Walking the Plank..

Well is the eve before us young lads hop aboard the 'ephesian', the very same fine vessle that is going to take the 'road kill valley yacht club' to there first victory.

But in the lead up to this grand day we have many ups and many downs, actually no downs at all, just all ups.

Firstly on the 30th our dear Friend Steve came all the way from china in dashing style to suprise all of us, out of the blue on the dock john and myself saw a tall boy, and dear me it was steve, the joy was endless that day, and so was the beer.

After this event, we had our jumper presentations, our fine captain Dingo Bloody Fedora (Dr Andy) delivered many inspirational words and we were all knighted as a crew member of the EPHESIAN.

It was a grand night indeed that lead to a late night Kabab meal.

I bid thy farwell and wish thy luck for tomorrows evdevor.

Over and Out

London and Cowes

hey everybody,

so amidst Alistair's crazy stories, London has been incredible. i really liked it there, which surprised me. so to pick up where AL left off, we have the first annual sailing meeting of the road kill valley yacht club, were we met up with dad and Andi an all the other crew members for a very special dinner, after a lot of wine and very yummy food i somehow became the president of this yacht club, the night was ridiculously fun with lots of silliness from all ages. the next day the boys and i went to spitafeilds market, which is a fashion market. however it was so hot (28) that e bailed out and went and met up with dad instead. john, AL, dad and myself then made our way over to Westminster, and big Ben, on the very efficient tube station which i have grown to enjoy. big Ben - which is actually called the Westminster clock tower - a common misconception, was breathtaking, a lot bigger than i wld have imagined. and Westminster, although i was closed(being a Sunday) was also so old and historical. dad, aj and myself went on the London eye. although it was huge, and a fantastic view, i would bother again. its not that exciting. the next day dad and i did a double decker bus tour around the sites. it was great to see the landscape of London and really get my bearings a bit. it is a spectacular city, the history is great and u can really picture the times of the great plague and fire. we had lunch in Carnaby street, if u don't no this street, it was very big in the 'Twiggy' era and was known for its outrageous fashion, it is also where Ben Sherman began. that afternoon john al and myself found our way down to East Cowes, which is in the 'isle of whit'. we caught a ferry across the isle which was cool to see the water and all the boats. Cowes itself is adorable, although i haven't explored it yet, on a first impression is very 'English seaside' quaint and cute. anyway the week ahead should be good, a week of sailing, pub and exploring the countryside.

happy birthday mum and jessi
xooxox
Photos, also include, madame trussurds

Nik and Waxy's Little sister

Well last night we had our first London night life experience, thought in the lead up to it we met with JOHNNY BOY!! and saw the queens homestead and hyde park. Then we met up with Johns mate Fraser and his mate and hit 4 pubs, over here they just drink at one pub (out on the street) then continue on to another until you cant walk. though we headed home early and got some much needed rest. Today on the other hand we woke up early saw the London bridge, met u with Dr.Andy aka Captain Dingo Bloody Fedora, i gained the nick name bermuta GH, had chinese, went into a cigar shop, ended up at the pub on the street eating crackers and cheese with a guy named nik(who had more money than to know what to do with) and his wife rosmary (who had just come shopping from Dior and Gucci), anyway it was a fun day on the town with andy and clieve. out to dinner tonight, dressing up in a suit and tie, should be a good adventure if it was anything like today.
Over and out

London Baby!!...

Hey everybody, well we are in London town, the flight over was ok, besides the fact i had a nice French boy sit next to me, who i soon found out did not have it all quite together up in his head, with the constant twitching going on next to me along with the poking at me trying to show me the funny bits in HIS movie, sleeping was a mere issue. Although i must say his obsession with chewing gum then making a ball out of the chewed pieces ( all twenty of them ), was the pinnacle of the flight. London however, on a first impression is very London... what u would expect, cute, quaint and busy. our hostel is cool. and comfitable. our cell (i mean room) is sufficient! meeting up with John tomz, yay!!!
anyway got to go internet time running out.
love to u all
xox
over and out (aj)

Hey everybody,

hope everyone is doing well. Kristie here this time!!


Ok so after edmonton we cam back to lloydminster, which is where we have been for the past week or so, however it has been jammed packed full of exciting adventures, most of which will make the Barnes family jealous (ha ha mick).
so to begin our week Uncle Doug took us up on his plane- not to sure what type of plane but i do no it was a P28 180




we we got a birds-eye view of the surrounding area. man this place has a lot of oil, extreme!!! so from the air you could see the prairies, all the canola fields, native and religious colonies, very cool. however on the way back from our tour we were all extremely quiet due to a little air sickness. i sat up front and got to enjoy the fantastic view when landing....holy!


here is one of the thousands of canola Fields



We then headed up to Little Fishing lake. this is where Uncle Doug and Auntie deb have their cabin. so this next couple of days involved a few sports that lets just say we are not insured to do - technically!!!! luckily no one got hurt, however i have a tiny cut above my left eye. if i weren't wearing sunglasses - who knows.. ha ha!!

so a bit of boating was on the agenda and we both took our turns at wake boarding, and its not that different from snow boarding, except when u fall.


Al's turn first



i however was a little more apprehensive in my attempt
although i did get there.




we also went tubing - we actually popped the tube!!!




but all in all we had a fantastic time on the lake

.

from one extreme sport to another, we hit the muddy trails for a "three hour tour" on the 4-wheelers.

now this was insanely fun, lets just say we are lucky we had a winch. the mud and puddles were so fun, we all we covered in it.

aj claims he saw a bear, and we did see the bears prints. and we saw a beaver dam. but it was just so much fun,

here are some of the adventures of quading:

it was a ridiculously fun time.

so that's been us over the last couple of days, we leave for London tomorrow which is exciting. we will keep u updated

aj will be doing a food segment, later this evening. on Canadian food!

xoxox lots love

Lake Louise.Banff..Calgary.Edmonton..Lloydminster

Well Aj here...We have not been gone that long but gosh does it feel like forever, well the gripping adventure continues, from whistler we headed back through downtown Vancouver (due to the fact i forgot my jacket at our last hotel...hmmm..oops) with my jacket safely recovered we started our eight hour drive down to Oosoyos. (which is a town which is in the middle of a series of lakes, the US border is just a short boat trip away)

This is where My uncle and auntie were staying, Oosoyos is the hottest place in Canada apparently, i say apparently because we were welcomed there with 2 hours of rain, hail, lighting and thunder. This Rain unfortunately continued on in our drive through the Rocky Mountains, what is suppose the be the most beautiful scenery in Canada. Which was a bit of a downer, though it seemed fate was on our side and as we were coming to lake Louise the weather cleared up, words or pictures can not describe how beautiful lake Louise was, it looks exactly like all the post cards, absolutely stunning.

The Hotel On lake Louise (the Fairmont) is huge, also very expensive, Kris seemed some what disappointed when i would not book a room for the night.

From there we headed to Banff, a lovely quaint mountain town. We went up another Gondola Ride (though this time it did not stop halfway up the mountain for 15 minutes). Kris and i also had a drink at the bar and met some lovely bar men who were very interested in jager bombs.

Calgary - We stayed four nights with more of my relatives, nothing too terribly exciting to report besides shopping sprees and going up the calgary tower, though i did find out that Kristie is addicted to Guitar hero.

We finally arrived in Lloydminster, my family's home town. It is a fairly small town, but a great example of a Canadian town, every car is a TRUCK and driven by a muscle headed, tattoo covered Cowboy(though this is a slight over exaggeration, there are some normal/ordinary people living in the town/city). We Got lucky, because the county fair was in town, YEEE HAAA!, this meant more cowboys and farm animals (not talking about Kristie). We went on some rides, Kristie screamed her head off and cried on each one, it was the funniest thing i have ever seen, i cried of laughter, here is a photo which i think captures the moment nicely.

But to calm her down i had to do the right thing and win her a toy, Although the first thing i won was a fuzzy foot on a stick.......Kris said i could keep it....But i later sweet talked a carnie and traded it in for a elephant.

After the hype of the Fair, we ventured to Edmonton for the weekend. There we stayed with my cousins and went to the biggest mall in the world..here are some of the sites to see in West Edmonton Mall.

(water park)

(Pirate Ship + Submarine rides + seals shows)

(Amusement park + Roller coaster)

(Ice Skating)

Until next time..Over and out

Alistair

PS: i added some Photos to the other Blogs

Canada...day 1 2 3

Hi Everybody,
Kris and Aj here! we are at the moment in Whistler, it is the most breathtaking, amazing place. its summer here, and obviously whistler in known for its winter but it is still breathtaking, snow is still on the very very top.

we went on a gondola today which went to the very top of the mountain 7,500 feet!!! we touched Canadian snow. the hotel we are staying at its also pretty special, this is defiantly a place to re-visit. Dad - you would love this place so much, it has a Yosemite feel, but better!!! we went a beautiful walk today through these big pine trees, it smelt like Christmas!!! and there was a icy blue stream, i half expected a bear to show up, unfortunately the bear clearly had prior arrangements than to entertain/eat two tourist like ourselves. we have already stopped at Vancouver which was lovely, a big beach!! its been super hot here 36 degrees- ish.
tomorrow we head down to a big lake to hit the water sports!
hope everyone is very well, and cold in little old Melbourne!

miss u already
love kristie and Aj xoxoxo
(stay tuned for the next blog to be more humorous/lame, as it aj's turn next)