer parkies and quite possibly some convicted criminals! One of our favourites was this massive bloke who was a splitting image of Eddie Murphy (Mr Klump) in the 'Nutty Professor'. Not kidding either the guy was huge and he spoke just like him too! He got on the bus an mumbled all the way up the aisle... "Oh man there's so many people on this here bus, how am i gonna get a seat up in here". He did find a seat, right behind us. Hmmm that made it hard to recline. He snored and had smelly breath, so when he really got going it would waft over our seats... eeeew!

Towards the back end of the trip we changed onto a really nice bus. Bigger seats, more foot space and tv's too! We got to travel on that little puppy for about a day and a half! It was on said bus where Simon and Zoe experienced a very surreal moment! It was the middle of the night, we had just made our last stop for about 4 hours and we had just finished watching the movie "Dunstan Checks In" a dodgy 1990's kids movie. Before we hit the road from Macca's number 37 the bus driver put a new movie on and hit the road. The feature film started... It was... get ready for it... "The Man from Snowy River"... starring Tom Burlinson. Are you serious... On a greyhound bus at 1:30 am, in the United States of America, in the middle of nowhere watching the man from Snowy River on a bus full of yankee doodles with the Nutty Professor swallowing 3 big macs (patties, buns and special sauce in one go). Simon had never seen the film all the way through before so he watched the entire thing and fell asleep to the nausiating smell of special sauce! Zoe woke up to the nausiating smell of special sauce in a panic yelling, my neck, my neck ive killed my neck. She had fallen asleep in the worst possible position and Simon had to physically lift her chin up to help her! Funny!





On the 28th of March, 3 days after setting off from San Diego we arrived in the monstrosity that is New York City! Thank christ, we finally got a shower and the chance to peel off our undies and socks!

Would we do it again? No!

Much love Mitch N Zobo xo

P.S. On the top left hand side of the page you can click onto a link for all of our photos on picasa web albums. You don't have to be a member to log in, you can just view all of our photos, thanks again for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment it is nice to know you are alive.