I just don't know what to do....

I want so very much to keep up with this blog because I put so much effort into it since I started it back in 2004. It just seems that I get sidetracked and then the next thing I know it's been like seven days or more since my last post. Sometimes I have a lot of things to talk about and then other times it's like pulling teeth trying to even get a paragraph out of my head. I know that I can always count on the 12 of 12 project which means, I can have at least one post per month. As it stands right now, if I can't find my camera which is somewhere in the final 20 boxes that we have not unpacked then I won't even have that post to put up here.

I keep promising that I'll do better and then I end up not doing it or in fact the length of time between post actually gets worse. When I say I'll post more regularly, I mean well, really I do. However, as I said I seem to get easily side tracked. Now, I could blame it on the fact that since we moved back to the big city (Sydney aka The Big Smoke), don't ask me why it's called that it just is, but since we moved back we have been extremely busy. There is some truth to that but not enough in so much that I don't have the time to sit down and tap out a few words on this here little ol' computer. The fact remains that if I wanted to post everyday I could but I'm just being lazy. On the other hand to be honest I'm not sure that my life is that interesting to warrant a post every day. I've never really thought about it. Maybe I should do just that, think about that is, and then get back to you to let you know what I find out from that little insight seeking excursion

Anyway, as it stands all of this rambling so far is going to constitute a post for now. Lets see what else can I tell you? Oh yes, I do know a few details of upcoming events. We are going to visit friends in Cooma NSW, which is about an eight hour drive from here. We are going up on Wednesday and staying for a few days. Then the week after that we are heading north of Sydney towards the Sunshine Coast to visit another friend who recently had a baby, which will be nice to see her but I'm not looking forward to the added heat and humidity. Other than that it's just business as usual around here and all that adds up to keeping the fort down and looking for work. Oh, one other travel item I recently found out that we are going to Fiji in July to attend a friends wedding, The same friends from Cooma, so I'm very much looking forward to that. I can guarantee that I will have things to post about after that trip if it's only just the photos.

Okay, that's it for now. I won't promise to keep posting everyday. I will just say that if you are interested in hanging around, I will post on occasions but I don't want to be responsible for you turning blue because you held your breath until I posted again. So please don't do that because there is so much paper work involved after a nasty non-breathing blue-turning episode. Until next time take care, stay safe and ENJOY life every way you can... .

They picked me...

One of my photos has been picked by the online travel guide Schmap. The company uses pictures taken by everyday people to help show off the best of what certain travel destinations have to offer. I'm not sure, but I believe that Schmap only chooses the pictures they use from photos placed on Flickr. I find it ironic when you consider that the picture they chose to include is from a trip we took up to Strahan in the northwest of Tasmania. What's so ironic about that you say. Well, I think it's ironic that recently I've been putting up new sets of pictures that I took with my "GOOD" camera and the picture that they actually chose was taken using my cell phone camera.  I mean "GOOD" camera 10.1 Mega pixels. Camera phone 2.0. See what I mean?

Now to be fair the people who publish this online travel guide had not seen the new pictures that I recently placed on my Flickr account so they picked from what was available at the time This is the second edition of Schmap's Australian Travel guide so maybe next year they might pick one of the pictures taken by my "GOOD" camera. Oh and BTW I'm not diminishing my "GOOD" camera by using the quote marks like you know it's "supposed" to be a good camera. The fact is is it is a GREAT camera and a hell of a lot better than my cell phone's camera.

The Schmap group have provided me with a widget, which can be found on the right side of the blog where all of the links and odd lot things are placed. If you click on it you will be taken to the Australian guide. My picture is under lakes and rivers and then under Strahan. Take a look if your interested because they are all sorts of other great photos taken by just everyday people that give you a realistic view of what there is to see in Australia. By realistic I mean not your standard glossy professional photos used by big travel companies like Fodor's or some such group. Hell, Fodor's doesn't even have a listing for Tasmania on their online guide. (I'll have to write to them). The photos in this travel guide show you things that you might not see in another travel guide. I'm also not saying that the photos used by Schmap are not good quality just because they weren't taken by a professional, on the contrary; the photos that they use are FANTASTIC; of course they are, they did pick me after all. :) Enjoy...

I've been here, there and almost everywhere

Summer is over or at least it is in the northern hemisphere. I am extremely bored and lazy today and the best I can come up with is this map of the United States that represents all of the places I've been to while on vacation. I actually ended up living in a few of those states (Texas, Louisiana and Michigan). As if you really wanted to know that. Anyway with out further adieu here's my map:

create your own personalized map of the USA

Of the states that are missing the only ones that I would really like to still visit are, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Maine and Vermont. On the last two, how I spent all that time in New England and never got to them I'll never know. So, where have you been?

That's it for my Sunday. I'll be back later in the week with more riveting, mind-numbing, provocative and extremely well versed posts. (Really I will... Oh hell who am I kidding, look I'll try my best okay?)

Until then take care and stay well...

...and we're back

We actually got back Wednesday night, but I've been lazy with posting as usual. Anyway, we had a very nice time visiting an old friend. The weather was on our side until we got to Brisbane for the last night and it started to rain. We won't complain because that area of the country, along with a lot of Australia needs rain desperately. As mentioned in previous post we did stay at the Conrad Treasury hotel & Casino. The room was gorgeous. As for the casino we didn't do so well, but we always go into the casino with the understanding that we will probably loose and if we do win that's just extra. We don't go out a lot any more, preferring to be homebodies so we like to go to the casinos every so often for a bit of bells, lights colour and movement. Those of you that have played the machines will know what I mean.

So, back at home and we have already been busy. I had my second set of acupuncture and this time it did not hurt half as bad as last time. I still don't know if it is actually helping but will give it a few more weeks and then decide. on that same note I have a neurologist appointment at the end of November to review the neuropathy situation in my feet especially because I think it's spread which is not uncommon. I'm just afraid that at some point I'm going to have to start walking with a cane. Not that walking with a cane is a bad thing, apologies to those that do. I just know that if I have to start using a cane it will me that the neuropathy is getting the best of me.

We have also had two landscapers out to give us a quote on fixing up our back yard. We have a third one coming out on Monday and from there we will decide if it is doable. On the same note we have a builder in looking at removing some old doors and windows at the back of our house and replacing them as well as rearranging our kitchen area a bit and replacing the old deck with a new one. So it's all happening around here. That's what Spring will do for you. And yes I said Spring as the official start of Spring was the first of September here in the land down under. Also, since it's Spring and all of this remodelling is occurring I guess I'll change the feel of the blog to reflect a more colourful mood. So look forward to that coming soon

We're off...

...to Brisbane that is. We will be gone for a few days visiting and old friend that we have not seen for a while. She actually lives in Mooloolaba but Brisbane is a closer airport. This trip is one of several we will be taking over the next few months. I'm sure I mentioned the trips in an earlier post but if not here's a quick reminder:

September - Brisbane
October - Melbourne
November - Melbourne (x1) and Sydney (x2)

Now I know that these aren't huge getaway's but none the less it gets us out of the house. If we take any pictures I'll be sure to post them. Maybe we'll get lucky on our last night in Brisbane as we are staying at the Conrad Treasury Hotel and Casino. Until then I'll post something next week when we get back.

A snapshot of New Zeland...

The pictures of New Zealand are now up on Flickr for your viewing pleasure. I could not do the different places we visited justice so in case you want to know or see a bit more of where we visited the you can find out more at these links:

New Zealand
Rotorua
Taupo
Lake Taupo
Huka Falls
Napier
Hawkes Bay

To learn about Whakarewarewa "The Thermal Village" go here
Enjoy....

We're back...

We got home last night around 6:30. A friend picked us up at the airport and the first thing we noticed is that it was cold back in our neck of the woods. We had expected it to be cold while we were in New Zealand but it actually was quite spring like all the time we were there. Our friend told us that the previous two days before we came home there had been horrendous weather including gale force winds and flooding. All of this was due to a strong cold front. It looks as if winter is still with us.

Anyway, I guess everyone wants to know about the trip. I have plenty of pictures to share but have not put them up on Flickr yet. Hell, I haven't even unpacked. I laid done on the couch last night and went out to it by 8:00. I find travelling exhausting. We thought that going to New Zealand would be a breeze because it was only a 3 hour flight compared to some of our 25+ hour flights to the States. We were wrong because in the end you still have to go through all the checks, immigration and customs. It is all too tedious and so not worth it. We've decided that for a while were are only going to take some local trips which do not involve customs and passports. Next trip is up to the Sunshine Coast near Brisbane to visit an old friend and then we are off to Melbourne for a few days so James can attend a conference and then we go back to Melbourne for my birthday where our friend Moys will be meeting us as she and I celebrate the same birthday. We will be going to see Priscilla will we are there.

I will make every attempt to post the pictures today and I will let you know as soon as they have been posted. As for the trip all I can say is it was very relaxing, filled with good food, lots of laughs and new experiences. I will make a bit of a more inclusive post when I get the pictures ready and try to explain what you'll be seeing. Anyway, I need to get on with catching up on my emails and all of my blog reading. It looks like everyone has been very busy while I was away.

Kia Ora...

That means hello from New Zealand. I just wanted to check in real quick. We are having a great time and I will be working on the pictures when we get back on Saturday. I hope everyone that stops by is doing well. I'll write more when we return.

We're outta here...

OK, we are off to the airport in a few hours to start or little getaway. We are spending tonight in Melbourne just so we do not have to get the 6:00am flight up to Melbourne tomorrow morning and hope we have enough time to go through customs once we got to Melbourne to catch our connecting flight on to New Zealand. We will be spending the first night in NZ in Wellington and then the next day our friend, who is driving down to meet us, will be driving us back up to her home in Hastings NZ, which is in the Hawkes Bay region of the North Island. We plan to spend a few days at her place and then I believe we have plans to go to Rotorua and Whakatane. I will have access to the net but I'm not sure how often I'll get to post updates but I will try. Until then I'll be back around the 11/12 of August. See ya when we get back.

Just a note...

...to let you know that I've been really busy lately get ready for out little holiday next week. James and I are head to the land of the Land of the Long White Cloud (aka New Zealand) to visit a friend who moved back there a while back. James and I have been to NZ several times but this will be the first time that we will be seeing our friends new home. She lives on the North Island and we will be spending all of or time on the North Island. You really need a couple of weeks if you want to visit both North and South islands properly. We are really looking forward to the visit as well as the chance to get away for a few days. So, needless to say posts will be at a minimum except for the few I might get done from our friends place. Who knows there may be pictures before we get back. Until then I will try to keep up with my blog reading and I'll see you when I get back. Cheers...