No Fosters Thanks - no_fosters_thanks

Leaving Vancouver

no_fosters_thanks — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Ok, I'll finish my blog entry soon...I promise. But the day has come, we're bussing out of vancouver today, heading for the awesome, Lake Louise. So, contact will be more random, but YAY! On the road again.

Finished work friday, spend all weekend with amber and simon, and very soon it's time to leave. But enough time for bacon and eggs first!

Chatskies soon

Sarah

"It's a treasure hunt, at your local thrift store"

no_fosters_thanks — Tue, 08 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Kits Beach

**update** So totally nothing interesting has happened. At all. I worked, drank beer, teased Tom, and bought bus tickets. Greyhound 30 DAY DISCOVERY PASS! Thats right North America, you shall suffer my travels for 30 days of invasive discovery. Hahahahaha **update waaaay over**

A real sign, complete with a picture of an old school pirate treasure map. Oh, of all the days to forget my camera. Who knew that a trip to the mall would be so eventful?

Saturday we ventured all the way out to Burnaby, marking Tom's first trip on the skytrain. (incidentally, have you noticed we've run out of lots of free stuff to do in vancouver, we're really stretching our imaginations now). At Burnaby was the rather large, confusing shopping mall of Metrotown. Wow. They even have people on rollerblades 'shopper assistants' to aid you. Which you need, with the most CONFUSING floor plan known to man. I cannot count the times we got lost, and then by the time we were slightly orientated, trying to find an atm..lost again! However, we did find the best store, called 'ages 3 and up' which sold geek toys. They had a person sized statue of Gundam. Now you can see why we needed a camera!

We managed to find a webcam in londondrugs, so we rang all our families, and proved that we're alive and well with video evidence.

Monday afternoon was the most gorgeous day, so we walked down to the beach and played frisbee...which I'm ashamed to say wasn't a success. Well, a success in the regard that Tom got plenty of exercise, and utter failure that my throwing skills are much diminished.

Tonight we're heading to the Vancouver Art Gallery to see some photography exhibits with a girl from work, so that should be great fun.

4 weeks until we leave Vancouver now, off to Banff and Lake Louise first, get in some horse-riding up there! Super excited!

Canadian house parties and compulsive fibbers

no_fosters_thanks — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The parent creatures seem pretty happy with the once weekly 'I'm alive' phone call, however displeased when it's short due to imminent free beer. Honestly, you would think your parents would want whats best for their children.

Tom's sweet mullet

Basically, I'm pretty gutted, due to my mum preferring Tom's blog to mine, even after I pointed out that very little is related to reality. And apparently I try to kill him every week in a new and creative manner. THE LIES!!!! It's taken a few days to calm down...but my overwhelming jealous moment is well under control. However, Tom's mullet keeps increasing...he says he's going to try and look like Tom cruise ala MI2. Crazy.

So the weekend just gone was a bit of fun...we headed out to the Richmond Ikea, which was pretty awesome. I'm not sure how much Tom enjoyed the experience, but I had a ball. I'll admit, it was very similar to the Ikea at home, and I love both of them equally. Is it lame when tourist attractions include foreign ikeas? It's almost tempting when I go to Sweden to go to ikea there....except I'm sure they won't have the explanation of what something is...and you know what, I need it sometimes. Incidentally, the swedish words for kitchen chairs are apparently all boys names. There you go.

Cultural merger....

Saturday night we were invited to a bbq, hosted by my co-worker Rose. There are pictures of Tom and I with her teenie tiny dog...smaller than the cat. It was a pretty good night, beer and snags...very very tasty.

Other than that, we've just confirmed, we will be leaving Vancouver on June 3rd...and are confirmed to arrive in London on July 7th. Jeez, hope I get my passport back from the UK embassy soon!

So doot crew and mates in the Uk, get your livers ready! Also vancouverites, book in a leaving party, details soon!

Ice-hockey, beer and UBC

no_fosters_thanks — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Crazy, just looking at the google map above, it's insane to think how far I've come...and also how much of it was overland! You would think after 28 hour bus trips in South America, that I would appreciate plane travel more. But I think people get to caught up in 'losing' time while in transit...one of my favourite views in Bolivia, was while we were on a chicken bus going through a tunnel, while travelling in the Andes. I'm actually looking forward to going across Canada by bus, granted, some of it will be boring (I'm predicting the prairies), going through the rockies by bus, awesome. Not to mention going through USA, where we can see lots of their cool country barns. I find them hillarious.

This week has been a bit social for us, Thursday we headed out with an Aussie contingent to Room 18, our local bar to watch the hockey, the Vancouver Canucks vs. Dallas. Sadly, we lost that game in overtime, but hey, it's best out of 7...so we're still in with a chance. Was a great night, quite amusing when the massive bench 3 of our party was sitting on broke, and consequently propped with with milk crates. Very classy. The poor waitress nearly went out of her mind with this dilemma. We agreed that she had to be new.

Friday night we went over to a house leaving party, for a bloke I used to work with when I first got to Canada. The house was due to be demolished, so we gave it a rousing farewell...actually we drank, played Texas hold'em and other board games.

Pilsner

But it was a good night, our friends Shannon and John picked us up and drove us home, so we got home all safe and sound:)

Saturday we just slept in...had a house day catching up on important business....trying to continue with learning spanish, which is going slowly but steadily.

Today we went for a walk around UBC parklands, which was rather surreal. UBC is like a little town all of it's own, even with it's own MacDonalds. Going from RMIT university, which is just random buildings scattered throughout the CBD, to a well developed region....strange.

UBC parklands

But the parklands were quite nice....and it was a good form of exercise.

Still trying to plan our trip trans canada, but apparently according to Tom, I have a few 'reality' issues in regards to how much time and money we have. But hey, I'll get there in the end:)

Blading at Stanley Park

no_fosters_thanks — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Tom and Erika skating

Not much I can say about this really, Tom, Erika and I hired sweet rollerblades, and skated around part of stanley park. Although, watch out for the salmon crossing, no-one likes roadkill.

Salmon Crossing

More food...

no_fosters_thanks — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The last three weeks have absolutely flown past, Kimba has already gone home, and we'll be heading off to our respective countries in two days time. Finally done some more sightseeing, which we managed to squeeze inbetween meals.

Kimbas' aunt (film star in Malaysia back in the day) took us to Putrajaya, which was stunning. Toured around the new office building, went past the palace, the prime ministers residence and the national mosque.

Would have loved to see inside a mosque, however I doubt Noor thought we were quite the devout muslims and didn't offer to take us inside....so we didn't ask. However Noor did take us to Royal Selangor Golf Course, which is pretty amazing (although the drive by of KLGCC- much more impressive) and we had lunch there.

No trumpets allowed - Royal Selangor golf club

For some reason it had the most amusing signs...but I'm the first to admit, it took me a little too long to realise that it really meant that no horns allowed. Kim had mentioned how she was forcefed by her aunt....which we were all subject to. You - eat this. Stuffed full wouldn't even begin to describe it.

Kim, breaking it down now

The post lunch expedition took us to some wetlands, but we struggled to see the wetness. Strange considering how much it rains in KL. Not really much to report there. Kimba did dance for us at the top of the, tall thing with stairs. Wouldn't call it a tower...but it had some height.

Post stair thing, we headed back to Kimba's aunts place, and chilled till her cousin Kay finished uni, then headed to Sri Hartamas for various adventures....none of which dad I can confirm resulted in me getting a tattoo. I did consume a few beers. We had a great night, some of Kay's friends came with us, we had dinner and beers and some sort of massive smoking thing, that tasted like watermelon and apple. Very tasty.

Smashing beers at

Proud to say we acted like responsible young adults...and bought a little bottle of vodka and smashed it with our Coke, seeing as the venue was beer free. Honestly. In the words of Kahmahl, why are people so unkind?

Altogether we had a smashing time (brilliant and beer-wise), but I'm sad to be leaving:( It's been great seeing everything, and spending time with Kimba and Tom, and Tom's family.

Tomorrow is our last day here before I fly out, and then it's back to Canada and responsibility. And work. Argh. But there will be plenty more adventures coming up soon.

Jungle and the city

no_fosters_thanks — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Explored some more in the last few days, knocking the major tourist stuff off the list. There is so Buket Bintang, Menara Kuala Lumpur (big tower), and a little Jungle walk too. The food in Kuala Lumpur is to die for, we've had Japanese, Thai, Australian, Spanish tapas and all of it has been amazing.

Tom and monkeys

With visiting the Menara Kuala Lumpur, to be honest, I expected more. Even though it was a comparatively clear day, it was still hard to see quite far. The smog and the distant rain just made it hazy. However at the bottom of the tower there was a little 'jungle' walk, which was far more interesting the the tower itself. The first section itself had two types of monkey, and they were just playing around in the trees and on the path. The rest of the walk was quite interesting, strange experience walking through the 'jungle', with big arse leafy trees and mozzies and then the sound of the freeway. Nothing like a tranquil walk...and then walking across a couple of startled locals sharing some pot. I don't think they expected to see us!

Take care in heels

Tomorrow the plan is to hit up a photography gallery and maybe a craft centre. Lucky tom.

So yes - sweet

no_fosters_thanks — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

So, seeing as Tom and I will be travelling together for the rest of the trip (score), we did discuss the possibility of having a shared blog. But, it's a lot of commitment, and due to the potential of artistic differences (ok, really we have different ideas on what my nana might like to hear about) Tom has his own blog.

It's more interesting than mine... so please go and check it out. He's already written about our travels in Malaysia (quick summary-couch to fridge to couch. Then couch to shop with beer then to fridge then couch. Awesome)

http://www.blogabond.com/haveyouseenmypassport

Will write soon, but very busy with beer and food. And pash rash. Ok, so mine isn't always nana friendly too.

What a handsome mat salai...

Mesjid at KLCC

Selamat datang

no_fosters_thanks — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

After a squillion hours of travel (most of them quite fine..) I have arrived in Kuala Lumpur! It's amazingly muggy, but the view from the balcony, more than makes up for it! We're staying with Tom's parents here, and we're having a great time. Catching up with Kimba today, as soon as she calls we're going to meet up in KLCC and have an explore. Or a beer. Or maybe both.

Cityscape

Still trying to work out a game plan for Malaysia, but to be honest it really so far does involve a fair bit of relaxing and nothing to stressful. Both Tom and myself have been working hard to save up for travelling, and will continue when we get back to Vancouver, so now is a good time to just chill and relax for awhile.

We are staying right next to the Patronus towers which as super impressive, but it's amazing how western the malls are underneath the towers. It's weird, just like being back in Aus. I know it's not the same, however it's the closest I've seen since I left home.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The travel here was quite interesting, on the Seattle to los Angeles flight was sat next to a really good guy from Seattle, who was flying to Australia to study! So we had great chats the whole flight, and ended up having dinner together and a few drinks at the bar. It was like some Christmas movie...where we where in Denver and snowed in or something. It was just really nice for both of us, I could tell him about Aus, and vice versa.

The flight to KL was interesting...I found out when I was looking at the board I has read my flight wrong. Turns out it wasn't a 14 hour flight. It was a 14 hour flight to my STOPOVER IN TAEPAI! and then two hours there and ANOTHER 4 hours to Malaysia. On finding this out, my initial reaction was to swear, and then try and find out where Taepai was. Turns out I was going to Taiwan. Interesting. And unexpected. We all got pulled of the plane and had a random security check, which I find intimidating after they announce on the plane over the PA that they are required to remind us, the penalty for drug trafficking is DEATH. Riiight. Lucky I had left all the drugs in Bolivia. (only joking dad, I can't afford drugs...beer costs to much).

Will update again later, hope to talk to everyone soon. Also, Erin, totally hope to catch up with you in canada, we'll be heading to Toronto later in the year, I'm not sure how long you will be there for, but let us know!

Love
Sarah

6 days left in Vancouver (for my first go)

no_fosters_thanks — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Wow, it's already nearly time to leave Canada! Only heading to Malaysia for three weeks, but I've been getting itchy feet (and not from hostel showers) to get travelling again. Haven't got much planned for the trip yet, but we'll work it out once we arrive there.

Things have been pretty crazy here, still working heaps of hours, not to mention having a bit of a social life now. I've been at the College for the last month, and really enjoyed my time there. My role has been mainly account recievable monkey work, but it's been a great opportunity, and I love the people. Made good friends with Shannon and Erika, and heading out this Saturday night for Erika's birthday drinks.

This week has also been rather draining, the whole fire thing has really hit home, and it's left me quite odd. It will be fine, but I'm actually really glad I've been on my own. I haven't been able to crawl into a ball and not deal with it, I spazzed out that day, got drunk once or twice (ok, twice), but aside from that I've still had to get up everyday and get on with it.

Have more photos, but I'm using a mac at the moment, and as much as I love them, for some reason safari doesn't want to play when it comes to uploading photos. But I'll add some more in soon. Promise.

Look, you can see the mountains, just down the street!

Something I love about Vancouver, is the sun rises and sets usually while I'm on the skytrain on the way to work. And it's always amazing. Especially as you can see the mountains, all pink, it really makes you go all mushy. And there are people on the train, who don't even see it. It makes me wonder what I miss when I'm on the train going to work back home. Hmmmm...footscray. Yep, maybe not quite the same.
A big thanks to the people who have emailed or texted and the like, it's been great to hear from you.

Little Nana Conlan - Hope all is well, thinking of you and hoping the heat isn't too bad for you at the moment.

Katie and Phil- Good luck on the house, hope you got it (and if you get a puppy, take photos!)

Em and Malte - Still up for the Com fest in scotland? Really keen to make that a definite plan

Missing everyone, but it's 7 sleeps until I'm kicking around with Kimba and Tom (or T-rex as she prefers to call him now) so it's all good from here:)

love sarah

Everything is gone :(

no_fosters_thanks — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Before I left aus, I packed up all my stuff, took it to the g-town and put it in storage. Today Dad rang me, there was a fire at the factories, and everything is gone. And uninsured. It's unbelievable, and I'm completely shattered.

Luckily, before I left I thought everything was going to be stored at Mum and Dad's house, so I took a few of my valuables that I didn't want my little brother going through (now, god bless him being the trouble he is) and left them at Toms house. So, I still have my photo albums, shiny things and a few really special items. But everything else is gone. What really upsets me is losing all my quilts that I was half-way through, and especially all the gifts from my 21st. Gutted. More upset that Alf is gone. Sure, I'm not sure he's had a shower in the last 18 years...but I'll still miss him:(

Trying to look on the bright side...at least everything will be matching when I get back. And I totally don;t have to stop myself buying shoes....no longer shall i say 'but i have plenty at home'. Hahaha. I don't have any anymore.

After work I went and bought a block of chocolate. Then stopped off for a hot chocolate. Then stopped at the bottle shop for a 6 pack. Feeling a little better for it, and chatting with Tom for a few hours has really helped too.

Blergh.

I'm starting to get my shit together

no_fosters_thanks — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Hi everyone,

just a quick note to let you know that I'm alive and working! I'm working two jobs...hell tired. Doing accounting temp work during the day, and hostessing at night. Also moved into a house for the next month!

Took a photo from out the front of the restaurant. It's on the beach. And yes, that's snow on the beach.

Kitsilano Beach

So tired, will talk to you later after a snooze. And if you want to talk, I have skype! sarahk.barton is my username. Scary people, please don't ring me. If you know me, thats a little different.

Guess what! Tom and I got the apartment we wanted! We will be living in a cute little one bedroom apartment in Kitsilano! Very very very excited. We move in as soon as we come home from Malaysia. fully furnished...and best of all...across the road from the bottle shop.

Thanks.

A Job and a house

no_fosters_thanks — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

So, just a quick update, I have a job with the accounting temping agency, and i think I will be started my first assignment on Monday! Yay! So that should be really good. Have another interview with the Roots store tomorrow, and I have another interview on sat for a bar/food place on the beach. So, not sure what I'm going to do, I'd rather work as a waitress, better to meet people. The idea is monday to friday accounting, and then bar or store work on the weekend.

The view from the end of Cambie street in Downtown

Also, I thought I had blogged about it, but I guess I deleted it accidentally (such a computer whizz am I), but Tom is coming to Canada! He just has had his work permit approved, so I'm looking for flats at the moment for the two of us, to start leasing March, as we both fly into vancouver early march. There is one I'm looking at this weekend, it's near Kitsilano beach. At least with two of us, we can get a one bedroom flat for about the same price as getting two separate rooms in a house, so we should have a nice place to ourselves. Yay! So we're going to continue the rest of the trip together, which should be a great experience. Looking forward to it. Still haven't changed the travel plans, except we're probably going to spend more time in Eastern europe now, which I'm really excited about. And we will prolly head up to Norway at some stage and annoy John and Kath for awhile.

Also looking forward to Australia day here, trying to find somewhere that will be streaming the triple j hottest 100, but failing that we're going to have a second bash at it in Malaysia with Kim and Tom. And probably a whole world of alcohol. But I'm already a little prepared, as part of my chrissy present Tom sent me a MASSIVE aussie flag, so I'm planning to be a disgrace to all aussies. Sorry.

Talk soon, although planning to be working my sorry little tush off as of monday. Awesome.

Homesickness and job interviews...my favourite things

no_fosters_thanks — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Ok. So I'm a big sook. A BIG sook. I acknowledge and accept that fact. And yes, Vancouver IS that cold. So I haven't blogged much lately, not a terrible amount has happened. But what has, I'll fill you in on.

So I came to Vancouver on New Years Eve, and it was a kicking night! Had a few beers, and guess what, Canada has some good beer. Met some awesome people, and the bar went off. An really cool local band played, and you should have heard their last set. They did Johnny Cash covers, and the place went nuts. Hell, I did. Everyone was dancing and just letting go. Good fun.

NYE at the Cambie hostel bar

But unfortunately the next day, I got rather ill. Turned out I had tonsilitis for the millionth time this year, and after a feverish and uncomfortable night (and to be honest, a big fat lecture from my mum via gmail chat) I went to the doctor and got some sweet antibiotics. So, basically the first week in Vancouver, I spent in bed. Didn't venture out too much, just tried to get better. Still have a bit of a cough, but I'm hoping that will bugger off soon.

So during the week, the craziest thing happened. In the morning, I ventured outside the hostel, and there was this huge amount of ice, on this car. And I was like, 'hey, wow, they get so much ice here...must have been a cold night'. Fine. Then I look at the rain, and I was like 'hey, why is the rain white?' (and yes, I am that daft. It took me looking at a nearby park before it clicked. It was SNOW. I have NEVER seen snow in a city before. You should have seen my face!

Snow in Vancouver

So I trudged through the snow, making the job applications, and a little bit of a lack of love. It's weird, never really looked for a job like this before. Aside from KPMG, all my other jobs have just sort of...well, happened. So I got a little discouraged by an overwhelming lack of enthusiasm on behalf of my life. Although, I nearly landed the BEST job. It was mine if I could have made the commitment, but I really like the owner, and I wasn't willing to shaft them. It was at a photo lab, selling photos frames and albums, and playing with digital photos. I was so excited. But, alas, it was not to be.

Found out my phone doesn't work here...so I bought a new one. I mean, it probably works, but telstra isn't in canada. So, I ended up getting a new telephone, which is great, I can text people! Awesome. But phones here work funny, and you dont pay for calls you make, you pay for 'airtime'. So no matter what you do, call OR recieve, you have to pay airtime. But, on the bright side, the airtime rates aren't that bad. And I dont really know anyone, so my bill shouldn't be too bad.

So friday night, I realised I was moping about, so I gave Kaths friend Amber a ring. Brilliant! We ended up catching up the next day, and it was really good. Ambers a really great chick. Amber also works with a recruitment agency, so she put me in contact with Accountemps, on monday morning. (yesterday).

So sunday I moped around again in spectacular fashion. Also did a bit of it yesterday. Did another big job search monday walking around. Been pretty homesick, it's hard to meet people in my hostel too. So I think I might change hostel. I may admit to having a cry in the bathroom. But, it's not the first time, and I'm sure it wont be the last.

I will also admit to having a sneak peek at flights home. But, I would refuse to forgive myself if I gave up, so although I ring tom quite often seeking emotional support, I'm sticking it out. The worst was when I was at the doctor, with a fever and he asked me if I had someone who could take care of me. Such a little mushbag am I.

Um....so accountemps rang me last night, at like 5.30 for an interview in the morning, so this morning was a mad rush to try and buy some interview shoes....an hour before my interview. But I managed! They are ugly, but black shiny boots nonetheless. And cheap:)

Also have an interview

Vancouver

no_fosters_thanks — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Hi all!

Have arrived into Canada, and have settled into a hostel in downtown. Haven't seen anything yet though, have managed to get tonsilitis and so am fairly well confined to the hostel at this stage.

But things are starting to come together, have my swap orientation on thursday, have all the paperwork ready for my bank account, will even get a Mobile sim card this week.

When I'm feeling better (ie not so sorry for myself) I might venture out and take some sweet photos.

Talk soon,
Sarah

Totally in love with San Francisco

no_fosters_thanks — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT

From the bay to the bars, there is nothing I don't adore about this city. Even in the middle of winter, the weather is perfect. I've met some really cool people at my hostel, and we've spent heaps of time exploring the city. On our first night here, we headed out to a few bars after a free dinner at the hostel (green tortoise hostel, recommend it to anyone) and got a little sloshed.

New friends at my hostel

Not too bad, so the next day we walked all around the city, checking out many of the tourist areas and a few others. Starting our own little three person pub crawl (Jason Kat and myself) and ended up having a big night. I have never felt so naive in my life, the guys took me to a strip club, and it blew me away. It wasn't as sleazy as I expected, and it was really good fun. Apparently we went to the uber tame ones, but my god, those girls are practically acrobats! Very impressed. Ended up having big chats to one girl, who was working as a stripper to put herself through college. A real eye-opening experience. After that we somehow managed to walk to a nightclub around the corner from the hostel, where the bartenders loved us aussies, were giving us free shots of furnet, and we were in the vip area. Not that I remember all of this....Jason had to 'remind' me. Tried to send Tom a drunken email, and it was the hardest thing in my life to log into my email account. And the email, well it looks like a monkey was just randomly bashing the keyboard. Now very glad that my Mobile has never had a sent messages folder. I doubt I would have wanted to ever know what tripe I write when I'm sloshed.

So the next day with hangover in tow, we went and hung out at this cool cafe owned by Francis Ford Coppola, which has the best food at amazingly good prices. After that Kat headed to the airport (onto vancouver - so we'll be catching up later) and myself and the two guys hired bikes, and biked around the bay area, and across the golden gate bridge, and were on the bridge for sunset. One of the best experiences of my trip so far. Even with hangover.

So last night we just chilled and then this morning, went out to Alcatraz prison. Interesting to see, but there were so many tourist everywhere, complete with audio tour (which was great to have, but there were SO many people). After that and walking along the docks by myself, a few of us headed out for tea, and swung past the coolest beat bookstore, and Jack Kerouac street too.

Nob hill...yep, read the sign under it

Really looking forward to Malaysia, kicking about with Kim and Tom. The days won't go fast enough:)

Talk to you soon, heading to Vancouver in the morning.

Sarah

Safe and sound in San Francisco

no_fosters_thanks — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Hi! Made it to San Francisco, much to my amazement. After catching the overnight greyhound bus from Vegas to LA, I have revised my theory that it's a good way to save $20 on a nights lodgings, but it all worked out fine...except for the transfer greyhound sold me, from the downtown bus station to the Hollywood bus station. Works better if there is a bus running before your plane leaves. Some awesome south african girls I met at the bus station ended up saving me and driving me to the LA airport, so a big thanks to them:)

So caught my plane, and arrived in San Francisco a few hours ago. It was about to get dark when I got here, so I haven't had a chance to explore at all yet, but hoping to get out reasonably early tomorrow, it's dusk at 5pm here, so it limits the time I can spend kicking around. And I've cut short my time in San Francisco, and bought a plane ticket to vancouver for new years eve. Really want to get up there and settle down a bit and get a job. Start replenishing the funds.

So far I really like here, it seems to have an awesome vibe. Still trying to find an internet cafe where I can upload photos, but no love yet. I have heard of one...so I'm going hunting tomorrow.

My bag seems to have been stuffing itself while I was out and about in Vegas, somehow it has managed to up itself about 7kilos in the last week! I know I have a fair bit of food in there, but seriously. All up I was carrying 30 kilos. And something has to go! Sadly I think it might be one of my 5 books, or 2 journals. But the book exchanges here aren't brilliant, so it just seems like a waste....I only managed to get it checked in by sheer luck at the airport today.

I'll work it out.

Will write again soon,

Sarah

Happy Birthday to Ethan

no_fosters_thanks — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Hi Ethan!

Just wishing you a happy eighth birthday, I hope it's been a really nice day. Your car racing set sounds pretty cool, you'll have to make sure you don't lose any of the parts. I have your birthday present here...but it's going to take a little while to come to Australia in the mail. It might not be there for almost a month ok? But it is on the way!

Take care of mum and dad, and I love you!

Sarah

Feliz Navidad! Merry christmas from Vegas...Americas playground

no_fosters_thanks — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This week getting motivated to write has been difficult. It really had been all about killing time. There is an endless amount of things you can do in Vegas, if you have the money. And unfortunately, thats what it comes down too. In some ways you can live really cheap, and yet other things are so expensive.

So...what have I been doing? Been down the strip a few times, which is rather dull during the day, but at night it looks fantastic. But in saying that, it was smaller than I expected. The first night I was here I went with an english girl Gemma to see a show, a christmas present to myself. We saw Cirque du soleil, the Zumanity show. Afterwards, I understood why you had to be 18+ to attend...it was rather risque. Not even risque. There were times that it felt like an acrobatic strip show. But don't get me wrong, it was absolutely phenomenal. At any time there are 4 or 5 different cirque du soleil shows on spread across the big casinos. Kate would love it here!

I spent another day/night walking the strip, and it was seriously, 10 hours of walking that day. We did about 20 kms we worked out, and that was just the inbetween distances, not even including the walking around the casinos and shops. Went to a mall here, and they had runway! Models doing runway in the middle of a mall. Strange.....

SO, I saw the lions at the MGM grand, watched the pirate show at treasure island (strippers on a ship)..they used the phrase 'plunder the sirens cove'. Yep...family show that one. And my absolute favourite, the fountains at the bellagio. At the end of oceans 11 you can see the fountains, and they are better than they look in the movie. I ended up filming the whole thing on my camera, but I can't upload it at this stage (I'll explain later).

One of my highlights I'm sad to say was going to wal-marts. It's so cheap! But the food here, i bought enough to feed myself for a week, and it cost $40, but it's all so sugary. I had vegemite on toast, and I couldn't taste the vegemite. Now thats just not right. The bread was meant to be multigrain as well! So i'm sticking to sourdough, just because you can't add much sugar to that!

I've started buying winter clothes here because it's so cold, the night before I got here it snowed. Seriously people. My skin is drying out from being in a heated environment. But I bought a nerds jumper for $10, which is super cool, and cheap.

The weirdest thing happened last night, was talking to this america guy (from montana) at the hostel bar, and he was talking about the neighbourhood, and how he had to 'protect' himself. So I asked him many questions...and he had THREE knives...and one was the biggest thing ever! It was about the size of my forearm...and legal!
Even the greyhound buses they search your carry on bag to see if you are 'packing'. Right.....I dont think I'm in kansas anymore.

My dorm is pretty quiet which is good, it's an 8 bed dorm, and there has only been 2 or 3 of us in there at any time. Really like a little bit of space. And people not having sex in my dorm. Thats one thing I really like in america, segregated dorms.

So had a big gamble, put $1.50 in 'Kenny Rogers - The Gambler'. It was really quite hillarious. I filmed my losing streak, such a tourist. At least I dont strap my camera to my belt. Unlike some gringos.

Wasn't able to play the dvd my family sent me for christmas, but I did see toms video on you-tube, and the biggest thanks to all the stars! I couldn't keep the smiles off my face! I still am grinning like an idiot thinking about it. It's been hard having christmas on my own, especially as it is spread over two days. (I'm nearly a full day behind here). So right now it's boxing day (which no-one calls it here) in australia. But here it's christmas day. Going to have christmas dinner at the hostel soon. And many beers.

I've taken heaps of photos, but the internet is shit here. You can't put cds into computers, attach cameras, pretty much do anything aside from write emails and browse. So when I get to canada I'm going to invest in a second hand laptop, and the internet is also really expensive. Some places are USD$12 per hour. Stuff that for a joke, as everywhere has free wi-fi! Hostels, casinos, even starbucks. It's a real joke.

The fremont street experience is pretty cool, it is a street with a giant canopy, which is a telly! It's the size of 3000 plasmas, and covers two blocks of the street. These people sure do like their telly....

Also, they sell jagermeister in 1.75 litre bottles! Got a photo of that one too.

Not sure what else to say, i'm planning on cutting short my san fransico experience, and getting on to vancouver. I really want to settle down and get working. I miss having a reason to get up every day (but not as much as I miss Tom - I know, I'm a mushbag).

Also! Girls, the talent I've seen since I left the country, POOR! The best person I've met was australian. Seriously. I've had this debate with many girls (not all of the aussie) and aussie blokes are some of the finest in the world. Go homegrown (or immigrated in my case).

Take care, will try and write from san fransisco. And go singing on waltzing matilda on the trams.

Love sarah

(oh, almost forgot, the corona beers here are cheap, and they are imported by Barton beers ltd. Took a photo of that too!)

So much funny stuff has happened

no_fosters_thanks — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT

All the bad stories you hear about america....true
Is america just like the movies...true
Do people have no idea about Australia...true
Is it possible no-one can understand Australians...true

My god! This place is insane...the funniest stuff has happened, and I haven't got enough hours to write it all down!

I was chatting to a guy on the bus in LA, and he asked me if I was pretty happy about how the euro was going against the dollar. He was rather surprised when I told him that we had Australian dollars...and that Australia wasn't in europe. Riiiight...

Another la bloke was telling me about the fires in Australia, and how 20% of our native wildlife was going to become extinct as a direct result of the fires...including (gasp) the koala. At that one I just cracked up laughing...some things you can't keep a straight face for.

Walking down the street today with another aussie girl (wearing jeans, hoodies and hiking boots-seeing as it snowed two days ago) we were propositioned by a man in a car...who assumed as we were walking...we must be street walkers. We very quickly told him what we thought of the idea. Being subtle doesn't work really well here, I have told someone that if he tried to put his arm around me, I would punch him. He asked where, and I told him anywhere that would hurt. he was really drunk, so he got the idea and left me alone. It was perfectly safe to say that..I was in the hostel surrounded by aussies. There was only 3 non-aussies in there, one which was him and the other two were brazillian I think.

Wal-mart, is the business. Even make-up is a quarter of the price of back home. It puts priceline to shame. Its really hard to get healthy food, but If you want sugared cereal...it's amazing! Well worth the three mile walk. And yes, we did specifically hunt down a wall mart.

Anyway, I have to go, the internet is going to run out. Again. I can't find my camera cable, but when i do i'll put up some more photos. Ohhh, and the public buses in la have plasma screens!

Will write again soon, take care

Sarah