G'day from USA

So I moved to Canada... but am actually in the US mm yeah I decided to make a short detour into Pittsburgh and surrounding areas before getting the Canadian part of this journey started. When you all last heard from me I was on my way to Vancouver. I spent two nights there before heading over to Toronto, which I didn't see much of as my friend Dave drove up from Pittsburgh to pick me up as soon as I landed. I've spent just over a week in the US and well it's been interesting... to say the least.

I spent some time on Lake Erie at Sunset Bay with Dave and Josh when I first arrived, which was fun and I got to spend my Birthday drinking shots with the locals... Good night that one......

The Bar at the Cabana Bar!

Josh and Dave at the Cabana Bar at Sunset Bay, Lake Erie.

The beach!

Dave, slightly Sober......

Josh.... not sure if he knows what Sober means....

Josh enjoying the warmth of the hot tub at Gil's Cabin at Lake Erie. I know what your thinking Ladies!

Drinking in the Hot Tub... not a bad way to spend your Birthday!

So after a few days of relaxing at the lake we drove back down to Pittsburgh to catch up with a few other's there like Gil and Vero. Since Dave has been back at work I've done a whole lot of nothing other than hanging out in Shady Side (neighbourhood of Pittsburgh) I've sent off a few resumes for work but no serious bites as of yet. We did however spend a lovely Friday evening at a summer music concert in the park before driving up to Washington the next day....

Nut bags in the park, Gil, Vero and Dave.

Sunny Evening... I'm liking it!

Veronique

Listening to the relaxing tunes of Juliana Hatfield.

Ronald and oh yes here he is again that Josh fellow...

Chilling in the park!

Jay, Josh and Ched.

Just ad Dave

The Norwegian ponders to drink or to go home??? Difficult dilemma we have all found our selves in at one time or another I am sure...

There was a plan of just having a quiet night at the concert and getting up at a reasonable hour and driving down to DC to meet up with Harry, a friend of Dave's back from the UK. However as you can imagine that didn't happen so instead Dave and I took the hung over drive to DC. Well actually to Maryland, I did not see much of DC but I did get to experience the wonderful hospitality of Harry and his girlfriend Lillia. We also went to a Ball game at the new Nationals Park... which unfortunately did not meet all of our expectations as ball parks go it wasn't Harry or Dave's favourite but we did see the Washington Nationals pull off a win in the 12th inning....

The Washington Monument viewed from the beltway.. or as I like to call it America's Big Vibrator, Batteries not included.

Harry wears his sunglasses at night...

Dave should maybe consider wearing his sunglasses at night too...

Lillia and Harry!

The Drunken Dog Whisperer.

Nationals Park, the newest and the rudest ball park in the country.

Bit of Baseball Action.

A bit of Mascot Action!

At this Ball Park they have the Traditional Presidents Race. Where big over sized past president figures run around the field!!! Only in America!

Screech the mascot with the "plush white feathers" calling the end of the race.

After the ball game we headed down to Pirates Cove in Maryland for their local delicacy Imperial Crab and waitress's bitching about the Raw Bar Cook in the Kitchen.

Another beautiful evening to get drunk :)

After a fun weekend in Washington I am now back in Pittsburgh with the crew here. I am going to stick around for the 4th of July where we are all heading back up to Erie and then I am off to Toronto to really get this Canadian Adventure started!! But before I leave I must thank the guys in Pittsburgh for putting up with me. There is a lot about the States I find very screwed up and strange but luckily my friends here are the same so I know I am always assured to have a good time when ever I visit Pittsburgh :o) Thanks guys!

Stop Over In Taipei

OK so I know what your thinking, she is out of the country five minutes and already is bombarding us with pictures :o) well yes that's right because a huge storm hit Taipei this afternoon and rather than sit in a noodle bar and gorge my self on noodles I decided to post some pictures from this mornings wonder around the city. I have to say I have been pleasantly surprised with Taipei. I am not sure what I was expecting, maybe something more like Hong Kong but Taipei is well in my opinion... better!

The streets are cleaner there is far less pollution and it's a lot less congested. Large streets and accompanied by large footpaths, there is plenty of trees and parks and although you can find all your normal city stores there are plenty of side streets and alleys that have some very Taiwanese flavours. The city does however smell a lot like the seasoning that you put on instant noodles.

The people are mostly friendly although perhaps a little reserved but that may have a lot to do with the language barriers of them knowing a little English and me knowing absolutely no Taiwanese. It's actually been worth the stop over and despite nearly being run over by 60 000 scooters Taipei was worth the look!

Not sure what this building is but I like the roof!

And it's tower out the front..

Again no idea what the heck this is but looks cool in the middle of the street.


Ha, now I stopped and looked at this for some time trying to work out where the Zebra's head is and why you would only put the end half through a sign?? Then I realised it was advertising the Zebra Crossing hahaha, cool I like it every Zebra Crossing should be marked this way I think...



Only in Asia could you have pink buses!


One of the major shopping streets with it's little forest in the middle.


They couldn't put a bird in the cage because of Bird flu so they put a tree instead... ha I am only kidding I couldn't work out why the tree was in the cage but it is and will never be free :(

The garden in the middle of the street.

Got to get me a scooter...

Storm clouds looming at the end of the street... I did eventually get rained on :o)

I fly out of here later tonight to my next destination, Vancouver... so be assured there will be more pics along the way!

Mates and Melbourne!

Let me introduce you to two of my favourite people in the entire world! Tim and Meabh! Tim, who I have known since the age 9, back in the day when I was much taller than him and was able to kick his ass in Basketball! And Meabh (pronounced may-ve) who was my first ever friend in Ireland and opened up the world of Irish madness to me. They are now living together in marvelous Melbourne so I figured it was about time I flew down there and caught up with the two scallywags. Of course the weekend involved a lot of drinking, a lot of eating and lots of laughs.

The first day we headed out of the city to Red Hill for a bit of tour around the wineries. Awe the lovely couple!

Of course a lot of taste testing took place as well as a lengthly disscussion on whether the cows were cows or cattle and the invention of a new word came about... Squinny, meaning long and skinny.

Meabh and Tim were both happy to get out of the city, personally though I was just happy to be drinking wine in the sun with such lovely company :)

Tim our fearless driver took as from winery, to winery to brewery and of course not once getting lost just trying a different route.

The next day after a rather late night drinking it was decided the best way to spend the day would be to drink in the sun next to a body of water! Hoo Ray! This was easily achieved as they live in St Kilda, which is on the Bay. We settled in at St Kilda Baths and people watched and sipped on a few more beverages.

My partner in crime in Kuwait Loz is also living in St Kilda so what a better way to catch up with her by drinking in the sun by the bay. Awe lovely. We were also joined by her friend Sam, who were both later seen speeding away in a taxi to no doubt get up to no good ;)

Goal of the day was achieved by at last getting a pic with all three of us in it! Happy Days!

Unfortunately Meabh was freaking out about having to go to work the next day, however Tim was contemplating what his next beer would be!

As the sun set Meabh headed home to get her beauty sleep before tackling another day with nerdy scientists at Monash Uni.

Another confirmation I just would not make a good lesbian can't pull the barracuda off quite as well as Loz!!

Simply because we weren't drunk enough at this stage Tim and I meet up with Fraser another guy we both went to school with. Of course we all took a little trip down memory lane and reminised about high school. Funny days those ones got to say!

Obviously by the time we made it back to Tim's place Fraser had enough of the camera and I was in trouble... oops I just wanted to see you in your Lycra bike shorts Fraser that's all :)

All in all though it was a fantastic weekend. Thank you Tim and Meabh for putting up with me once again. Hopefully drinks will be had again soon!