Playing tourists

Sometimes there is nothing like taking the day off and exploring the place you live.  Playing tourist is lots of fun, you get to see all the things you tell people to go see.  We got the priviledge of taking a day tour with AAT Kings starting with sunrise at Uluru and then an afternoon at Kata Tjuta.  It was a lovely morning---as seen here!

uluru in the early am

the ever changing skies above

its sooo early

Desert life.

yes we are still awake....

its morning!

the climb..we didnt do it, but if you look close you can see little dots of people climbing!

uneventful life in the desert...

Well, its been a week or so since I updated on our lives...nothing much has changed though!  We are excited to say that we are spending more and more time planning our trips in Aug- which have already changed to --Cairns, Melbourne, Thailand, Vietnam, Sydney, Los Angeles, BC, and then Ontario!  This planning is going really well, and we are just excited to be getting in some great experiences while we visit this side of the country!  I know some of you will be disappointed that we won't be getting to New Zealand, but rather now we will be trying to get to Vietnam.  Well, it's been a while in the works but we really dont think one week in NZ is enough but we wont be able to afford anymore, so we have decided that we will save it for when we can really experience the true NZ for a few weeks!  Until then we figured we might as well get on the south east asia train and experience more then what we thought we could!  Very excited and cant wait to get on the first plane on our trip!  Until then we are going to be working hard and saving all our money for our trip!  We cant wait!!!!!!  If anyone has any ideas as to places to stay anywhere we have mentioned please feel free to send us an email! 

exciting coming year!

Well it's been a wirlwind of a few weeks that's for sure!  We have been very busy trying to figure out our future plans beyond our trips in August. (Aug--Cairns, Melbourne, Thailand, New Zealand, Sydney, LA, BC, ON at the end of Sept!)  It will be an exciting two months that's for sure...but what comes next?  That is what we have been working on.  Before we were set on coming back to Australia and trying to be come permenant citizens so that we could stay here and make some good money for a while....well turns out it's super expensive (almost 12000- before flights!) to get it all going and then we would have to commit ourselves to one job location for 2 years.  During the 2 years we also wouldn't be able to leave the country at all....no trips to south east asia or new zealand or even home heaven forbid something happend at home.  NOPE.  No travel outside the country for two years....for a couple that loves to travel, two years is a LONG time!  So...we have decided that we will not be coming back to Aussie.  Yeah it's a little sad, but at the same time we are very excited that we have decided that we will be staying in Ontario for at least a year!
AND...we know it will at least be a year because----WE ARE GETTING MARRIED IN ONTARIO!  That's right...we had some great plans started for an elopement in Thailand while we are there, but now we have decided that we will save the money that we were going to use for that and we will be using it to get to New Zealand before we get back to Canada!  Very very excited that we will be sharing this moment with all our family and friends in Canada in 2012!!!  As we all know I am very excited for the upcoming plans as I love planning parties as much as I love going to them!  Lots to look at and lots to do, and we will keep you all posted as to when we are thinking about for dates! 
So we have made many changes to our life plans in the last little while but we couldnt be more excited for the next year or so to come!  Look forward to seeing more of you often while we are in Ontario!!!

our lives...ie work

well it's been a while since we have updated on our lives.  It's not that we forgot, or that we didnt want to share anything...it's just we have really only been working!  This month we have had some big groups in and have been working extra hard, and extra long!  We are enjoying all the work, and definitely finding it nice to be busy again.  So...since we dont have any interesting tour pictures to show you all, I figured I would share with you, where we spend all our time...at work! 

sails in the desert hotel

my work...ie the lobby and front desk

my desk...not my uniform, and not me...but my desk! hahaha

us at the mutijulu water hole

the reason people come here...the rock.

As we continue to work over the next 5 months, we will also start our planning for our big adventure in August.  We plan on travelling for a month and a week, going to Cairns, Melbourne, Thailand, New Zealand and back to Sydney before we head back to Canada!  After that, gosh...who knows....we are still working on visas to come back here...but we have also been looking at other countries for options...or sticking around Canada for a while....who knows...All I know is that life is great right now, and it can only continue! 

Eh, Hey away we go...camel riding camel riding...hey hey away we go riding on a camel!

This weekend Tony and I had a great adventure...we rode Camels in the desert during sunset!  Thanks to Anagnu Tours, we got to go on a tour just outside Yulara, with Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the distance.  It was a fabulous experience! Here are some of our pictures!!!

SAVE A HORSE...RIDE A CAMEL!

Yulara!

We are really starting to enjoy life in the desert...though there might be lots of flies, the views and the jobs are worth it!  Tony is enjoying his job as a Chef De Partie (CDP) and I am enjoying my job in reception!  Our little community is called Yulara, which is just outside Uluru (the aboriginal name) or Ayers Rock (the Western name).  It's a great little place to live, which we are really liking!  We have 6 accommdations, 9 restaurants, 1 post office, 1 news agency, 1 grocery store and a few gift shops.  It's FABULOUS! 

We are really enjoying the views, and the desert lifestyle!  The other day when I was at work I got a call from the helicopter pilots, saying that they had one more spot on their flight.  First being in hospo (what the aussies call hospitality) I think, ok how can i sell one seat on a plane....but wait...then I continue to listen and sure enough...HE OFFERS ME THE SEAT!  Heck yeah!!!!  It was just a short little trip to see Uluru but it was well worth it!  I didnt have my camera on me cause I was just at work, so the guy who was flying beside me sent me this email---  THIS IS OUR NEW BACKYARD!!!

Adventures continue!

We packed up everything and left Jenolan Caves on the 18th, for a few days in Sydney before a week in Bali and then the new permenant mailing address in Yulara, aka Ayers Rock.
Erin picked us up in Jenolan Caves (she is my friend who worked with me at the Delta in PEI last summer but is from Sydney)  and we drove back to her house in Lidcombe.  We had a BLAST hanging out for two days relaxing, hitting the beaches and chilling in the city!  We went to Curonella, our fav beach we think, where we eat some great food on the beach and watched the sunset.  The next day we got up early and hit up Manly Beach, one of the iconic ones in Aussie.  It was FABULOUS we took the ferry over, so it was also a great time experiencing the ferries and going through Sydney Harbour. It was fabulous!    Then we pack up again and took of to BALI for a week! 

Bali was amazing!  It was relaxing and just what we needed before getting to Ayers Rock!  We stayed in Kuta Beach which is a great surfer town.  Filled with lots of Aussies and anyone who wantes to get away.  We spend the first night just getting to the hotel, cause our plane landed at 11pm, and we just got some food from the hotel.  Then the next day we spent the whole day exploring the town!  Checking out all the surf shops and chilling on the beach!  Then that night Tony took me for a walk on the beach to watch the sunset....then HE ASKED ME TO MARRY HIM!!!  of course I said YES!  He gave me an amazing ring too- exactly me.  I love it.  But more then anything I love him and he loves me!  That's what matters! Then we went out for some supper to celebrate with some drinks as well!  IT was so romantic and amazing! 
Then the next day we got up early and went on our first tour.  It was a fun one that's for sure!  We went to soooo many different places all over the island!  A textile manufacture, a jewerly manufacture, wood carver, rice fields in Ubud, the Monkey forest in Ubud, the Volcano (also where we stopped for lunch- with a great view of the volcano!) and then the coffee and spices plantation.  It was all AMAZING!  I think that we both liked the coffee and spices plantation the most though.  It was super fun!  The even gave us some free samples- and then we bought a cup of luwak coffee.  This coffee is considered the best coffee in the world.  Basically the Luwak animal eat the coffee beans but dont digest it all and it poos it out, and then they roast it and then we drink it.  Yep, so in the end we paid to drink poop.  But it was great!  Nothing I would run out to buy but it was very good coffee!  That night we just chilled out, and caught the last of the sunset before going to bed early! 
Thursday we had a day of nothing, so again we went around town looking at everything and finding out lots about the locals.  Apparently they are very pushy with the haggaling!  haha You have to say NO THANK YOU like 10 times before they stop asking you!
Then on Friday we got up super super early to get to our cooking class.  It was prolly our most fun day!  We arrived and he took us to a market where he explained about traditional breakfast snacks where and what they were made out of.  Then we eat some.  YUMMY!  He then took us to the fish market, where we were turned off fish for the rest of our trip! hahaha  they were just selling fish that shouldnt have smelt liek that, or looked like it, it was defintely not fresh anymore! Then we went back to his property and started cooking!  It was great, nothing hard or too challanging, but LOTS of fun!  We made 20 dishes in the day, then we got to sit down and eat them all!  It was super fun and fabulous!  It was called Bumbu, and we would recommend it for ANYONE going to bali!  Definitely worth the day of fun!  And of course Tony purchased a cookbook from him, so if anyone wants to make balianse food, let us konw, we are up for it! 
Then on Sat we did another tour of the island, this time going to the North side of the Island.  It was great fun.  It was great to see the difference between the different sides of the island!  It was SOOO mountainous and hilly!  We went to a hot spring and got to relax in the pools for a while, then a waterfall, a fruit maket and a temple.  It was amazing too see the culture of the temple.  So fasinating, to watch the prayer services.  Then we went back to the hotel to see just see the sunset.  It was GREAT! 
Then on sunday we packed everything up and moved to Ayers Rock! 
We have now started our orientation and it's going well,  we are really enjoying it, and cant wait to tell you all more!