Here we are back in Surrey. We got in Tuesday in the early afternoon after about 26.5 hours of travel. I think we're just starting to feel like we're onto a normal schedule! We didn't feel the jet lag on the last trip but this time we did a bit more. We departed Melbourne on Tuesday the 26th at 9:30am and arrived in Vancouver at 1pm on the 26th.
After we left Phillip Island, we had a day of driving ahead of us. First stop was heading to the city to drop off the surf board. It took a couple hours to get up there and then we continued through to Torquay but hit some big traffic jams. So that was another couple hours. We found a Mexican place for lunch and the Dustin was on the hunt for some flip flops as he lost a couple pairs along the way. There are a few good outlet shops in Torquay so we checked them out. Turns out the surf comp had a lay day for the men and the women were out but there was only a short time left for the day so we didn't end up heading right down to Bells Beach but we watched some on the screens they had set up on the car parks in the city area.
By about 5 or 6pm we arrived in Colac after another couple hours to the home of Pete and Amanda. We grabbed some pizza with their friends and then went to a bar called the Straight Shooter. A band was coming over from South Australia so we had some beers and watched. It was entertaining because the crowd was fun to watch too. We walked back to their place and went straight to bed. The next day we did some rounds of visiting with their friends and then checked out the Tree Top walk in the Otways. We went down to the Gellibrand Pub for some chicken parmas for dinner. Then we were introduced to a hilarious DVD from Russell Coight's All Aussie Adventures. After more visiting on Sunday morning, we hopped on the bus to Melbourne.
After checking into the hotel we had an Easter dinner on the agenda! Back at Alena and Dave's place, where we spent a couple weeks when we first arrived in Melbourne in 2008. It was great to catch up with them and Theresa was over for a visit as well. There was so much chocolate and lovely food that we couldn't pull ourselves away until almost 4 in the morning. We slept in a bit and went out for breakfast. It was Anzac Day on Monday in Australia and New Zealand which is a day to honour troops from these countires. There was a dawn service and then a parade so we saw a bit of the parade. Our hotel was on the south side of the river from the city so it was very close to walk into the CBD. We wandered around the city more, remembering our time there and the only unfortunate thing was that many places were closed for Anzac Day.
Dustin had a surprise plan for Monday night that he had booked some time ahead. They still use tram cars on the streets for transport in Melbourne and there is an old tram car that they have done up so that you can take a ride and enjoy dinner at the same time. So you get to sightsee and eat! We got the late seating so it departed at 8:30pm. We enjoyed a lovely 5 course meal complete with free flowing drinks while they played music and the servers sang along. It was very entertaining and the people at the table next to us were friendly so we had a great evening! We tried to sleep right at midnight when we got back because it was an early morning to catch our flight - we were up at 4:45am to catch our 5:30am airport shuttle.
The flight wasn't too bad. I think it was the longest we've been on at 14 hours from Melbourne to LA. We were in the center section and I had terrible luck in the woman seated next to me. Neither of us were able to get more than a few minutes of sleep - sure making those business class seats that lay out almost worth it... We had a couple hours to wait before departing LA and luckily we did because it was 40 minutes in the immigration line up, another 15-20 to get our luggage and then about 20 minutes of walking around to find our terminal an then the security line up. After flying domestic through Australia (where we often didn't even need to show ID), arriving into LAX was a bit of a stern awakening. Single file lines. Police everywhere. Massive amounts of people. I think next time we'll try to fly direct or at least stopover in Asia or something instead. Plus at LAX the dining options are so shockingly bad for how much traffic comes through - we could go to Burger King or Starbucks, or one sit down seafood kind of place. Every single time we end up in this same terminal and the options are weak. Since our last leg was on no frills Alaska we did need to eat before the flight. Well, enough about the travel itself.
We got a truck on the weekend which is great. I wasn't sure how long it would take to find a new (to us) vehicle. She's a little rough around the edges but mechanically it runs fine so we're happy. A nice red little 98 Nissan Frontier. Similar to Dustin's beloved truck of days passed but a more updated version.
So it's been a bit of a whirlwind arrival with getting ourselves sorted out with our taxes and stuff like that, then I've been doing some planning for wedding events (with Dustin's help!) and then just trying to unpack and find the bits and pieces we need for now. I don't really want to pull out too many boxes because we might move to Dustin's aunt and uncle's suite shortly. They are also in Surrey but we would feel more organized to have space to unpack more. We'll have to see what work is on the bill for Dustin and hopefully he won't have to travel across the Port Mann because we haven't really heard any good things about Vancouver traffic with all the construction going on. A good reminder of why we've fallen for small towns.
Anyways, at least we're home in time to vote! There's no green candidate in this riding though and I really wanted to vote for them! Boo. I guess I'll have to go NDP.
I'm not sure how often I'll be updating this now that we're back in Canada. We might not have as many adventures that are out of the ordinary - although I guess a lot of what I've been writing about is rather trivial! haha. But I will post any big news once we've made any plans. Thanks for reading and joining us along the way for our ventures into New Zealand!
After we left Phillip Island, we had a day of driving ahead of us. First stop was heading to the city to drop off the surf board. It took a couple hours to get up there and then we continued through to Torquay but hit some big traffic jams. So that was another couple hours. We found a Mexican place for lunch and the Dustin was on the hunt for some flip flops as he lost a couple pairs along the way. There are a few good outlet shops in Torquay so we checked them out. Turns out the surf comp had a lay day for the men and the women were out but there was only a short time left for the day so we didn't end up heading right down to Bells Beach but we watched some on the screens they had set up on the car parks in the city area.
By about 5 or 6pm we arrived in Colac after another couple hours to the home of Pete and Amanda. We grabbed some pizza with their friends and then went to a bar called the Straight Shooter. A band was coming over from South Australia so we had some beers and watched. It was entertaining because the crowd was fun to watch too. We walked back to their place and went straight to bed. The next day we did some rounds of visiting with their friends and then checked out the Tree Top walk in the Otways. We went down to the Gellibrand Pub for some chicken parmas for dinner. Then we were introduced to a hilarious DVD from Russell Coight's All Aussie Adventures. After more visiting on Sunday morning, we hopped on the bus to Melbourne.
After checking into the hotel we had an Easter dinner on the agenda! Back at Alena and Dave's place, where we spent a couple weeks when we first arrived in Melbourne in 2008. It was great to catch up with them and Theresa was over for a visit as well. There was so much chocolate and lovely food that we couldn't pull ourselves away until almost 4 in the morning. We slept in a bit and went out for breakfast. It was Anzac Day on Monday in Australia and New Zealand which is a day to honour troops from these countires. There was a dawn service and then a parade so we saw a bit of the parade. Our hotel was on the south side of the river from the city so it was very close to walk into the CBD. We wandered around the city more, remembering our time there and the only unfortunate thing was that many places were closed for Anzac Day.
Dustin had a surprise plan for Monday night that he had booked some time ahead. They still use tram cars on the streets for transport in Melbourne and there is an old tram car that they have done up so that you can take a ride and enjoy dinner at the same time. So you get to sightsee and eat! We got the late seating so it departed at 8:30pm. We enjoyed a lovely 5 course meal complete with free flowing drinks while they played music and the servers sang along. It was very entertaining and the people at the table next to us were friendly so we had a great evening! We tried to sleep right at midnight when we got back because it was an early morning to catch our flight - we were up at 4:45am to catch our 5:30am airport shuttle.
The flight wasn't too bad. I think it was the longest we've been on at 14 hours from Melbourne to LA. We were in the center section and I had terrible luck in the woman seated next to me. Neither of us were able to get more than a few minutes of sleep - sure making those business class seats that lay out almost worth it... We had a couple hours to wait before departing LA and luckily we did because it was 40 minutes in the immigration line up, another 15-20 to get our luggage and then about 20 minutes of walking around to find our terminal an then the security line up. After flying domestic through Australia (where we often didn't even need to show ID), arriving into LAX was a bit of a stern awakening. Single file lines. Police everywhere. Massive amounts of people. I think next time we'll try to fly direct or at least stopover in Asia or something instead. Plus at LAX the dining options are so shockingly bad for how much traffic comes through - we could go to Burger King or Starbucks, or one sit down seafood kind of place. Every single time we end up in this same terminal and the options are weak. Since our last leg was on no frills Alaska we did need to eat before the flight. Well, enough about the travel itself.
We got a truck on the weekend which is great. I wasn't sure how long it would take to find a new (to us) vehicle. She's a little rough around the edges but mechanically it runs fine so we're happy. A nice red little 98 Nissan Frontier. Similar to Dustin's beloved truck of days passed but a more updated version.
So it's been a bit of a whirlwind arrival with getting ourselves sorted out with our taxes and stuff like that, then I've been doing some planning for wedding events (with Dustin's help!) and then just trying to unpack and find the bits and pieces we need for now. I don't really want to pull out too many boxes because we might move to Dustin's aunt and uncle's suite shortly. They are also in Surrey but we would feel more organized to have space to unpack more. We'll have to see what work is on the bill for Dustin and hopefully he won't have to travel across the Port Mann because we haven't really heard any good things about Vancouver traffic with all the construction going on. A good reminder of why we've fallen for small towns.
Anyways, at least we're home in time to vote! There's no green candidate in this riding though and I really wanted to vote for them! Boo. I guess I'll have to go NDP.
I'm not sure how often I'll be updating this now that we're back in Canada. We might not have as many adventures that are out of the ordinary - although I guess a lot of what I've been writing about is rather trivial! haha. But I will post any big news once we've made any plans. Thanks for reading and joining us along the way for our ventures into New Zealand!
HOORAY YOU'RE FINALLY HOME!!! COMEDY THIS THURSDAY? DRINKS THIS WEEKEND?!!! MISSED YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!
ReplyDeleteWelcome back guys!! =)
ReplyDeleteMust've been an amazing time!