2008: Leaving Winnipeg

Winnipeg to Vancouver to Seoul to Singapore to Mersing (via the town of Johor Baru) to Pulau Tioman to Kuala Lumpur (via Mersing again) to Cameron Highlands back to Kuala Lumpur to Melaka to Singapore to Melbourne to Brisbane back to Melbourne and then back to Vancouver with a 12 hour layover in Singapore and a touchdown in Seoul.
***DEEP BREATH***

We are safe and sound (and maybe just a LITTLE chilly) and back on home soil. The air is fresh, the water is clean and people are already saying 'Eh' to us. It's good to be back

Tammy and I had a totally wicked time across the world and now both feel ready to move ahead with our lives and are excited to be in an internet cafe' right now applying for new jobs.

But back to Australia for now. After our Brisbane entry we made it back to Melbourne in time for Candice's Hen's night (/Bachelorette party) and Tammy put on her sexy new 'Melbourne bought' bright orange dress and the girls hopped into a limo bound for Sushi, drinks, karaoke and dancing. Tammy had a good time and apparently Candice had a blast too! A little later in that week was the actual wedding, and it was really, really great. They married in a nice garden at a venue called Ascot House ( www.ascothouse.com.au ) and it is directly behind the building housing the reception. The garden was really beautiful and the weather was perfect, probably around 25 degrees and sunny. The guy marrying them was a VERY large and hilarious guy from New Zealand. The reception hall held about 80 guests and offered some pretty sweet food, even for a discerning vegan pallete such as my own. We ate, drank, danced and Tammy helped deliver a very sweet speech to the new bride. It was a really good night.

This time around we stayed with Eden's dad Brian and his wife 'Trish, along with their two children Finn (6) and Tristan (2 and a half). They were all so so nice and we loved staying with them and in their beach front home. Tammy and I both forged good relationships with Finn and Tristan, playing and watching TV with them, and even *sigh* wiping and occasional bottom or two when the situation arose. We even got on well with Jessie, their border collie, after taking him into town (Williamstown) for a long walk. It was all a lot of fun, and Tammy and I made time for night time walks, sitting on the beach, and on our last day a beachside bike ride where we stole a kiss with the ocean on one side and a cricket practice on the other.

I'm going to cut this off now because we should be off and pay for our internet use. Tammy and I are excited to be home, and excited that Christmas is coming up pretty soon!! (We'll get all of who curious folks an address to send out presents to ASAP, heh-heh ) . We'll be calling our families soon and are excited to talk to everyone this weekend and then again on Christmas!
YAY!
Gotta run, the big city beckons!!
Talk to you all soon,
~Mitch (with Tammy on the computer next to me)

Good Morning all!

I know we've been kind of slack on keeping you all up to date...well I am bad lately anyway. I love it here, and am SO glad to be back, and Mitch is having a good time too. It's hard to believe that 5 years ago my only goal in life was to get back to Brisbane and live here permanently. I love it here, and I love all of the friends I have made here so it's really amazing to visit and to be immediately swooped back into the life I once lived. And the WEIRDEST thing is seeing how your life is unfolding right before your eyes! -Like, who knew I was going to grow up, and end up with all these ties to Australia of all places, and have and because of all of the people I have met here and half of my Winnipeg friends who have met guys here, me and Mitch will be coming back and feeling right at home all our lives!

Anyway...what are we up to you may be wondering?

Well, since we've come to Brisbane, we have been living the life of luxury in my friend Neil's awesome new pad in the Valley, it comes complete with a large courtyard with a sauna, pool, manmade beach, and hot tub! woooot! Most days, like now, we (us two, Colleen, Glen and Neil) wake up and chill out watcing t.v. and drinking coffee and/or beer....and so the day starts! Sometimes me and Colleen go for a swim, and sometimes me and Mitch sneek out early to wander the city for a few hours. Then we head off! We've been out to the pubs, went for a trip out to Glen's to kick a ball around and hang out - just the usual... last night we went out to the casino and met up with our long lost friend Hannes from Sweden - me, Colleen and him drank and played some games while the boys sat down for some serious blackjack. Mitch was the hero last night there! Neil came away with a larger sum...but Mitch was so good that Leighton was betting hundreds of dollars on Mitch per hand and won alot!
Today we are going to the park for a BBQ and to play cricket, and we have bought tickets for a big concert tonight with two Aussie bands, Augie March and Dan Kelly i think.

We may go to Byron Bay tomorrow -which is a small hippie town with no McDonald's allowed, and great beaches.

So excited to get back to Melbourne to start our bridesmaid duties!!!

Stay cool till we arrive Candice
Talk to you soon Tala
bye!

Hey everyone, how's it goin'?

Tomorrow Tammy and I hop a just over 2 hour flight to Brisbane from Melbourne, Then we're back here in Melbourne the morning of November 30th. We're staying with Candice and Eden in a suburb a little outside the city proper, but we've gone in at least briefly most days, and today Tammy and I took a train in and spent the day in downtown Melbourne.

Melbourne is pretty much a huge city from the looks of it. It has some crazy new architecture with funky designs and colours (or sci-fi buildings as Tam likes to call them) and a whole bunch of old buildings as well, which are upkept really well. Fancy (but cramped and busy) pedestrian streets are tucked in a number of places and are lined with fun shops or eateries. Lots of bridges cross the river running through the city (which is also bordering the ocean) and it's not a far walk to a number of big city attractions like a major aquarium, huge casino and arcade, the Ocean, off-Broadway plays and more. Today Tammy and I checked out the casino and ate our packed lunch at a kinda little harbour while fending off/feeding angry Australian Seagulls. we also found (once) a really cool pedestrian street to eat at, but when we tried to find it again to actually eat there we had no luck. city's too big . OH YEAH and this note is for Dylan : Like I said we took the train into Melbourne today and got off at Flinders Street Station. Pretty cool huh? I took a pic, but it won't upload right now.

Ooh, and another point of interest, I haven't left the house without my hoodie on the entire time we've been here. Not only is it Australia, but it's summer in Australia. I thought that might make you smile ... but don't crack too big a grin because cool in Australia is still only like September at home, and tomorrow we hit Brisbane and we expect it to be way hotter than it is here. Brisbane should be awesome. Get to see Glen again, plus meet more of Tammy's friends. Short, but super sweet.

• **Big hello to Siegi, Donna and Erik too! Tammy is on the phone with you guys right now, but her phone card is on its last legs so I don't want to steal any of here family phone time. I miss you guys, and we'll have to get right on saving to see you all as soon as we can afford.***

Anyway, I'm off to pack by bags and give my wife a kiss
enjoy wherever you are
be good
-Mitch

We got in at a decent time yesterday afternoon since we had a VERY efficient start to our day. Up by 7am well, I was up at 4 which sucked, but I watched the sun rise and almost got attacked by Bats on our porch!) and on a bus by 9am! (thats pretty good for us)
Starting to get really excited about going to Melbourne and up to Brisbane to see all of my friends and introduce Mitch to some people and see some fun big-city things like CONCERTS!

We aren't up to all that much, just seeing a little more of the same city. We wanted to stay at the same hostel again since we liked the girl who runs it, but it was booked up - and good thing too - this place is WAY COOLER! not only are we on another side of town, but we get a great free breakfast and free internet and the place is comfy and very very backpacker friendly (like when we check out in the morning on the 20th - we an store our bags, shower, and use the net still until our flight at 9pm! sweet! Much better than the standards of the past months worth of places.

Today we did a lot of walking around, and we went on this giant ferris wheel / veiwing deck called The Singapore Flyer - it was a GIANT WHEEL ( i kept thinking how much you'd freak out mom)with big glass capsules that you can stand up in, and fit like 20 people, it took 30 minutes to make a complete rotation, and we went at ngiht so it was GREAT! Because this palce was under English rule for so long, they are into Christmas, so on top of the city lights, there are tons of great christmas decorations up!

Yup...we are off to Australia in a days time...

thats it for now folks

We just booked our hostel in Singapore for the 17th through to our flight to Australia on the 20th. That means we've only got 3 or 4 more days in the country that will have taken up the biggest chunk of our trip, Malaysia. This should probably be our last time on a computer in this country, so I thought I'd take the opportunity for a quick entry.

Neither one of us have ever had any really desire to visit Malaysia, but I think that's one thing that excited us most about coming here, the unknown. Malaysia has been a fairly diverse experience, at least as much as one small country can be. From our first day in the open sewered (I guess at least ONE thing remained a Malay constant!) no frills port-town of Mersing and then on to the super layed back Pualau Tioman for days in hammocks and on the beach and even a hike through a monkey filled jungle. From there onto the HUGE capital, Kuala Lumpur. Huge malls, bed-bugs, more malls, rats, fancy hotels, good food, malls, and Teksi (Taxi) drivers trying their hardest to both rip you off and run over pedestrians. The cool mountain air of the Cameron Highlands offered refuge from the smoltering heat, and the tea and strawberry fields were really beautiful, fun and interesting. Now we finish up in Melaka. A city where we feel the most like we are getting a feel for something a little closer to everyday malaysian living. Of course the rich history of the town also draws us in to check out at LEAST one museum a day and the hundreds of years old fortress gate and church complete with REALLY old (and interesting!) dutch tombs! We both had our ups and downs in Malaysia, but I think I speak for us both when I say we really enjoyed our time here, and are happy we got to see so many different parts of the country and for more than a passing through day or two... Now back to Singapore... for a passing through day or two But at least we do have a few days to see some things we missed out on last time, like Sentosa Island! A (hopefully) wicked cool beach to the south of the city centre on an island. Should be really fun. Time to look ahead, on to Australia, and luckily for me I come part-in-parcel with an experienced aussie tour guide, so I really and truly cannot wait to be let in on such a big part of the love of my lifes life. yay!!

We should finally be able to get you all some pics in a few days in Singapore, and if not then DEFINITELY in Australia

• **Tammy says helloooo Candice and Colleen!!! and Glen, Neil and Tim!!!!****

Oh, and one last fun little tidbit I wanted to toss in was how big of rockstars Tammy and I are over here. Apparently being young with white skin and piercings makes you an instant tourist attraction over here. From Seoul to Malaysia school children have been pointing and staring (actually even the older people stare A LOT but at least they usually don't point). It seemed to be coming to a head now in Melaka.

The other day we were just at a Maritime Museum here and while I was taking a picture of Tammy posing a Malay school boy ran up and snapped a photo of her himself! But tammy got him back and took a picture of him when he was posing in the same place ! Later on another group of school kids (probably about 15 years old or so) asked to all crowd around us for a group photo with us in the middle... which might seem weird, but originally they wanted a pic of JUST US, but tammy got them in on it too. This kind of stuff happens a lot around here, and last night after eating out at our Indian place we stopped in at a little convienience store for a small snack. When I was paying the clerk kept eyeing me and eventually got up the will to ask me "Are you sure you're not the guy from Fall Out Boy???". My answer stating that I was not seemed to do little to convince him of this fact. Tammy still thinks I should get my (apparently) Fall Out Boy-esque hat and go and give him the autograph he seems to be yearning for, but we'll have to wait and see

Anyway, our hostel booking session on the net has turned into a 2 hour event already so I'm going to leave it there.
See you on the other side

~Mitch & Tammy~