Sunday 24 November 2013

Ashes 1st Test - Day 1


So Amanda and I went to see some Cricket... no not little bugs similar to grasshoppers that would scare anyone if they jumped on you while sleeping in a tent... Cricket the sport. We went to Day 1 of the First Test in the 2014 Ashes Series to be exact.

I have selected this expert from In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson to help explain the game to those who know nothing about it...

"After years of patient study (and with cricket there can be no other kind) I have decided that there is nothing wrong with the game that the introduction of golf carts wouldn't fix in a hurry. It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavors look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect. I don't wish to denigrate a sport that is enjoyed by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but it is an odd game. It is the only sport that incorporates meal breaks. It is the only sport that shares its name with an insect. It is the only sport in which spectators burn as many calories as players -- more if they are moderately restless. It is the only competitive activity of any type, other than perhaps baking, in which you can dress in white from head to toe and be as clean at the end of the day as you were at the beginning.

Imagine a form of baseball in which the pitcher, after each delivery, collects the ball from the catcher and walks slowly with it to center field; and that there, after a minute's pause to collect himself, he turns and runs full tilt toward the pitcher's mound before hurling the ball at the ankles of a man who stands before him wearing a riding hat, heavy gloves of the sort used to handle radio-active isotopes, and a mattress strapped to each leg. Imagine moreover that if this batsman fails to hit the ball in a way that heartens him sufficiently to try to waddle forty feet with mattress's strapped to his legs, he is under no formal compunction to run; he may stand there all day, and, as a rule, does. If by some miracle he is coaxed into making a miss-stroke that leads to his being put out, all the fielders throw up their arms in triumph and have a hug. Then tea is called and every one retires happily to a distant pavilion to fortify for the next siege. Now imagine all this going on for so long that by the time the match concludes autumn has crept in and all your library books are overdue. There you have cricket."


Photo I got of David Warner; notice the "riding hat, heavy gloves of the sort used to handle radio-active isotopes, and a mattress strapped to each leg"
Okay, at this point you probably have an image in your head of what Cricket is, now what does Day 1 of the First Test in the 2014 Ashes Series mean? A Test Match is the 5-day form of the game, yes... the game goes for 5 days, and we attended the first day. With me so far? Great! So what is the Ashes Series? Short answer, it is an annual 5-match series between England vs. Australia; I'll turn to Wikipedia to explain "The Ashes"...

The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, The Sporting Times, immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, their first Test win on English soil. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.[1] The mythical ashes immediately became associated with the 1882–83 series played in Australia, before which the English captain Ivo Bligh had vowed to "regain those ashes". The English media therefore dubbed the tour the quest to regain the Ashes.

It was a good day, Amanda survived all the way to the end... fun all around. Enjoy some of my shots from the day...

First Ball (Anderson to Rogers): Australia won the coin toss and decided to bat.
Stuart Broad 'Superman' follow through after a delivery to David Warner (or Chris Rogers)
England thinking there was a close call to dismiss the Australian Batsman
Australian captain, Michael Clarke, batting... good thing I got this shot as he was out soon after


Ball going through the legs of the man at back pad.

Australia Batting
Chris Tremlett bowling, that can't be good for your arm.
Michael Carberry: we were listening to the radio broadcast and the announcers kept calling him Wesley Snipes, they were wondering how you turned a washed up actor into a test cricketer.
Panorama of the Gabba (I need to tweak it a bit, but still cool).
-Alan

Monday 5 August 2013

July Update!

G'Day mates!

Sunset over the Brisbane river from our balcony
First off... Where did the month of July disappear to? Holy smokes! I can't believe we're already into August. This summer/winter is just flying by.

Saturday 20 July 2013

Weekend at Weyba

We recently spent a weekend at Lake Weyba on the Sunshine Coast. We stayed at Lake Weyba Cottages, in a dog friendly cottage, complete with fireplace. Seeing as it is winter here, and very cold, the fireplace was a welcome addition to our weekend away. Ok, it's really not cold. At all. We lit the fire both nights, but also had every single window open in the cottage at the same time. 



Saturday 6 July 2013

Go the Wallabies!

Through the good fortune (and also impeccable timing) of our friends Bob and Mardell, we were fortunate enough to score tickets to the first match of the British and Irish Lions vs Australia Wallabies test series. The Lions only tour Australia every 12 years so the prospect of attending the game was very exciting.

Excited!

Tuesday 28 May 2013

Bula!

We recently celebrated our anniversary, and we were fortunate enough to celebrate it in the beautiful country of Fiji! Be prepared, there are heaps of pictures in this post!


I have always wanted to go to Fiji, and seeing as it's only a 4 hour flight from Brisbane, I think we'll keep it in mind for future vacations. Fiji is beautiful and the Fijian people are so friendly and warm. We had an amazing time. We were able to snorkel every day, we drank some cava and numbed our tongues, won a hermit crab race, had our first and second ever massages, and on our last night in Fiji, the resort had a live reggae and cover band which meant... BOYLE DANCING!!! (Only my Alberta cousins will appreciate this.)

Friday 17 May 2013

Dog Park Sunday

We recently spent the afternoon at one of the many dog parks located in Brisbane and the surrounding areas. A number of the dog parks in Brisbane have agility equipment installed in them which makes for a fun afternoon outside. We recently purchased a new camera so we decided to head out with our much photographed canine and play around a little bit.

You will be pleased to note that Alan stayed off of the equipment.
This one had jumps, weave poles, an A frame, table and a ramp.


Monday 29 April 2013

Lady Elliot Island and Noosa National Park

Have you ever been to a private island? One that's only big enough to land a small plane on? Where you can walk around it in 45 minutes flat, and need to watch for planes when you walk across the runway? Me neither! Until we visited Lady Elliot Island.
Lady Elliot Island
Lady Elliot Island is a small coral cay, located at the south end of the Great Barrier Reef. Our day trip to the island started dark and early (the sun wasn't even up yet!) because we needed to catch a plane from Hervey Bay, which is about a 2.5 hour drive from Noosa. And the plane left at 8:10 am. And we needed to be there 45 minutes before departure. So the alarm clocks were set for 4:30 am. The motorway between Noosa and Hervey Bay (the Bruce Highway) has seen it's fair share of accidents over the years, so the Queensland government has introduced a few unconventional methods of keeping drivers attentive and awake. They have roadside trivia! I love trivia! Although I think Linda was the only one in the car to get a correct answer (the state animal of Queensland is the koala), it was a neat way to engage drivers along the road.

Once we got to the airport, and were ready to board the plane, the pilot said "Oh it looks like a full plane today, does anyone want to ride up front with me?". I didn't even think he had to finish his sentence because Alan was already sitting in the co pilot seat at the front of the plane. True story.

Tuesday 23 April 2013

Australia Zoo/Fraser Island

On our next weekend, we were able to get away for a few days to one of my favorite places around Brisbane: Noosa and the Sunshine Coast. Not only did we have the opportunity to explore Noosa and surrounds, including the world famous Eumundi Markets, but we also stopped in at the Australia Zoo on the drive up, and then took a few days trips to Fraser Island and Lady Elliot Island as well.

The deadly hose is allowed to roam free at the Australia Zoo.
First up, the Australia Zoo. The Australia Zoo is the home of Steve Irwin's biggest and baddest crocs. The Irwin family is well represented here, with a life size bronze statue of the four of them greeting you at the entrance. Both Bindi and Bob, Steve's children, have action figures, dolls, and a series of books named after them. It's pretty impressive. The zoo itself is a massive park and you can easily spend the day here, feeding kangaroos, getting up close and personal with koalas, and watching all the different animal shows and information sessions that the park offers.

Oddly cute little things

Crocs!

Monday 22 April 2013

Tamborine Mountain/Byron Bay/Springbrook National Park

We were very fortunate to have some visitors over the past little while. Alex & Linda, Alan's parents came for a visit. They proved themselves to be intrepid travelers, staying awake until almost 10 pm on their first night in Oz, after arriving on the 7 am flight from LA. I'm fairly certain Alan and I didn't make it past 6 pm on our first few nights in Brisbane. It was so nice to have people staying in the "guest wing" of our apartment, in fact it felt very empty after they left for Sydney. Thank you so much for traveling the long distance to visit us, Alex and Linda! We had a wonderful time!

Our first weekend together took us out to see Tamborine Mountain, Byron Bay, and Springbrook National Park.

Tamborine Mountain is in the Gold Coast hinterlands, and is an artsy little town filled with galleries, shops (including a cuckoo clock shop), wineries, and restaurants. Alan and I were here a little while ago on a very rainy weekend, and the place was empty, which was probably a contributing factor to our cuckoo clock purchase. With Alex and Linda, we were fortunate to have a beautiful sunny day and Tamborine Mountain was transformed into a bustling hive of activity. We took a walk to a waterfall, wandered the shops, and had lunch with some lorikeets at the Polish Place restaurant (where the views are considerably better when it's not pouring rain and foggy).
Here are some pictures from Tamborine Mountain!
A little walk through the rainforest.

Thursday 18 April 2013

Good God, it's been a while!

So much has happened!

Brisbane almost flooded again.
We went to Hawaii, and met up with my mum and papa, and bro and sis-in-law, Chris and Lis!
We had a few visitors through Brisbane to see us. Cousins Sarah, Steve and Isabella. Uncle Peter. And the main attraction, Alex and Linda came to stay!

Just sorting through photos, and will be posting some over the next few days. Watch this space!

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Things that are different!

Canada and Australia are similar in a number of ways, and moving here has certainly eased us into the whole "living abroad/expat" mentality. That being said, there are lots of little differences that we've noticed over the last 6 months, especially since I started working at a hospital again.

Without further ado, I bring you... (drumroll please!)

Things that are different about Australia! 

Sorry for the lacklustre title
 First off, before we even delve into the concrete terminological differences, we should start with the simple linguistics of things. You know, putting the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABle and pronouncing things completely wrong. I swear that people look at me strangely on a daily basis.

Garage - Gare-age, not ga-rah-ge
Debut - day-boo, not day-bew
Jasper - Jas-pah, not Jas-per
Knife - Knoife, not knife (this one's for Lanair)


Thrilling stuff! Ready for more fun? And away we go!

 Out and About

Capsicum - red bell pepper
Rocket - arugula
Lemonade - fizzy lemon soda
Lemon squash - A more sour version of lemonade as above, but more like the lemonade that we're familiar with
Bottleshop or Bottle-o - Liquor store
Arvo - afternoon
Petrol - Gas
Ta - Thank you
Tea - a drink, but also a meal, as in morning or afternoon tea. This gets confusing when parents ask where they can get tea at the hospital, and I say "I'll grab you a cuppa", (feeling all hip to the aussie slang) and I ask them how they like it, and then I get a weird look and a clarification "I meant my evening tea". Oh. Ok, right.*sigh*
Chemist - Pharmacy
Rice Bubbles - Rice Krispies

Hospital

Paracetamol & Panadol - Acetaminophen and Tylenol (same exact drug, completely different name)
Nurofen (ibuprofen) - Advil 
Amethocaine or Angel cream (topical anaesthetic cream) - Ametop
Wee - Pee
Nappy - Diaper
Bubs - Babies
(Sidebar - Can you imagine the looks I get when I ask about babies, pee and diapers at work? Oh, and for the record, the top of a baby's bottle is a teat, not a nipple. *sigh*)
Cannula or drip - An intravenous, or IV as we would refer to them at home
"The cannula has tissued" - "The IV has gone interstitial" - Or in layman's terms, "the IV is no longer in the vein" 
Bloods - Bloodwork
Ambo - EMT/Paramedic

When you write the date on a chart, it's day, month, year, which makes sense, but then I start to second guess myself, and the order of things and get all confused and wind up sneaking a peek at something else to figure out the right way to write the date.

Around the home

Lift - Elevator
Roller door - Garage door
Spanner - Wrench
Lounge - Sofa
Air Con - air conditioning, not a new airline catering to convicts (bahaha!)
Thongs - Flip Flops, sandals
Toilet - Washroom/Bathroom/Restroom/etc.
Rubbish bin/Wheelie bin - garbage can

Well, that's all for now folks!

Friday 4 January 2013

Christmas in Oz!

Hello again!

I thought I would share some pictures from our first Australian Christmas. It certainly was a different kind of Christmas this year!

Our Target Christmas tree
Before Christmas, my parents and I participated in the inaugural Inter-Continental Christmas Cinnamon Bun Bake Off. We set up our respective computers in our kitchens, started a FaceTime chat and made cinnamon buns together. It was so much fun, it almost felt like we were in the kitchen together baking. Almost.

The Inaugural Inter-Continental Christmas Cinnamon Bun Bake Off begins!
You know the saying, "it's 5 o'clock somewhere"? Well, I made good use of it on baking day. And it was close to 5pm in Calgary, so I felt justified in my mid morning drinking. (Don't worry, I CAGE'd myself before imbibing.)

I was showing my parents the finished product
We chuckled to ourselves on Christmas eve, because the air con was on full blast and it was warm and humid outside, creating condensation on our patio sliding doors. It was almost like at home, when it gets so cold outside that it causes the condensation on the inside of windows to freeze. Don't worry, our air conditioner wasn't able to create frost, but in a weird way, it felt a little like home, but backwards. But hey, we are "down under" after all!

Santa was doing some pre Christmas jet-skiing on the Brisbane River earlier on Christmas eve day.

On Christmas Day we woke up and did some more mid-morning drinking.
Mimosas, just like at home!
And we had our cinnamon buns, just like at home!
And we sat on the patio, because it was already 28 degrees outside, just like at... Oh no, wait, that's different...

Merry Christmas!
Chrismosas
Cinnamon buns
Patio time

Chilling on the patio
At this point we decided to embrace the lack of cold weather and snow, and we headed to the beach for the afternoon.
Just laying in the water

Playing in the waves

Mudjimba North Shore beach

There was sand everywhere in our car after this...

He's a water dog, through and through

Alan & Jasper

Amanda & Jasper

We headed home, and made our Christmas dinner (just like at home!) and sat on the patio to enjoy it (not just like at home!)



Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!