OUR 2010 in review

2010    - Started in Blue Montain, Ontario

- Tony was working at Oliver and Bonicini Café and Grill

-Sarah was working at the Front Desk at the Westin Trillium House

FEB         - Sarah and 3 girlfriends leave for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler and Vancouver

They have tickets to men’s ski jump, men’s downhill ski, men’s luge in Whitsler- then in Vancouver they had 6 hockey game tickets including both women’s semi finals and men’s U.S.A. vs Finland semis and a medal ceremony- I don’t think anything can compare to cheering on the home team at the Olympics! or Robson St after Canada won the men’s gold game! Or just the amazement to see all the red and white! AMAZING time was had by all..Russia 2014 anyone?!

APRIL    3^rd - Tony and Sarah move to Charlottetown PEI!

15^th -Tony starts his last year at the Culinary Institute of Canada

25^th -Sarah starts working at the Front Desk at the Delta Prince Edward

JULY       1^st -Tony and Sarah travel to Guelph/Markham to go to Granma Allan’s funeral, a sad but nice day, in which all the fun stories of granma were shared.

28^th - Tony gets a well earned 2 weeks from school and goes to BC to visit FAMILY!

AUG-     14^th-The Phillips’ family (Eric –Sarah’s older brother and wife Kim) get an early but most amazing gift- of baby HANNAH! 

            -19^th-Tony and Sarah travel back to Guelph for a friend’s wedding and to meet baby Hannah!

OCT        - Tony graduates from the Culinary Institute of Canada!!!!!  (Ruth and Andy Phillips come out from Ontario and Garry and Lise McGregrory come from Gibson BC to join in the celebration!!!!)

                -1 week later- Tony passes his Red Seal- he is a certified chef!!! Cant even describe     how proud I am!!!

NOV      1^st - We move all our stuff to Guelph Ontario

-7^th- We move to the JENOLAN CAVES, BLUE MOUNTAINS, NSW, AUSTRALIA!!!!! Where Tony is working as a chef-de-partie and Sarah as a guest service agent at the front desk

DEC        We are enjoying living in Australia and are loving the lack of snow!  We have been able to enjoy Sydney a few times, meeting up with friends from the summer, and are starting plans for the rest of the travels we will accomplish while on this side of the world!

dont get mad at the front liners!

I know that I cant say that I always know what you all do for your jobs, but I dont really pretend I do.  So why when you come to a hotel or restaurant or resort or parking lot for that matter do you think that you for one min understand my job or any of my collegues? I can say that I have never 100% understood accounting but I never try to do an accounts job. I can understand if you dont 100% understand the hospo (aka hospitality) work and lifestyle, just dont pretend you do.  I dont think thatyou would really believe how much time and energy is put into making your dinner plate, or getting your room ready, or the amount of hours are put in behind the scenes to make it all come out to look like its a flawless establishment. Seeing as the hospo industry is also called the service industry, we do try to to insure our customers  are happy.  Most of the time if we cant get something done for you, its because of a reason out of our control.  So next time you get on a flight and it's late, dont take it out on the flight attendant, cause really they have nothing to do with what time the flight goes out at they are just there for your safety.  And the next time your check into a hotel and ask for a late check out, dont get mad at the agent checking you in if your room is not ready- get mad at the guy who just was allowed to check out late!  And when you go to a restaurant, try the meal the way that the chef intended it to be had, dont substitute every other thing on the plate and then cover it in salt when it gets infront of you.  I dont assume that you wont ever get mad at anyone in the hospo industry again, I just ask that when you do come upon a situation you might find frustrating, remember that there is a reason for everything and try to appriciate it when things do go well.  Tell your server to tell the chef it was good food when it is, thank your housekeeper for tidying your room, and remember that we dont come into your work place, and yell at you so please dont come into ours and yell at us! Cause at the end of the day, we all have our specialities and our reasons to be doing what we do, but I hope that most people do it for the reasons we do, and thats because we love what we do. 

It's a SUNNY CHRISTMAS!!!

Well Christmas has officially come and gone this year...This like years in the past and most likely more in the future found Tony and I working.  The hotel put on a big brunch and a dinner as well, keeping Tony and the kitchen team very busy!  It was interesting though because Brunch is not a common thing here in Australia, so most people didn't really know what they were getting into when they booked in for lunch!  All walked away, the most stuffed they could have possibly been and raving about the food!  I only got called into work because another girl was sick.  I worked for 3 hours but made more money in the three hours then 8 ina regular day!  Public hoilidays here give a higher rate of pay, putting it at 2.5 times your normal pay an hour!  What a great system for us hospitality people!  WOOPWOOP!!!!  After work, I got to come back to our flat and sit on our patio, tan (as it was now about 32C) and read my book, while drinking my strongbow...LOVE IT.  Then that night after everyone was done work, everyone came up for  a beer at our place to toast the day!  It was a great way to celebrate!  As most of you know, Tony and I dont give each other gifts at all, we decided that we are going to do something that we other wise wouldnt have done as a celebration!  Well this year, the hotel will be closing down for a few days in feb so we will be travelling somewhere we hadn't thought...where we dont know...when we dont know...but we do know it will be a BLAST! 
But...We just wanted anyone reading this to know that we are thinking of all our family and friends and wishing everyone a safe, fun and relaxing hoiday season filled with love and joy!  MERRY CHRISTMAS to all...and to all...A GOOD NIGHT!!!!

10 days til xmas!

Crazy how it does not feel anything like Christmas here.  Today it’s 27C and sunny, with random rain.  Definitely not the lovely Canadian xmas weather!  This week was a pretty low key one for us after the busy one last weekend.  

Tony and I started our days off with a nice lunch date out in Lithgow, a very small town in the mountains.  It was a very nice day, in which I burnt my driving arm! Hahaha  It was sooo worth it though!  What a fun time! 

Sarah went on an adventure with three girls from work, as they went out to a farm to enjoy the local scenery and some away from caves time!  The farm was awesome, we were able to relax and laugh and laugh and laugh as we went four wheeling (some of the time it was two wheeling though- thanks to our driver philly! Hahaha), horse riding, feeding ponies, horses, rabbits, sheep, cats- you name it was saw it! It was a blast!

Yesterday Tony and I got to do another cave tour!  Man did we have a blast!  We went into the Imperial Cave, and it’s a very showy cave.  Lots of really pretty lighting and lovely columns,  stag mites and stag tights! We has a great time, wondering down to the river in the cave where our water comes from.  We also found out that our guide is lived in Canada for a while, and get this, worked at the same hotel that Tony did!  Interesting how small the hospitality industry is considering how many hotels are in the world! 

Today I have included all my own pictures of the Imperial cave and some of the grand arch (where the tour starts!) enjoy!!!

Tony in the grand arch

entrance to the jenolan caves/grand arch

us in the imperial cave

in the imperial cave

in the imperial cave

BACON?! hahaha  in the imperial cave

only icecicles i wanna see this year! hahaa

on the way back from lithgow on the 5 mile hill down to the caves..aka my backyard

coming down the 2 mile hill from oberon- note the kangaroos- and note that this is a two way road!  Tight much! hahaha

horses! on morgan's farm!

Day oout and aboot! haha

As Tony is busy this week with work, I have taken it upon myself to go on adventures to continue our quest.  This week, I have gone to Bathurst with some girls from work.  From our place it takes about an hour to get to Bathurst, and it’s a super gorgeous drive with an abundance of farmland, filled with green grass, cows and sheep grassing the hills with mountains as back drop in the distance.   Almost breath taking, when it’s sunny, unfortunately it has been raining for about a week straight here.  Yep, the drought is over in Aussie that’s for sure.  As the flood waters rise, Aussie becomes more of a wetland then desert.  Thankfully, in the caves we are untouched by the abundance of rain, flood wise anyway.  We are experiencing some great greens in the trees and lots of squishy ground to walk on.  This past week, the guides in the caves had to close one of the caves down temporarily because there is an underground river in the cave, and well, it decided to rise. 

The purpose of our adventure to Bathurst was actually to see the new Harry Potter movie, yep that’s right, what do three late twenty year-old ladies need to do…they NEED to see Harry Potter! Hahaha  It was great!  Dark movie, but good, definitely can’t wait for the second part!  We also got a chance to get some shopping in!  That’s right, when you live in Jenolan Caves, it’s a big outing to get to Bathurst and go shopping!  We had a great time, purchasing a new billiard que as the last one, well we will say- fell and broke…yeah fell and broke!  Haha  The other thing that happens when you get to leave Jenolan, is that you get to experience some great food in the local area.  We happened to go to an Italian pub, and had some delicious pizza and pasta!  Yum! 

Cindy- please tell Gary this next part- as I think he would appreciate it!

Also in Bathurst there is a really big race track, and get this…through the regular other 360 days a year, it’s just a normal road! But there are still all the side padding up and everything!  It’s really cool, as it winds up and down the Panorama Mountain. It’s just a regular used road, but then come the one race week it’s crazy big here! It’s like NASCAR but Aussie version I believe! I didn’t have my camera so I have again stolen pictures and put them here…but I will be going back with Tony and getting some of my own!

Great invention

Thinks that the aussie's have some amazing inventions--this might be one of the best!

All pre-mixed drinks--just pick up a 4 pack of Canadian Club and Ginerale or Canadian Club and Coke=AWESOME.
For the girls--these would be wicked pool size- maybe we would spill less in the pool eh vaness!
And- FoR WM1 (eldon) and WM2(steve)--these would be great in Vegas!!!

and for those who don't know, a nickname I got in highschool (before S.A.R.S) was Sarzee, which was always shorten to Sars.  Down here its my own drink!

PICTURES have arrived!!!

Love the purple trees- on the walk to the opera house/harbour bridge

paddy's market=awesome

the opera house!

us- looking a bit jetlegged but at the opera house

the harbour bidge

opera house

us on the train to the caves

our kitchen

our bathrooms

our living room-

please note that the clothing are clean ones drying this was before the purchase of a drying rack!

our walk to walk (taken from our front balcony)

the hotel under a full moon as it peeks over the distance mountain (taken from our balcony)

the grand arch adn blue lake (you have to drive through this on the way into jenloan)

Zoom Zoom ZOOM!!!

Wooohooo we bought a car!  That’s right, Tony and I had an exciting adventure to Sydney this week where we purchased a small car (ford telstar hatchback). We left Jenolan Caves on Tuesday and took the bus to Katoomba, then the train to Sydney to meet up with Erin.  Turns out that Wayne (our cool South Korean roommate) had the same days off, so we travelled down with him.  Once we got to Sydney (at 7pm) Erin took us to this fabulous Italian restaurant called Montrelli (I believe).  OH wow, FABULOUS food and a great time chilling.  For those who don’t know, Erin and I worked together at the Delta Prince Edward in Charlottetown, P.E.I. this past summer.  She is an Aussie, and let us stay at her place in Sydney. So the next day Erin dropped us off at the Parramatta Rd where all the car dealerships are and we walked up and down til we found the one we wanted!  Then meet Erin at her work and hit up a Chinese restaurant for dinner!  It was great, just a small, locals only place, near her house and the food was fabulous! It’s different to see that lamb is soo cheap here, we are getting spoiled a bit by that and plan on eating as much as we can while we are here! 

Now for driving on the wrong side of the road…it’s not as bad as I thought.  Firstly, I have yet to hit anything, or anyone.  Secondly, it was soo smooth driving back to the caves that Tony feel asleep in the car.  (then again he can always fall asleep in the car, even if we are only going 10 mins down the road!)  The real challenge is not that it’s on the other side of the road for turning and everything, but rather that the signals and the wipers are on the opposite sides!  So every time I go to signal I put on the wipers, and not only that when I do hit the right wipers, it’s opposite direction to get them on! Hahaha it’s at least entertaining to watch and has been raining here to get away with it! Hahaha  Good thing that Eric and Kim’s dog Donan is not here, he goes wild whenever you put the wipers on! hahaha