Monday, March 16, 2009

I wanna take you to a gay bar and spend all your money...

After Banff we spent a few days in Van Van with Ryan.

We had planned a few things which were really looking forward to. Going to Lynn Valley to see the suspension bridge and also heading to Grouse Mountain to do the Grouse Grind... Ryan had already been to Lynn Valley and the Grouse Grind was closed for winter. Mitch and Fumbles... the worlds worst travelers... and planners!

In the end it was a good thing because we got to spend more time just catching up!


Walking the Seawall...



English Bay...


Ryan saying goodbye to Zoe for who know's how long...




Ryan and Chris really liked the service at a place called Earls. Like they seriously liked the service. They spent a possible 7 days out of 10 at Earls. Sorry we wrote service... we meant servers... Hello ladies!


They fell in love several times...

The four days in Vancouver could also be compared to an Olympic event. Foosball, pool, beer, bowling, golf, beer and more foosball. It was quite epic. We had a years worth of matey stuff to do. Although I did let Australia down as far as consumption of alcohol. An example of this is not re-calling when and where this photo was taken...


All in all, great to see Ryan, great to meet Chris, great to witness Chris getting hit on in the line up to Celebrities!

Mitch and Fumbles ;)

Banff

Mitch and Fumbles the worlds worst travelers planned a trip to Banff to meet best mate Ryan and make new friends with Emma and Kade!

Naturally this journey started off with an early start. Our flight from Victoria to Calgary was leaving @ 9.25 am. We had booked an airport shuttle to pick us up @ 7:20 am. Given the fact we hadn't finished packing by 2:30 am in the morning, we did a fantastic job of getting to the pick up location @ 7:15 am. Well played Mitch and Fumbles.

We were however let down by the Airporter... it failed to pick us up. At 7:40 it was panic stations. This can't be happening. For once we were on time and Zoe hadn't dropped anything on the way here. One quick phone call to the company and one quick argument won by Mitch meant a taxi was on the way. Despite the fact the Airporter employee hung up on Mitch they did cover the difference between a taxi fare and the cost of the Airporter. Happy outcome.

After arriving in Calgary we made it to Banff via another airporter which took roughly two and a half hours. Zoe 'sleeps on public transport' Noonan slept most of the way. Thanks to the driver some interesting facts about the Rockies and Banff were learnt. Can I remember those now. No. Anyway, We made some bloody fantastic friends in Banff called Emma and Kade.



Emma and Kade are awesome. You know when you meet people and you feel like.... I wish we had been friends for years already because I feel like I have missed out on being friends with you. That's what they are like. Zoe and Emma. Kindred spirits. They like milka, they like the same tv shows, Zoe is called Fumbles and Emma is called Sir Stacks a lot. Too funny!
We stayed with them for 5 days and we had the best time. So thanks to Emma and Kade for putting us up. Also to Rich and Linda their housemates for having us as well. Another top shelf couple! The late night group chats and laughs was just wha Zoe and Mitch needed. Emma and Kade are about to embark on the next leg of their journey which involves Hawaii and being in the Ellen audience! Brilliant!



Catching up with Ryan was superb! Often all you see is smiles and good reports of what we are doing over here. It has been cold this winter and it has been a downer. Both Fumbles and Mitch have been homesick over winter and at times it is hard to keep our end goals in sight. Victoria has been especially hard for Fumbles with the teaching side of things not working out. So a break in one of the most beautiful places in Canada and the excitement of meeting one of our best friends was so exciting and too hard to put into words... but I will try. You know when you are so excited or nervous or happy about something and you almost pee your pants...Yes? Well that's what it was like. Ryan was also traveling with his work mate Chris who is a really nice guy... his facial hair made him popular in a nightclub line up... but that story is for another blog.

We are both only 26 but it gets to a stage where you realise that many people come and go through your life and people like Ryan don't come around very often. Let alone come to Canada... geez why does it have to be so far away! You are the best!




We took so many photo's in Banff and you can see them on our Picasa page, I may have sent this to you via email as well... if I didn't... awkward!

Highlights of the trip: Catching up with Ryan, meeting Emma, Kade, Linda and Richard, a day at Sunshine Village getting to see where Anna and John lived last year and not getting mauled and eaten by a cougar.

Lowlights: The cold... minus 18... are you serious, not staying longer, dry skin and chapped lips and flying back to Victoria sucked the big one.



We had the best time and the break was awesome and much needed! Bring on Mum, Dad, Harry and Jackie in May!

Mitch and Fumbles xo

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Donovan Frankereiter... wow!

Last night at Element we were lucky enough to go and see Donovan Frankenreiter, his band and Gary Jules as special guest. What a treat. Some of you may not know Donovan Frankenreiter others will.



To put it plainly this guy is the dude. He oozes talent and he also surfs. Dammit some people get all the skills!

If you don't know Donovan Frankenreiter here is a great song from him...



Gary Jules was also great to see... he is very funny and engaging with the audience. You may have heard his re-working of the Tears For Fears song Mad World...



Over 11 million hits on youtube... thanks for coming.

Plus he had a really cool jacket and hat!




One of my favourite things about music is sense of place and time. Last night Donovan Frankenreiter played a song called 'Free'. This was the song that was played right at the end of our wedding ceremony. It was so good for Zoe and I to see him do that live. Sense of place and time! We were right back there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7Xv4oHGUyw

You can't embed that video but it is worth watching because he does some cool surfing in it and the song features Jack Johnson.

So quite frankly Donovan you are my hero and thanks for being so damn awesome.

Mitch and Zobo xo