I drove us down to Niagara Falls today, which was fun in itself :-)
The in-car gps is so awesome we've given her a name.... Mary.
N0 idea why, just seemed to fit.
So we went on the Maid of Mist cruise at Niagara, which was in a word - WET.
But it was pretty cool to see the falls.
Then we went on a big ferris wheel at the falls, and got an awesome view over Niagara and the falls.
All in all a nicer day than the last couple :-)
Apart from finding out the apartment we wanted has already been leased...
But that's ok, I've got a cuppa and some bikkies - all is right with the world
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Definitely not the RTA
After the debacle of attempting to get our licenses on Monday, we had another bash at it on Tuesday.
I drove us out to a DriveTest centre (driving on the wrong side of the road !) and we waited for about 1.2 hours in the information queue.
The lady was very nice, but she didn't have any good news for us.
Our Australian licences aren't worth diddly squat.
The fact that we drove to the DriveTest centre (evidence that we CAN drive, wouldn't you think ?) means diddly squat.
So we have to get copies of our driving records from home faxed to the Oz consulate here, then take that back to the DriveTest centre so that when we sit the written (hand written, mind you !) and take the driving test we can go straight to a G2 license.
A G1 license is basically a P platers license, and the G2 would probably be something between a green Ps and your blacks.
I am SO over this crap.
Anyway, so that was yesterday.
Today has been a lot more fun :-)
We went out with the real estate lady to see units for us in downtown Toronto.
Of the 4 units we saw, 1 was good, 1 was ok and 2 were bad.
The good one is located just near the Rogers Centre on the 5th floor, which suited me a little more than the 15th, 18th or 25th floors !!
Midgets like me don't like heights....
After that, we went back to the agents office and started the application.
On the way to lunch after all the fun of that, I rolled my ankle crossing the street.
Fortuntely no cars were coming at the time :-)
So I'm now limping a little bit - only a little bit, as it's not too bad a sprain as these things go.
So far my Canadian trip has not been all roses.
Here's hoping tomorrow's trip to Niagara Falls is at least some improvement....
Of course knowing my luck, I'll end going over in a barrel somehow :-(
I drove us out to a DriveTest centre (driving on the wrong side of the road !) and we waited for about 1.2 hours in the information queue.
The lady was very nice, but she didn't have any good news for us.
Our Australian licences aren't worth diddly squat.
The fact that we drove to the DriveTest centre (evidence that we CAN drive, wouldn't you think ?) means diddly squat.
So we have to get copies of our driving records from home faxed to the Oz consulate here, then take that back to the DriveTest centre so that when we sit the written (hand written, mind you !) and take the driving test we can go straight to a G2 license.
A G1 license is basically a P platers license, and the G2 would probably be something between a green Ps and your blacks.
I am SO over this crap.
Anyway, so that was yesterday.
Today has been a lot more fun :-)
We went out with the real estate lady to see units for us in downtown Toronto.
Of the 4 units we saw, 1 was good, 1 was ok and 2 were bad.
The good one is located just near the Rogers Centre on the 5th floor, which suited me a little more than the 15th, 18th or 25th floors !!
Midgets like me don't like heights....
After that, we went back to the agents office and started the application.
On the way to lunch after all the fun of that, I rolled my ankle crossing the street.
Fortuntely no cars were coming at the time :-)
So I'm now limping a little bit - only a little bit, as it's not too bad a sprain as these things go.
So far my Canadian trip has not been all roses.
Here's hoping tomorrow's trip to Niagara Falls is at least some improvement....
Of course knowing my luck, I'll end going over in a barrel somehow :-(
Monday, August 25, 2008
Not quite the RTA
Yesterday was a quiet day, went for a walk to the grocery store to grab some supplies.
Discovered that Canada has some interesting differences from home...
Milk - you can't get full cream milk here. Your options are 0%, 1%, 2% & 3.25%.
Cheese - is quite expensive, and it's ORANGE !!!
Juice - the one we got tastes like a very very sugary cordial mix
Butter - you can't get anything a spreadable real butter, they have lots of 'whipped butter', and a canola butter mix, but it tastes more like margarine than butter... yuk !
So after our shopping expedition, we got a cab back to the hotel as neither of us really fancied walking for an hour with heavy grocery bags weighing us down.
Then had dinner with the guy that C is replacing, who handed the car over at the end of the night.
I love the car, it's a black Lexus that does everything short of making a cuppa for you !
It's got leather seats, a sunroof, a gps built in (one that takes voice command no less), ipod connector for the radio, reversing camera & seats that heat or cool on command !!!
So today we were actually able to get out of the very industrial area we have been stuck in.
We drove off to get our bank account set up, which was no prob.
Then onward to the licensing bureau to get our Canadian licenses. The place was a little shopfront that really made me appreciate our local RTA.
We stood in line for over an hour waiting for our turn.
When we got to the front of the queue we said that we wanted to get our Canadian licences. The lady serving us looked at us blankly and said "oh no, you can't do that here. You need to go to this place" as she handed us a slip of paper.
C asked her if we had to do a driving test when we got to the other place to which she replied that she had no idea, that was another organisation entirely....
So anytime I want to complain about stuff back home being a pain, I want to remember this. A country 1.3 times the size of ours, with a population about 1.5 times ours doesn't even have a cohesive roads, transit & licensing organisation.
Welcome to Canada....
Discovered that Canada has some interesting differences from home...
Milk - you can't get full cream milk here. Your options are 0%, 1%, 2% & 3.25%.
Cheese - is quite expensive, and it's ORANGE !!!
Juice - the one we got tastes like a very very sugary cordial mix
Butter - you can't get anything a spreadable real butter, they have lots of 'whipped butter', and a canola butter mix, but it tastes more like margarine than butter... yuk !
So after our shopping expedition, we got a cab back to the hotel as neither of us really fancied walking for an hour with heavy grocery bags weighing us down.
Then had dinner with the guy that C is replacing, who handed the car over at the end of the night.
I love the car, it's a black Lexus that does everything short of making a cuppa for you !
It's got leather seats, a sunroof, a gps built in (one that takes voice command no less), ipod connector for the radio, reversing camera & seats that heat or cool on command !!!
So today we were actually able to get out of the very industrial area we have been stuck in.
We drove off to get our bank account set up, which was no prob.
Then onward to the licensing bureau to get our Canadian licenses. The place was a little shopfront that really made me appreciate our local RTA.
We stood in line for over an hour waiting for our turn.
When we got to the front of the queue we said that we wanted to get our Canadian licences. The lady serving us looked at us blankly and said "oh no, you can't do that here. You need to go to this place" as she handed us a slip of paper.
C asked her if we had to do a driving test when we got to the other place to which she replied that she had no idea, that was another organisation entirely....
So anytime I want to complain about stuff back home being a pain, I want to remember this. A country 1.3 times the size of ours, with a population about 1.5 times ours doesn't even have a cohesive roads, transit & licensing organisation.
Welcome to Canada....
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Pictures of Dubai
Saw my first Canadian wildlife today !
I saw a squirrel while out getting lunch.
Not quite the bear that I'm supposed to be looking for, but cute none the less :-)
Thought I'd load some photos of Dubai while I had a moment...
The eagle has landed
Our last couple of days since we left Sydney have been a little busy...
I’ve decided I like flying business class, it makes very long flights bearable. Etihad was excellent, good food and very good service.
We arrived in Dubai at midnight local time after a 14 hour flight, and made good time to J & G’s place. They live in a housing estate about 15 minutes outside of downtown Dubai. The estate is massive, and it’s all expats living there so.
We got up on Wednesday morning and went for a drive around Dubai (In the 49% degree heat – and I’m not exaggerating !).We stopped at a fake souk called the Madanat (fake as in built with aircon for westerners) had lunch and then drove out on the Palm Jemeirah. Awesome construction feat, man made island shaped like a palm, and they’re building 2 more ! The amazing thing about Dubai (apart from the ridiculous heat and the constant dust haze) is the construction. Dubai is pretty much one big construction site (hence the dust haze). The Palm Jemeirah’s land has been all finished, but they’re still doing heaps of construction on the homes and the units. Wed arv we went to the pool at about 4.30 (once the pool was shaded enough for my ghostly white skin) and stayed there for 2 hours). Then for dinner we went to the Dubai Polo Club for dinner, very British Colonial.
Thursday we got up and went to the Emirates Mall, saw Ski Dubai but didn’t have a go – we’re going to be living in snow pretty soon, so we decided against it. Off to the pool again for several hours, then a quiet night at home with J, G & little A (a very cute, really really smart 3 y.o.)
Friday we got up and had brekkie at the Burj Al Arab (that 7 star hotel that looks like it has big white sails that you’ve seen Agassi & Federer playing tennis on the helipad) which was a bit of a disaster to start with. We’d booked into the set menu brekkie, but the set menu was 2 options, both of them egg based, and G doesn’t eat egg !
So we ended up having brekkie at the asian buffet, but we only had 45 minutes to eat it so it was a bit of a seek and destroy mission. After our big brekkie, we went for a drive into the old area of Dubai and took a cruise on the Dubai Creek (it was a river, but they call it the creek). For the first time since the airport I felt like we were actually in the middle east. Everything else has been fairly generic, experiences we could have had anywhere else in the world. Not that I didn’t enjoy myself heaps, but it wasn’t really your typical middle eastern stopover.
Fri night was takeaway at home before we got picked up for our trip back to the airport.
A good flight again, thanks to chemical assistance. Otherwise the little baby 2 rows behind me crying for the entire 14 hours may have ruined the flight for me.
Anyway, I had a great time catching up with J & G, getting to know little A as the awesome little person she is J
So now we’re in Toronto, the visas were approved at the airport this morning without any issues at all, and we’re all good to go.
Off to grab some lunch now :-)
I’ve decided I like flying business class, it makes very long flights bearable. Etihad was excellent, good food and very good service.
We arrived in Dubai at midnight local time after a 14 hour flight, and made good time to J & G’s place. They live in a housing estate about 15 minutes outside of downtown Dubai. The estate is massive, and it’s all expats living there so.
We got up on Wednesday morning and went for a drive around Dubai (In the 49% degree heat – and I’m not exaggerating !).We stopped at a fake souk called the Madanat (fake as in built with aircon for westerners) had lunch and then drove out on the Palm Jemeirah. Awesome construction feat, man made island shaped like a palm, and they’re building 2 more ! The amazing thing about Dubai (apart from the ridiculous heat and the constant dust haze) is the construction. Dubai is pretty much one big construction site (hence the dust haze). The Palm Jemeirah’s land has been all finished, but they’re still doing heaps of construction on the homes and the units. Wed arv we went to the pool at about 4.30 (once the pool was shaded enough for my ghostly white skin) and stayed there for 2 hours). Then for dinner we went to the Dubai Polo Club for dinner, very British Colonial.
Thursday we got up and went to the Emirates Mall, saw Ski Dubai but didn’t have a go – we’re going to be living in snow pretty soon, so we decided against it. Off to the pool again for several hours, then a quiet night at home with J, G & little A (a very cute, really really smart 3 y.o.)
Friday we got up and had brekkie at the Burj Al Arab (that 7 star hotel that looks like it has big white sails that you’ve seen Agassi & Federer playing tennis on the helipad) which was a bit of a disaster to start with. We’d booked into the set menu brekkie, but the set menu was 2 options, both of them egg based, and G doesn’t eat egg !
So we ended up having brekkie at the asian buffet, but we only had 45 minutes to eat it so it was a bit of a seek and destroy mission. After our big brekkie, we went for a drive into the old area of Dubai and took a cruise on the Dubai Creek (it was a river, but they call it the creek). For the first time since the airport I felt like we were actually in the middle east. Everything else has been fairly generic, experiences we could have had anywhere else in the world. Not that I didn’t enjoy myself heaps, but it wasn’t really your typical middle eastern stopover.
Fri night was takeaway at home before we got picked up for our trip back to the airport.
A good flight again, thanks to chemical assistance. Otherwise the little baby 2 rows behind me crying for the entire 14 hours may have ruined the flight for me.
Anyway, I had a great time catching up with J & G, getting to know little A as the awesome little person she is J
So now we’re in Toronto, the visas were approved at the airport this morning without any issues at all, and we’re all good to go.
Off to grab some lunch now :-)
Monday, August 18, 2008
Deaprture Day
Today has been a little manic.
Got up early to finish packing and cleaning, then stopped to have brekkie with both sets of parents.
Tried to finish packing and cleaning, but the dog wanted to play...
Little b*tch had me by the sleeve of my jumper and was dragging me round the backyard by it !
I think she knew we were going and that was her way of saying 'don't go !' :-)
Then the driver arrived 1/2 hour early, so we had to finish packing while he was waiting... oops.
Then we got in the car (very flash black van) and the day got less manic.
Checked in with no wait, through immigration with no wait, and am now sitting in the QF lounge with a hot choc typing this - I LOVE this business class stuff :-D
Onwards to Dubai !
Got up early to finish packing and cleaning, then stopped to have brekkie with both sets of parents.
Tried to finish packing and cleaning, but the dog wanted to play...
Little b*tch had me by the sleeve of my jumper and was dragging me round the backyard by it !
I think she knew we were going and that was her way of saying 'don't go !' :-)
Then the driver arrived 1/2 hour early, so we had to finish packing while he was waiting... oops.
Then we got in the car (very flash black van) and the day got less manic.
Checked in with no wait, through immigration with no wait, and am now sitting in the QF lounge with a hot choc typing this - I LOVE this business class stuff :-D
Onwards to Dubai !
Sunday, August 17, 2008
T-1
Last day in sunny Sydney for about 16 months :-(
Got lots done, but still heaps to do before we fly out tomorrow.
Not quite panic stations, but getting there !
Got lots done, but still heaps to do before we fly out tomorrow.
Not quite panic stations, but getting there !
Saturday, August 16, 2008
T-3
Saw some friends today for brekkie and lunch, last time I'll see them for 16 months.
Unless they come and visit....
Still heaps to organise, but we're leaving on Tuesday even if we're not done :-)
Unless they come and visit....
Still heaps to organise, but we're leaving on Tuesday even if we're not done :-)
Thursday, August 14, 2008
T-5
Well, my first day of unemployment was fun, busy though.
Still heaps to do before we go, but it's creeping closer...
Still heaps to do before we go, but it's creeping closer...
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
T-6
Finished up work today.
I am now unemployed and strangely happy about it :-)
Mission objective for the next couple of days is to sort the house out for our new tenants, and to book a photographer for the wedding.
If we wait until we get back to book, we might have issues getting a good photographer.
But if we book now, we should have our pick.
Fun and games !
I am now unemployed and strangely happy about it :-)
Mission objective for the next couple of days is to sort the house out for our new tenants, and to book a photographer for the wedding.
If we wait until we get back to book, we might have issues getting a good photographer.
But if we book now, we should have our pick.
Fun and games !
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
T-7
This time next week, I'll be sitting in a plane on my way to Dubai to see 3 of my fave people....
How cool is that ?
Still have heaps to do before we go, but starting to get excited !
How cool is that ?
Still have heaps to do before we go, but starting to get excited !
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
T-13
Less than 2 weeks to go... OMG !!!
Found out our seats for the planes yesterday afternoon.
We're not sitting next to each other.
Probably just as well, 14 hours is a long time to put up with me...
Found out our seats for the planes yesterday afternoon.
We're not sitting next to each other.
Probably just as well, 14 hours is a long time to put up with me...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)