Traffic Circles of Death

Well, I haven't been the best at updating the blog due to trips/searching for jobs, but I wanted to start doing an "Aussie Life" feature to give people an idea of what to expect.

Today's ( or this week's) feature is the elusive "Traffic Circle". Well maybe in Canada, but in Australia they are EVERYWHERE! It's actually surprising to see a traffic light, and even more shocking is the Stop sign. Driver's are really confident going through traffic circles. They set their turn signal before they go in (if they are turning right, right signal), then spin around the circle and do a 'net' right hand turn. In Canada, it seems like people just hold on to the wheel, close their eyes, and hope they end up coming out the correct side.

Pedestrian life is dangerous. Cars drive by the rule "Never stop for pedestrians", although they do come to a screeching halt at "zebra crossings" or crosswalks. It's so dangerous to cross the street that their are "walking islands" everywhere. You run across the first set of traffic, wait 20 seconds, and then cross the 2nd half of the street. You should be able to see them in the photo above. I still of course look left first, then step out. Duhhhh, it's a tough habit to break. Look Right, then Left.

One of my favourite locations are streetlights. All the signals go red, and for 20 seconds the pedestrians rule the road. You can walk diagonally across the street!!! DIAGONALLY! Who does that back home? I'll have to get a photog of that one.

Future "Aussie Life" features in the works include: Stubby Holders, Toilets (not direction of flush .... but choice of flush), Coins, Cereal, Phones, and Foods you can't find in Australia.

The Circle of Life!

Well I hit up the Perth Zoo yesterday. Turns out that they liked me so much, they gave me 50% off. Or it was a Wednesday special? It was mighty fun. Saw some sweet Lion action, walked by the cheetah pit 4 times until it finally showed up. The kangaroo area was wide open, so you could chase them around. I didn't, as I remember seeing a kangaroo beat up some clown on TV when I was little. The Koala was a bit of a disappointment. It just slept with its back to me. I got to see a DINGO!!! The staff there was great especially in the morning when I was the only one there. They just walked around telling me about the animals. Then the school kids showed up and it was pure MAYHEM. Then the monsoonal rains hit. I tried waiting the rain out at the Lion Pen for an hour. It brought back memories of Mufasa, and Simba. Kangaroos bounce. The rain never went away, at least not til late at night. It felt like the November rains we get in BC. Didn't I move to Australia to get away from that. Pics of Zoo below:

Today was much better. Sun was out, but it was still a bit chilly (16 C). Spent a little time on the train. Still on the job hunt. One recruiter asked me if I'd been to any other recruitment agents. I said "Command Recruitment". Letter by letter, he slowly wrote C-O-M-A-N-D-E , looked at for a minute, and then crossed off the E. "That's great Jono! I'm going to find you a job Jono" ..... "Can you please stop calling me Jono?" .... hahaha, i don't have much faith in him. Also sounds like I didn't get the sweet suite at Amy's building. I guess they didn't trust the sketchy overseas visitor who has no job. I wonder why? The search continues.

Lazy Lion

Sleepy Dingo

Wet Lion

Bouncy Kangaroos

Lazy Koala

Wet Rhinos

Shy Orangutan

Kangaroo in Kalbarri!!!

Well after travelling 500+km north of perth, the only kangaroos I saw were lying quietly on the side of the road. My list of truly Australian Animals seen were: horse, cow, goat, sheep ..... but no kangaroo. Then a golden light in the bush. What looked like just a red rock moving, was actually a kangaroo!!! Do rocks move?

Anyhow, Kalbarri was a nice little town, with some amazing cliffs. Unfortunately the winds and weather did not allow much snorkelling. However, there was the daily Pelican feeding at 8:45am. Being one of the "Overseas" visitors, I got to throw a fish at the pelican. Unfortunately, it made my hand smell like fish for the rest of the day. Amy and I headed into the National Park and did an 8km through a nice Outback Gorge. The only major issues that came up is when we had to battle a tour bus full of people for pictures. Damn tour buses.

After all the hard work hiking, Amy and I stopped off for Chinese Mexican food...... mmmm. Fortune Beans. Fortunately for us, the restaurant was closed on Sundays.

Finally, we headed back South to a town called Cervantes, which is located near The Pinnacles. It's an eerie desert of limestone structures sticking out everywhere. It's kinda creepy. I've got most of my pics up on my picture site. http://picasaweb.google.com/australialiterally

Aussie Hat, Bug Repellent, Scuba Gear, and a Map....

All that's needed for a road trip North up the coast of Western Austraia, to find sunshine and warm weather. Amy and I hoping to get to a place called Shark Bay (although I'm not sure why???). Probably won't make it due to time constraints, but will still get to see a lot of the country side and the Indian Ocean. I'm borrowing a Swag .... an Australian Tent-Sleeping bag hybrid. I'm excited about giving it a try.

ps. people really do say G'day Mate .... a lot!

Amy's Golden Stamp

View of CBD from King's Park

Well, the last few days have seen me do a lot of walking, biking and swimming. My feet actually hurt. I've been to the beach a few times and into the Central Banking District (CBD) downtown, and King's Park. Still scoping out job situations and such, might take a few weeks to find something that I really want. Today, I checked out a place for rent at Amy's complex. It's a bit pricey, but comes furnished, and is right next to the beach. How many other opportunities will I get to have that? They're showing it on Saturday, but supposedly I have Amy's Golden Stamp of approval. We'll see if that's true....

Botanical Gardens at King's Park

I like winter here....

Well my 2nd day here started off pretty lame with continuous showers for the morning. But the afternoon was another story. The sun came out in full force!!!! I met up with a couple of Uvic friends Amy and Matt, and then we just hung out on Cottesloe Beach and watched the sun go down. I think I could get used to this.

Highlight of the day: When a crazy Australian woman randomly dropped her dog off in the lap of a fellow Canadian at a pub. She didn't want it to cramp her style as she hit on men. Needless to say, it was very awkward, and I was scared to take a photo cause I thought she might attack. After holding the dog for 10 minutes, the guy put it down, and she came racing over, telling him that the dog can't go on the ground. Crazy.

Amy and Matt

Sunset

I like Australian Coasters

Made it to Perth ... It's Winter here

So I’ve made it to Perth ok. Survived the intense Immigration/Quarantine that you have to go through. During my flight I had a chicken sandwich in my backpack. Long story short, I was the only one the Sniffing Dog came after. Yikes!!! Fortunately I wasn’t sent back to Hong kong.

Everything here is backwards …. Cars driving on the left side of the road (have had a few close calls crossing the street …. Look Right first), to turn a light switch on you have to press down and vice versa. This is still blowing my mind. It’s also winter here, and kinda cold. I've actually had to wear pants.... although I'm still sticking with sandals. On my first day, I headed down to the beach and jumped (slowly tiptoed) into the Indian Ocean. The water was about as warm as it gets in BC during the summer.

Heading into the Indian Ocean at Cottesloe Beach

Brrrrr

Hong Kong Jon

Well I have made it half way. I'm in Hong Kong and it is VERY warm. Those 13 hours on the plane felt like nothing. My dream of an attractive young single blonde australian girl sitting beside me did not come true. Nor did the nightmare of sitting beside 400 pound Stinky McSweatalot. They did a last minute seat change on me, and I ended with 2 seats to myself. So Cool. Thank you Cathay Pacific. Keeping my fingers crossed the Perth flight will have the same outcome.
Movies watched Disturbia: 7 out of 10 - had some good moments
Shrek 3 - 2 out of 10 - I'd ask for the 90 minutes of my life back, but then I'd have to go on the plane again.
Hot Fuzz or Warm Fuzz (can't remember) - 6 / 10 - had some good humour, something Shrek was lacking.
CSI Miami - 10/10 - Horatio one-liner from 10,000 m above the pacific ocean, does it get any better

3 hours til my flight, and no boarding gate .... Hong Kong Airport is massive, hopefully I'll find out soon.

Rain on the Windows at Hong Kong Airport & Lightning. It wasn't fun taking off in the middle of a storm.

"I was saying Booo-ston Pizza"

Well, I want to stay away from the negative blogs on the canada-wide web, but there was such a bad performance by Boston Pizza tonight. It would not satisify Louie. Issues in no particular order:

1. First restaurant we went to closed at 8pm for a staff meeting ..... huh? who closes a restaurant at 8pm???

2. Our orders "disappeared" due to a computer malfunction

3. My beer had to be brewed from scratch, and was not available for the 2 hour meal.

3. It was so bad, that I am putting down two #3's. Two orders were made for "No Mushrooms" .... result - 2 orders WITH mushrooms. For me, I just hate mushrooms, but my friend is allergic. It could kill her!

30 Minute Detour, 1 hour of waiting for food, 6 slices of barbecue chicken pizza.... priceless.

Still waiting on the beer though.

Kangaroos ..... LITERALLY!

Below is a speech I performed in High School. We were supposed to research and present a current event, but I had my heart set on kangaroos. What began as studying a hopping marsupial, soon turned in to a love affair with the word literally. It's a word that can be used in any sentence, literally. Sure it can used improperly "It was literally raining cats & dogs"; however, when it's used correctly, the result is magical.

What animal better represents Australia, other than the koala? I’ll tell you what animal does, it’s the kangaroo.

The kangaroo has a variety of assets that make it jump out, literally. Such assets are the distinct nature in which they raise their young, and their tremendous speed when hopping.

Most mammals develop in their mother’s womb. When born they are well formed, and in many cases they are up and about within hours of birth. However, kangaroos, like other marsupials, give birth to tiny underdeveloped young. When the tiny newborn, called a joey, is born, it’s the size of a lima bean. Then, the joey must crawl into the safety of its mother’s pouch, where it will continue to grow and develop.

Kangaroos are widely known for their hopping. With it’s powerful hind legs, it can jump to heights of 6 feet and can cover up to 25 feet in a single jump. Thus, kangaroos can move very fast, even up to speeds of 48 km/h in short spurts.

The kangaroo is a fascinating animal, that stands out in the Australian wilderness. One day I hope to set my eyes upon this beautiful creature.

That day will be Sunday ..... literally.

Back to Earth, then off to Perth

Well, I've now been back for a couple days after a few weeks of mayhem. First there was my sister's wedding in Vancouver on July 28th. Then ma famille voyagent a la Quebec City for a 2nd wedding reception. Pictures of the the extravaganza can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/jonboyd23 .

Below is a list of some of the major Quebec events:

• Crazy Marble sized hailstorm as we walked through Old Town Quebec (Pic, Video)
• The nomination of Jesus Take The Wheel by Carrie Underwood being the official theme song of the trip. (People drive like maniacs in Quebec)
• A spontaneous 1 minute monalogue entitled "What's the deal with every street being called Rue??? Rue this, and Rue that". Spawned by the issues of only French Radio.
• To relieve the French radio issues. The five in the van agreed on only one performer .... Bryan Adams!!!! (pic of cd1, pic of cd2, pic of exictement 1 & 2
• Major Dissues (but that's just between the Isosceles of Secrets - 2 sides serious, 1 side smile)
• Tim Hortons Issues - Major Disaster at the one at Pierre E Trudeau Airport in Montreal (pic1, pic2, pic3). Also, Breakfast Sandwiches are called "Sandwich Timatin". This lead to a humorous order by myself. Tim = Tim Hortons, Matin = Morning. Hence the Timatin, works well.
• Getting caught with my pants down .... literally. Just between Valentina and me ;)
• Making an English Future Shop sale to a girl looking for a Mac with her dad. JP played the technical products specialist, Matt played the internet deals researcher, and I pulled off the casual conversationalist. It was the perfect trio (not quite Isosceles of Secret material though). The Future Shop employees weren't too impressed when we got her a major deal + an Ipod Nano.
• Valentina exiting the Christmas store with a big smile. Uptight guy "What kind of idiot shops for Christmas in July?" ..... "What kind of idiot doesn't know the month is August". (pic of sad Valentina)
• The Sleeping Game ..... a game that's only rule is: there are no rules! Did someone say Freeze???
• The official slogan of my sister's wedding was: "The Chicken Dance was the Wedding", as it was the one song that had everyone going wild. In Quebec we watched a show that took the chicken dance to a whole new level. Ever heard of Chicken Sprints or Chicken Unicorn Diet Coke.

Well that's some of the highlights of the Quebec trip. Overall it was a laugh-tastic time for all. I'm down to less than 5 days til I fly off to Perth. I'm getting very excited.