The Martin's Big Trip

Mickey, Goofy and Us

2009-05-05T22:28:00.000-07:00

Alright, alright, I know it has been a long time since we posted anything here, but hey – we have been busy! I wanted to start off this blog with a series of pictures we took of the girls in the exact moment we told them we were headed to Disneyland. We were in the Auckland airport waiting for our flight – to which the girls thought we were still going to Tahiti – when we got the camera out, told them to get together for a last picture in New Zealand and then dropped the Disney bomb. It was hilarious. They, as you can see in the pics, go from wondering what the heck we were talking about to absolute joy. Disneyland, you see, was one of the two places the girls wanted desperately to go to this year on our time off. The other place they want to visit, from everywhere one could choose in this vast world, is Barkerville – but that is another story.

Mama, Say 'Whaaa?'

Seriously, We're Going Where?

Oh Yes, We're Going to Disneyland

Some Very Happy Sisters!

What does one say about Disneyland that hasn’t already been said? How does anyone describe the place to someone who has never been? It, as most everyone knows has been called the “Happiest Place on Earth”, which most of the time I really believe it is. But, I think the true sense of the place comes as you head in through the gates. Past the ticket counters to either of the two small tunnels under the Disney Railroad that funnel you towards Main Street Disney. As you walk under those tunnels, with your hand filled with the grip of your excited daughter’s, you might not notice the small copper coloured plaque that hangs above your head. It is though, as mentioned, what I think is the essence of Disneyland. It says, “Here you Leave Today and Enter the World of Yesterday, Tomorrow and Fantasy”. I love that sign. It says so much about what I think Walt Disney wanted to create within his park. It is an amazing place that transforms your thinking about where you are and what you are participating in.

To say that we had a terrific time would be an understatement. Our girls, both of them, were courageous, brave, daring, gleeful, excitable and patient. They waited out the lines, they trundled after characters for autographs, they rode ALL the rollercoasters (and I mean all, including Space Mountain and California Screamin’ with the flip in it at 60 km/h), they arrived early, stayed out late and most importantly they maintained wide-eyed wonder throughout our time there. I’m not sure there is a better feeling as a parent than to see, feel and hear the unfettered joy of your child and our Disney experience brought that out time and again.

As all good things though, and our time needed to come to an end at Disneyland. We headed ‘home’ to White Rock and Jp’s family condo. It is a place that brings wonderful family memories and our foursome feels very comfortable there. We started our transition to regular life with a trip to Victoria to see family, returning to White Rock to be laid out flat with colds and then slowly, ever so slowly, considering the long journey towards Prince George. Our biggest concern was that we were in the final third of April and yet there was still snow on the ground….we DID NOT want to be part of that. We eventually got word the snow was gone and on April 28th we arrived home…

After 168 days, we had come full circle.

So much to say about our trip, and that will come in another post. For now we hope you enjoy our Disney pictures, and for those of you we haven’t been in touch with that live in PG – We’re Home….

To view our pictures click HERE

NZ- North Isly But Last of the Southern Hemi

2009-04-03T12:31:00.000-07:00

Alright friends, lots to cover, so lets get right to it. First, for those playing the home game, we celebrated Marnie’s 39th Birthday on the 15th of March while here in NZ. Leanne Abrahams was the first to answer correctly but she finds herself disqualified from the prize through a complicated formula (the formula being she lives in Australia and shipping costs to there are outrageous – Sorry Leanne, though we won’t forget to send Twizzlers in the next care package). So the winner of the Marnie contest is our old friend Roy McBeth (who it just so happens we will see on our return to Canada so no posting involved, but also won’t actually get anything from us since Roy has a 6yr old son and the gift will be better suited going to Connor) – way to go to all those playing.

Since our last entry we finished our motorhome trip on the South Island, relaxed for a few days, flew to the North Island, drove to the Bay of Islands for three nights, drove back to Auckland and said ‘goodbye’ to Grandpa and Poppa at the airport , drove out to the Coromandel Peninsula to spend 6 days, drove back to Auckland, did some last minute looking around (which means shopping) and will leave tomorrow for Los Angeles. Whew!

We had a great time with Judy and Milton, Jp’s Mom and StepDad. Lots of laughs, games, sites, songs, stories, a few sideways glances, some hair-raising moments, but all with love. It was a trip to really cherish, especially since the girls will remember that time with their grandparents forever. Jp and Milton captured every moment on film too so that helps. We missed them on our last leg of this New Zealand adventure. Let that be a lesson to anyone coming here – you can see lots in 3 weeks but you cannot see it all. 6 weeks would be a good visit length for New Zealand. Hey, Canadians are getting a .7 exchange rate so you can all afford it!

New Zealand has been so very wonderful and I owe it a lot of gratitude for changing the weather since our complaints of mid-March. We have enjoyed incredible weather. Day after day of near cloudless skies. In fact since our first few harsh days we have only had 2 rainy days in the past 23. Since Prince George apparently had snow again on the 2nd of April, I’de say we are doing quite well, thank-you very much. So with the weather out of the way, what is New Zealand really like.

Incredibly beautiful. Sounds stupid to wrap it up in two words but seriously you run out of words to describe the beauty of New Zealand. It is powerful to a point of sensory overload - you almost get tired of seeing so much beauty because you have to use up stores of energy to enjoy it properly. You say things like ‘Wow!’, and ‘Amazing!’, and ‘Look at that!’ a lot. And then it seems lame because we are not able to come up with a better way to describe what you are seeing when it hits you again and again. There is no way pictures can ever do justice to what is really and truly here, on the ground.

The Maori culture plays a massive role in all walks of life. Town names, for example, include Whitianga, Paihia, and Onehunga (to name only a slight few). Tourist shops all stock scads of Maori merchandise with traditional symbol carvings being the most popular, either in wood or bone. There is still a strong connection to the Commonwealth (with names like Christchurch, Wellington, Nelson and the Queen’s radio address still played on National Radio). Sport is enormous here (Rugby is over the top popular and can be viewed on all three of the nations tv sporting channels at the same time on many days, as is racing of all sorts). Then finally, the sea.

Water is an integral part of many cultures and countries around the world but certainly NZ (that’s Enn Zed too, not Enn Zee, don’t make that mistake) is right up there with any sea-faring nation anywhere. They love the water here. They love to fish on it, play in it, paddle on it, row on it, motor on it, sail on it and certainly they love to race on it. Sailors and rowers are VERY well regarded here. So many communities are on water here – it is just a completely natural part of who these people are. Getting out on the water seems like it makes sense to them.

Yet there are big time problems here too. Like anywhere I suppose, but Kiwis are leaving here at a rate of a 1000 per week in one report we heard – a staggering number when you consider they are only something like 4 million in total. Goods are expensive and wages are not great so people leave mainly for Australia hoping to make more money. When you look around here you ask yourself, ‘why would anyone want to leave this?.’

It is with very great sadness that we will be leaving the Southern Hemisphere tomorrow. If you read the Blog entry title you may get now what I meant by doing the North Island but we are saying goodbye to the South in a global sense. What an experience this has been for us all. We’ve loved just about every moment I think. Being below the equator for the first time has been grand. A storehouse full of memories plus about 4800 pictures to back it up.

Speaking of that I put the camera away for the past 5 days or so. The girls even commented on it. So, while I have quite a few shots this time (70), many are of a few select places that I found stunning. Even if the shots don’t do these places justice, trust us, they were capital B, beautiful.

Click for photos HERE

We are off to Disneyland for our next adventure. Ayden and Sophie don’t know yet so getting on the plane tomorrow will be a great surprise for them. Should be fun. Yes, yes, I know – “that’s not JP in the photo, it’s Goofy”. So, until we talk from the Magic Kingdom…God Bless you all,

The Martin’s

Got Too Greedy!

2009-03-16T01:40:00.000-07:00

Greed. It happens. It’s one of the Seven Deadly Sins. In fact, it probably is the most common downfall of humans. And we are most human. If you come from Canada, which is most of you, or even from the States, you will undoubtedly be familiar with the term ‘heading south for the winter’. In fact in Canada we often refer to those heading South for the winter as….you all know – Snowbirds.

I bring these points up because we got soooo greedy in our quest to go South for the winter that we went too far! Now we heard that Prince George was in the -20C range again this last week with the wind chill, and we won’t pretend to be that cold, but New Zealand, on the Southern end of the South Island, can get quite cold. Biting Cold. That cold where the wind comes off the ocean and zaps away every morsel of warmth your body had stored up from three months in Oz. The kind of cold where the rain is like sharp barbs of a hook as it comes by at a near horizontal angle. That kind of cold. I know, I know; ‘After three months in Australia I don’t feel one bit sorry for them!”. But think of my children.

We went from everyday temps of the lowest high being 20C and the highest high being 40C, to fresh snow in the hills around us. We had to buy toques and coats we were so cold. Again, too greedy for our own good. All part of the adventure though, and what an adventure at that.

Since arriving in New Zealand on the 7th of March we have met up with my Mom and Step-Dad, Milton (what a great reunion that was for a 5 and 9 yr old to see their Grandma and Poppa). We decided to rent a motorhome for the first ten days of being in NZ and have gone from touching down in Auckland, to jetting to Christchurch, to getting the motorhome and driving to Dunedin, visiting the Otago Peninsula, driving through the Southern Alps, doing an amazing day cruise through Milford Sound, jet boating in Queenstown, Bungy Jumpy – yes, you read that right, check the video link – into freezing cold water, spying out incredible glaciers, and camping in some of the prettiest spots on the planet.

The pics are a mish mash of stuff from all over the Southern Island and include shots from Ayden as well as Jp and Marnie’s camera. Marn passes a big ‘shout out’ to Tash for the Lulu sweater that you may see her wearing in lots of photos. Marnie did have a birthday here on the so the sweater was a FANTASTIC b-day gift before arriving here. Speaking of that, the first person to respond to the blog with the date of Marnie's birthday AND her age will get a special souveniour from Jp.

To be fair to NZ we have had some great weather in the past few days. Clear, bright skies and wonderful daytime highs – just like a regular Canadian fall – only we are half way around the world.

Best wishes to you all. As always you can check out the latest photos HERE.

The Martin’s (and travelling partners, The Rutherford’s).

Why did Dorothy Ever Want to Leave OZ? Crazy!

2009-03-04T15:06:00.000-08:00

I am Canadian, and I might add, I am very proud to be Canadian. But, I must add that Australia has presented to me something I didn’t think possible when we came here. I fell in love with the place. I really have and I didn’t expect it at all. After 3 months I am not ready to go home. Sophie is. Ayden is. Marnie is some days. I am not ready though. When we were leaving on this trip people said things like ‘don’t pull a Todd and Leanne, make sure you come back!”. This made me kind of snicker at the time because I had no desire to live anywhere else other than Canada. I can say now that I could easily live here in Oz. This place just has something. A lot of something actually. For me anyway. It has been incredible from the moment we landed until now. Certainly I recognize that we have not lived an ordinary life here but I wouldn’t mind trying. I hope for those of you who have been tapping into the blog that the accompanying pictures of Australia we have posted have helped to tell the whole story of why I love this place.

We are now in Sydney. In the heart of the city staying in a small boutique hotel that Marnie found on-line. Since we sold our beloved ‘Rita’, we have no car but the location of our hotel is absolutely ideal. The city is fabulous. So much character here, so much history and such iconic structures. The Bridge, the Harbour, the Heads, the Rocks, the House, the Olympics – it boggles the mind. Shopping is everywhere, restaurants are abundant, the transit is easy, the temperature is perfect and it is just beautiful.

We have tackled the Sydney Harbour Bridge Walk, the Aquarium, the National Maritime Museum, the Manly Ferry to Manly Beach, the world’s largest IMAX and of course, visited the Sydney Opera House. What a site! However the best of all was that we met up with some friends of Marnie’s while we were here. Now get this. Marn and Tash went to Europe together in 1990 and met an Aussie bloke, Terry, while in Portugal. Marn has not seen Terry since and had last visited Tash in 1994. Tash and her fiancé, Charles were finishing up a cruise here in Sydney and were meeting up with Terry and his wife Amanda. So, after a billion years of not seeing each other we all met for dinner on the opposite side of the world at an incredible wharf-side restaurant overlooking the Sydney Opera House. Totally surreal. What a cool reunion spot. Tash lives in Calgary but it took coming to Australia for the girls to get together. They are all great people and we had a wonderful time with them. Thank-you Tash, Charlie, Terry and Amanda. You made Sydney just that much more special!

As I write this, it is Wednesday night and we will be leaving for NZ on Saturday morning. We have a few more sites to see here, a dinner planned with Mr. and Mrs. Abraham’s (our Oz friend’s parents) and a few last shopping moments. We are excited for New Zealand though because we will be meeting up with family (Jp’s Mom and Step-Dad) for a tour and may meet other friends who are there now too.

We miss the Abrahams’ a lot and we would be remiss without offering, on our last Australia blog entry, our very heartfelt gratitude and thanks to them. Todd, Leanne, Jayvin and Kylie were the BEST tour guides ever. They took care of us at every turn from lending us phones, cars, opening their home, sharing their knowledge, spending their money and answering every question we had. They introduced us to their friends, shared us with their family and truly made us part of their life while we were here. We cannot thank them enough for their generosity and love. It’s quite hard to describe all what real friends are but Todd and Leanne are that to us. To Todd, Leanne, Jayvin and Kylie, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you and We Love You All….and I’m still not ready to leave.

Some new pics to have a look at, although I warn you the Opera House is overloaded– check them out HERE.

Hope everyone is well. Best wishes,

The Martin’s

Canberra, Bushfires and the Man from Snowy River

2009-02-16T01:33:00.000-08:00

If I were to poll all the readers of this blog I bet almost none of you would know the name Banjo Patterson. Be honest now. Perhaps some of you are thinking since reading the title of this entry that he is the “Man”. You’de be wrong – in a way. AB “Banjo” Patterson was the man who penned ‘Waltzing Maltilda’ – Australia’s unofficial anthem. He was, however, the man who also wrote the poem ‘The Man from Snowy River’ ( a copy can be read HERE). It was after spending some time with Jack Riley that Patterson penned the poem and thus Riley, who was an accomplished bush and horseman, was to become known as the ‘Man’. I tell you this story because after travelling from the capital of Canberra (more on that in a moment) we went into the Snowy mountains to the resort town of Thredbo. After playing for a few days in Thredbo (check the pics) we drove out past Tom Groggin Station (where Riley worked) and into the town of Corryong where he was buried. It is beautiful country and in Jack Riley’s days it had to have been wild. It is very, very similar to parts of BC – it is the mountains after all – and Thredbo gave us a taste of home, as well as the coldest weather we have had since being here….7C is cold you know!

Canberra, as Australia’s Capital, does not get the credit it deserves. The city is gorgeous. The spot was picked in a contest and designed in about1913 before they ever built it so the streets and boulevards are huge, tree lined, and really help the city flow. It is a built around a lake and is filled with National monuments, museums and galleries. Many of the attractions are free as well which makes it an important stop for the discerning (read cheap) traveler. We visited the National War Museum, the Canadian High Commission, the National Science Museum, Black Mountain Tower and even sat through Question Period in Parliament. There was some serious arguing, name calling and general bad behaviour while we were there – perfect for watching. Although trying to explain to your nine year old why the ‘leaders’ of the country act like her five year old sister can prove to be a challenge. We can’t say enough good things about the city, it was really wonderful, even though it reached 40 on two of our days there. And those temps bring us to the bushfires.

We were in Canberra, at 40C, on the terrible Saturday that brought much of the destruction to the areas you have all heard about on the news. We were headed in the direction of the state of Victoria when it all happened and it is why we detoured through the mountains to Thredbo. Our first inkling of how big things were was when the valley in Thredbo filled with smoke and yet the fires where a few hundred kms away. We left for Melbourne on the Wednesday after the fires and connected up on the main freeway that links Sydney and Melbourne. Heading into Melbourne we drove at least 50km in smoke and then another 40k or so where the fires had actually crossed the highway and burned out farms along the freeway. Suddenly things were very real to us! Everyone in Melbourne has been affected somehow. The fire area is very close and many Melbournians either regularly go up into the mountains there, or work there, or have places up there. In fact on the tram on our first day a lady asked us where we were from and after talking with her for only a moment she broke down because she had lost a place near King Lake. The emotion was extremely raw. So many of the dead are entire families that stayed in their homes. Some with very young children, who just couldn’t get out because the fire came too quickly. That has certainly added to the burden of all Australians. Melbourne was again full of smoke on the morning of Saturday the 14th as we awoke – a very real reminder that the fires are not out yet either. The spirit of this country has truly come alive though over this tragedy as they have donated like crazy: from time, to goods, to over 100 million in cash is less than 7 days. It is awe-inspiring to be here watching this country pull together to help the families of 187 now dead and more than 7000 homeless.

We have lots of photos again to view, many of Canberra, some of Thredbo and the Snowy Mountains. We have a few from Melbourne (for the sporting crowd I dragged the family to a cricket match at the Mebourne Cricket Ground, seats 95000, where Ayden and I made the big screen!) and finally a few of some of the fire damage we saw along the way in and out of Melbourne

Hope this finds you all well and healthy. A big thanks to the Radtke family for their hospitality in Melbourne. After meeting up with them in Queensland after Christmas it was great to see them again and for the girls to play with Maddie. If you’re ever in Canada….

View the latest group of photos HERE

Love and hugs,

The Martin’s

"Education By Experience" - The Only Way to Teach

2009-02-02T13:02:00.000-08:00

Adventure. What is adventure? Why is falling from a plane an adventure for some and sheer lunacy to others. Why, or why isn't, walking on a mountain track to a waterfall considered adventure? I’m not much of a philosopher but it seems to me that adventure can be so subjective. Our grand ‘adventure’ started as just getting our act together enough to get out of Prince George. That, thankfully, has since changed for us and adventure includes a definition that will be changed forever in the eyes of our children, and us. Some of the things we have done in the last while will definitely live on in the memories of Ayden Jane and Sophie. It has been the utmost of grand adventure!

In and around our time at Myella (the Farmstay – see the blog entry below) we have participated in a wide variety of activities that will, yet again, define our trip to Australia.

Perhaps the highlight of all was going to a very special place in the world called Mon Repos. It is a turtle rookery that allows a set number of people each night for 4 months to witness an incredible event. We sat up late into the evening waiting our turn to get our guide to take us onto the starlit beach. When our turn finally came we were fortunate enough to be part of both the emergent turtle hatchlings making their scared dash across the beach to the safety of the water but then also to watch a female LoggerHead turtle come quietly up from the water to build her nest and lay over 170 eggs. The girls were amazed, Marnie and I were in awe. We felt so fortunate to part of this awesome cycle of life. Our pics just don’t do the event justice, but they are there for the viewing.

Our adventures have also included finding fresh water creek pools with incredible waterfalls tumbling from above (we even did some rock jumping!), we saw Goana’s (bigger than 1m) wrestling for territory, climbed around limestone caves, played with 1000’s of soldier crabs, we actually hand fed wild dolphins, saw wild rays, turtles and dolphins in the shallow waters crashing around the most Eastern point of land in Oz, climbed out on skywalks above the rainforest, …..and, whew, more.

Another highlight event we participated in was that we hiked up a small mountain and, as the sun dropped, watched more than 100,000 Bent-winged bats fly around us as they exited their 40m deep cave – all the while dodging pythons who were there to feast on the bats as we watched. Check out the snake behind Marnie’s leg in the photos! This is one of the only places in the entire world that these maternity dens exist – so it was incredible to see this in person.

We had the very good fortune to spend Australia Day here in Oz with the Abrahams. What a great blessing to be with them, especially Todd, to share in the pride of his country. Yes, we had shrimp on the Barbie as part of our celebrations that day. Sadly, we have left the Gold Coast area and headed deeper South, leaving Queensland for New South Wales and parts beyond. With leaving there we leave of course, the A’s. We just cannot tell you all enough how much we have enjoyed our time with them. They were such a blessing to the four of us; guiding, sharing, encouraging and just being there with us on this Aussie adventure. For those of you that know Todd and Leanne and kids, we can honestly tell you that it seems like Australia is the perfect fit for them. Yes, it is far from all of us in Canada, but they are happy, healthy and really working towards a life that fits their ‘blood’! We feel so honoured to have shared so much with them while being here and are so thankful for all their help. Thank-you so much A’s.

As always we have photos – and this posting there are a bunch. I just couldn't trim them down much more so it may take a while to get through them all. Hope you all enjoy. The photos can be viewed HERE.

Take care everyone, hope you are all well.

Jp, Marnie, Ayden-Jane and Sophie

Myella for My Family

2009-01-23T01:55:00.000-08:00

So what the heck does the title mean? It’s in reference to an experience we had as a family that was truly all that we had hoped for here in Australia. We are continually amazed with this country but Myella has topped all our experiences so far. It was the ultimate family holiday. Myella is a 2600 acre ‘hobby’ farm, run by the Eather family. The farm is about 200 km off the coast, west of Rockhampton. Peter and Olive own the farm and, at 75 and 65 respectively, are still going concerns. Their daughter Lyn decided to start a farmstay program about 15 years ago and it has blossomed so that they have 4 other full time staff besides themselves. On the farm we rode and rigged our horses, mustered cattle, fed calves, milked cows, fed chickens, collected eggs, learned to crack a whip, lasso, cook on an open fire and swam in the pool.

The farm has a ridge running through the middle of the property that allows for superb views as you stroll about through the paddocks on your daily 2 hour rides. Marnie actually walked her horse over a python by accident one day! The red earth of Australia is on full view everywhere too. We sat up swapping stories with a pilot and his girlfriend from Amsterdam, a family from Sweden, a girl from Hong Kong, a bloke from Newcastle with his Norwegian girlfriend, a lady from England, two girls from Ireland that were great to the girls, and us. Olive made us three beautiful country meals every day, we had snacks whenever we wanted to make them, Trevor (the lead hand) served us home brew every night before dinner and Peter even took us out in the pitch black to teach us all about the stars of the southern skies. Sunsets on (appropriately named) Sunset Ridge were well worth the 1km walk as the sun dropped over a far reaching western ridge highlighting the Brahma cattle grazing in the paddocks, the incredibly shaped Bottle Trees and that ‘oh so red’ dirt!

We decided to stay at Myella for 5 nights and 5 full days. In that time we did do it all. I must mention the motorbikes, the bikes, the hammocks, the cards and the reading. As busy as it may sound we did have lots of time to relax each day, kilometres from anything, it was dead quiet. Desperately quiet times. Quiet we just don’t get in our daily lives. We commented time and again that Myella felt like a ‘vacation from our vacation’. I certainly won’t do our experience justice with my writing but take my word for it, we all loved our time on the farm!

Check out our photos for Myella Farmstay HERE.

I will have another post ready to go in the next day or so too on more adventures – take care everyone. Best wishes to you all.

New Years, new places, faces and Steve Irwin

2009-01-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

I never met Steve Irwin. Not that that is a big deal. Most people didn’t meet him. But, I can honestly say that we got a huge taste of him in the last while. I read Terri Irwin’s book called My Steve, which tells some great stories about him, relates a bit of their life together and describes what her and her children went and have gone through in his death. He was so larger than life and by all accounts, what you saw on the screen was indeed him off the screen. We were able to live Steve’s dream a bit as we made it to Australia Zoo for a day. It was incredibly hot, there were way too many people but I for one couldn’t escape the fact that it felt like he was still a big part of the place. We saw the big Croc show in the ‘Crocosseum’ and were delighted when Terri Irwin and her two children Bindi (10, and quite a star here in Australia) and Robert (5, a spitting image of his Dad) along with Steve’s best mate Wes were doing the show. Wes and Steve had been friends for years and had literally saved each others lives’ on a couple of occasions – Wes has the bite marks on his rump from a Croc to prove it. The Crocs are huge. It is quite the production, with big sound and theatrics all encompassed in a venue that seats something like 4000 people. Steve the showman designed and built it all – he was very hands on, down to even doing the concrete work on much of the zoo- all at a pace that, Terri Irwin describes, would some days make him vomit from exhaustion. When she actually caught him being sick he would always simply say ‘too much tea this morning babe.” It does seem so tragic that he isn’t there, but for now, his dream seems alive and well. As for us it was a good day that finished up great with almost a private audience with a group of red kangaroos. I’ve put a bunch of Zoo photos and most tell there own story but you really don’t get a feel for the power of a Croc until you hear the jaws slam shut. It makes an incredible noise that has to be heard in person to understand – their sheer size is awfully scary too. We arrived back in Coolum after a long day at the zoo trying to decide what to eat when Marnie spied a big sign in the park that was advertising a ‘Free BBQ’. Can’t pass that up. Dinner, done.

We were also very fortunate in our second week in Coolum to meet an awesome family from Melbourne. The Radtke’s are an American couple that moved here two years ago with their daughter Maddie. She is the same age as Sophie and they hit it off fabulously. They were vacationing in Coolum for the holidays and we just happened to stay right next door to them. In just two days we did the pool, hit the beach, shared meals, sat up talking on the verandah while the girls coloured (sorry Radtke’s but it is a Canadian spelling), drew, and played. It was really great. Unfortunately they were moving on and we were neighbours for only a short while but we will definitely be looking them up when we head South toward Melbourne.

See our Coolum and Australia Zoo photos HERE

We stayed in Coolum until after New Years, which we got to spend with Todd and Leanne and kids again. Great night: great people, good food, good fireworks, cricket on the beach – can’t ask for much more! When we finally left Coolum we decided to head North into the tropics – hard for a Canadian to write that as I want to head ‘South’ to the tropics. We had decided before we left Canada that we wanted to get to at least the Whitsundays. They are a group of 74 islands in the Coral Sea. The staging town is called Airlie Beach, on the mainland, and we have made ourselves at home here for a bit to see the sights. Airlie Beach has a lagoon in the middle of town that is bigger that two Olympic sized pools complete with shade coverings, tables, lifeguards and bbq’s. Australia is littered with free electric bbq’s. They are EVERYWHERE. It is so cool. As we enjoyed the sun one day we had our first official foray into cooking one. You’ll see from the pictures that is not a bad place to dine. We are in the mid section of the Great Barrier Reef. Cairns is the spot to hit the reef but heavy rains are flooding major areas around here and we are going to have to turn around and head South again. So we decided to get out in the islands and did a day cruise that visited three different areas in the Whitsundays. We snorkeled – it was fantastic. Saw a huge Wrasse that Marnie got to touch even. It scared the girls back on the boat but they had a glass bottom Zodiac that they got out in to see what we were seeing. Literally 1000’s of fish and as Ayden chucked food on me from the Zodiac I was overrun at one point – incredible. We also stopped on Whitehaven Beach. Voted one of the top 5 beaches in the world by National Geographic and voted #2 cleanest beach in Oz for something like the past ten years. It is made up of 98% silica – hard on the eyes white and squeaks under your feet when you walk. The whole day was well, well worth it.

To see our Airlie Beach Photos click HERE

I know it has been quite some time since I posted anything here or emailed many of you but the last couple places we have been at haven’t had any ‘net. Sorry about that but we hope you enjoy this and don’t be afraid to make a comment here too – we love getting feedback… take care everyone.

It's a Cool(um) Christmas!

2008-12-25T02:08:00.000-08:00

Or it's Christmas is so Cool(um). We have just spent our green Christmas in a little holiday town called, you guessed it, Coolum. It's about 1.5 hours north of Brisbane, not far from Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. A really delightful little place that comes alive this time of year with all the tourists for the holiday season. The waves here are great, the water is super warm, the shops are quaint and the Thai food restaurant is to die for. We found a great place to rent until the 27th and then there is 'no room in the inn'. Literally.

It was a different day here, that is for sure, as it approached 30 degrees and we spent a better part of the day at the beach. White Christmas indeed - white sand. They actually had a report on the news here about Canada having a cross-country white Christmas for the first time since 1971. Amazing. Weirdly enough we found ourselves missing that to some degree.

It was quiet day for us mostly as the girls received a few small things while Marn and I didn't exchange anything - we've kind of had a lot of giving this year already! We spoke to some family today (your Christmas Eve) and we will speak to more tomorrow, on your Christmas. It did dampen things a bit around here because you do realize how much you enjoy family and the traditions of the holiday season when they are there for you to enjoy. Sophie in fact had a good cry today because she wanted to go home to her blue house. It didn't last long as she got to head down to the pool and try out her new 'pool diver' toys. But, it did get us all thinking. No, we are not coming home yet but we did miss home today.

This evening we enjoyed Christmas on the beach. We roasted a chicken, made a salad, packed the drinks, the desert and headed down to take in a beach Christmas. There were tons of people still about on the sand at 5:45 while we ate and then I got in to catch a few waves after dinner. Sort of like sledding after Christmas dinner but you get sand down your pants instead of snow - it's warmer but still not lots of fun.

We have been so blessed this year and we hope you have been too. We hope that as you read this you are enjoying your Holiday, celebrating the birth of Christ and spending some great time with family and friends.

We definately know that Santa is on his way to you because he left his mark here...

Check out our Christmas Eve/Day pics HERE.

Love to you all,

The Martin's

The BEST time of Year.

2008-12-20T23:38:00.000-08:00

That's right, it is the Surfing Santa

Merry Christmas to you all,

It is such a great time of year - family, friends, giving, receiving and of course, celebrating the birth of Jesus. It is different here being away from the snow and cold - which we feel makes it a very blessed time. But, the birth of Christ is the very same wherever you celebrate, cold or not, snow or not. Tonight we had that reminder in the most remarkable way as we celebrated in the Christmas concert at the Abrahams' church. Imagine Christmas carols where everyone shows up to church in their thongs (yes, they call their flipflops thongs) and short sleeves. Not only was the dress different but the sno-cones, animal petting zoo and sausage sizzle afterward where a bit out of our norm. However, the celebration of what this time of year really means transcends all the differences of our two countries. The service had incredible singing, wonderful musicians, awesome actors (Leanne's stirring vocalization of her part in the play included) and a very apt message. We were suddenly and remarkably brought to Christmas, which we had not been feeling in the heat. We drove from the church to Elanora's version of Candy Cane Lane and walked about on a lit up street, talking to people and enjoying the surfing Santa on the roof. It was awesome!

We have had another amazing stretch of time here with the Abrahams'. We lived a true cliche here last week when we saw 'Australia' in Australia. The movie, for those who have seen it, is meant to be a sweeping epic of Australian commitment, loss, gain and love. It's okay as a movie, but the way we saw it made it truly incredible. We sat in Gold service at the theatre. Before you go into your fully reclining laz-y-boy chair you order up your food and drinks. We basically used a menu to order and food was delivered to us as we watched. We had a beer and appetizers to start, popcorn partway through and coffee and desert towards the end of the three hour flick. VERY cool way to see this particular movie on this particular trip. Waiters at the movies...what will they think of next.

The pictures on this post include two different sets. One set includes, among other pictures, a number of shots from world famous (to all those in the surfing world) Point Danger. Cook labelled it on his voyage here in 1770. It is home to the border between New South Wales and Queensland states here in Oz and seperates D-bar from Snapper Rocks. Both beaches have some of the best suring anywhere and are a fixture on the World Surfing Tour. And, many of the top surfers from the area routinely hang here. Todd introduced us to the area and it is simply beautiful. We just happened to spot dolphins while there too, which is always a bonus. Australia Views

We have finally left our temporary home in Currumbin, but we did get a few more great days in while there. The 'Alley' is also a very famous surfing and kite surfing area and on one visit there were a couple of fellows really doing an amazing job. They literally 'fly' through the air. They get up to 50-60 feet in the air doing flips, slips and tricks before landing. It is wild. The second set of pics for this posting is filled with a schwack of kite surfing shots. Kite Surfing

I've finally tried my hand on the surf board and it wasn't pretty. Sort of like a fish in the bottom of a boat - that was me flopping around trying to get up on that tiny floating stick. I'll keep working on it, but man they make it look so easy here - and it isn't.

We are headed North from here in the next few days and will spend Christmas north of Brisbane. We will be hooking up with Todd, Leanne and family over New Years and we are looking forward to that.

The big news is that we are heading North because we bought a car. A 2000 Camry that Marnie made a great deal on. She left me to deal with all the 'used car salesmen' crap afterward - it was nasty and will make a great story when I see any of you face to face again - but the bottom line is we have a great little car that we hope will get us all around this great country. 'Rita, as she has been affectionately dubbed will get a workout, but having a car certainly gives one a sense of freedom. And, poor Todd and Leanne can go back to their regular life by having their car back that we keep borrowing.

So, for now we just want to say again that we wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Have a wonderful holiday time, enjoy your families and may you all be blessed.

Love to you all,

Jp and Marnie and Ayden and Sophie.

G'Days with the A's

2008-12-07T02:58:00.000-08:00

First off, we just want to say thank-you again to all of you that have responded to our blog by either making comments or emailing us directly. We appreciate all the comments - it makes it fun.

Well, we have to admit that Australia has blown us away. We have been walking around with our mouths open - this place (the Gold Coast) just keeps astounding us.

Todd and Leanne Abrahams, whom many of you know, have been our hosts/guides/interpreters since we arrived and it has been fantastic to really reconnect with them. The kids are having a such a great time with each other - it is really great to be a part their friendships, just seeing it every day so far.

The A's have led us to many great spots here already, from outstanding beaches (like Currumbin, Fingal Head, Burleigh Beach and of course, Surfers Paradise), to super fun parks (Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, Lamington National Park and Dreamland Theme Park), to great food and even to our amazing accomodation - Right on the beach in Currumbin, just north of Coolangatta (Such cool names here).

We have seen many of the fascinating animals that Australia has too. We have felt very fortunate to have seen wild Dolphins about 4 times now, giant spiders, Bearded Lizards, Cookabura birds, Parrots, Wallabees (all in the wild) and tons in the wildlife sanctuary like Kangaroos, Fresh and Salt water Crocs, Dingos, Snakes of all kinds, Wombats and tons of birds.

I have to admit my Australian is really poor. I'm not kidding either, I just don't understand what they are saying very well -it's so different. Yes, I know it is English but trust me it is different. Time is flying by here, basically because we are filling everyday with some kind of big activity, in fact, today is the first true rest day since we have been here - and even then I hit the waves for a while, we worked out and the girls swam in the pool for almost two hours!

We are looking at moving this Saturday, either a little more north of here or even renting a car and going quite North to perhaps the Sunshine Coast. We will let you know. We may have a line on a cheap cruise over Christmas too. We'll give it a shot!

There is a link below for a crop of new photos. I don't have captions or a commentary but certainly if you are curious about any, just ask and we will get back to you. I haven't put any up in a while but hopefully you will enjoy make your way through the maze.
Click HERE for the current album of pictures.

I've removed the image of Marnie's New Do on the bottom of the blog and replaced it with, well...you'll be haunted! But most of you won't be able to stop yourself from scrolling down to the bottom of the blog to have a peek.

Take care everyone,

The Martin's

Out with the Cooks, In with the Oz

2008-12-02T21:16:00.000-08:00

Funny, this travelling to different parts of the world. Funny, like 'aluminum'. We've all stumbled over the word at times, maybe even joked about its pronunciation. But did you know that down here, below that magic line that divides our world in North and South, they have a whole different pronunciation compared to what we are used too? You know why? It's a different word. Spelled completely differently - it's 'alumin-I-um'. A-loo-min-e-um. Crazy. And, we all know they drive on a different side of street but did you know that the light switches are flicked down to turn on and up to turn off? Weird. It's 'take-away', not take-out, 'chips' are fries, pannini's are 'turkish melts', Wednesday here is Tuesday at home, and of course there is no big dipper to be found anywhere! But....seriously there was nothing more strange than watching a guy dancing around in his Santa outfit on an ad on TV for the 'Raro-Mart' (Rarotonga's version of Wal-Mart)to the tune of 'Santa Clause is coming to Town" - and it being 30 degrees outside.

Having said all that, what an experience so far! The Cook Islands have disappeared for us in a long day of travel that took us to Auckland and on to Brisbane where our good friends, Todd and Leanne Abrahams, along with their kids, Jayvin and Kylie, were waiting for us at the airport. It was so great to have familiar faces greet us and to see Todd whom we hadn't seen in just about two years. In a short 24 hours here in Australia we have fallen head over heels. It is amazing here. They live south of Brisbane by about 45 minutes in a place called Elenora, just south of Surfers Paradise. We, because of some massive time change brain warps, were up early today and in the water in their local beach by 8:30 am. Simply a breath-taking spot of the world. For those of you into 'Google-Earthing'or 'Google Maps' check out Palm Beach, QLD, Australia - Wow!

The public school kids are in school for another week and a half before the summer break starts and prices on accomodations reallys start to go up. So, we are looking at renting something here for a week or so to take advantage of lower prices and then organize the next month or so after that. Brisbane, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast area is chock full of tourist type stuff that we are going to mess around with before the break starts - Wet and Wild Park, Dream World Amusement park, WB's Movie World, and the list goes on and on.

Thanks again to all of you that have posted comments on the blog or got back to us on email. We read it all and love the posts. There is another batch of photos ready to go too. You can check them out by clicking on the following link - here.

Just click on the first photo and then scroll through the rest to view in a bigger format. Enjoy.

All the best to you, God Bless,

Jp, Marnie and Girls

ps. Anyone notice how in love with the 'comma' I am when I write?

Raro Update with Pics

2008-11-26T20:45:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

There is a scene in the Tom Hanks movie, Castaway, where the character waits for the shifting of the wind to make his escape off the island he is stranded on. He builds a makeshift ‘windsock’ and waits. He feels something change in the air one day and watches as the sock drops, only to be picked up by a new wind coming from a new direction.
I’m not suggesting that we are ‘stranded’ but we certainly have felt the shift of the ‘Trades. It was remarkable actually. For those Socials/Geography geeks out there we watched an amazing sheet-lightning storm roll past south of Rarotonga and the wind became calm. There had not been much wind in the first five or so days here anyway but then… Within moments the wind shifted to come out of the South East, which is where the Cyclones develop out of here, and in a rush it hit. No, not a Cyclone (they usually don’t appear until January or early February), just some strong Trade Winds. Our extremely flat, idyllic lagoon has turned on us. We are still enjoying every minute of our beach but if we want flat lagoon area to snorkel or explore we have to go to the west of the island which now lies leeward.
The girls are doing great! They have ‘school’ each day and are in the water constantly. We bought a Tropical Fish water card and have checked off about 15 fish from its list – the water is clear and the fish are everywhere – lots of them. Snorkeling has definitely been a highlight here.
It’s day 9 here for us and we are starting to get tanned, we are learning to relax and finding out the ‘tricks’ of hanging out on a South Pacific island. I’ve made friends with a Kiwi fellow just down the way who has graciously given us his password so that we can use his internet. A great guy who is on a long-term rental of a gorgeous house as he runs his Cook Island travel magazine called ‘Escape’ – Pretty apt isn’t it? Everyone seems to want to ‘escape’ here. So we are able to catch up a bit now with on-line activities, like posting more pictures.
Not only do we have the blog but I will be posting pictures from time to time too. Click on the following link to see some highlights of Rarotonga so far – http://picasaweb.google.com/SoJAYMM/Rarotonga1?authkey=HLqrYLAohLM#Thanks so much for all of you that posted a message to us on the blog or have emailed – keep them coming as it is a great way to at least feel a little connected with each other.
More to come…. Kia Orana

Cook Islands....Paradise Found

2008-11-20T15:50:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Sorry this took a while to update for the first few times but we are having trouble with internet - so finally....here we go. We got here realtively easy and Air NZ was really great. Stepping off the plane we hit warmth! Ahhhh, just what we were looking for. The Cooks are pretty well visually stunning. It is very warm, with some great rain downpours but lots of sun. Unbelievable oceanscapes and we have absolutely the best place on the Island - and I'm not kidding. The beach, water and snorkelling couldn't be better. I'll attach a few pics to let you see. I will also update more at a later time but for now this will have to do.

Day One!

2008-11-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to our Blog. We are sitting in the Vancouver airport waiting to take off in the next hour or so. After such a long time of waiting our trip is finally here! We are going to try and update this page as often as possible and fill you in on our happenings.

Sophie and Ayden have been such great troopers. Marn and I are very proud of them for all their patience. They teach us so much. We are sure hoping that this next 6 months or so will build memories that will last a lifetime and, perhaps, change their lives.

Thanks so much to all of you that have been such a big part of the build up to this adventure. Off we go....