Canada

We did a 2 week trip to Canada over the school holidays to meet my new niece.

(all cute and bundled up at Fisherman's Wharf)
For Zac's birthday I managed to get up tickets to a Canucks game the day after we arrived in Vancouver. The picture makes us look really far away but they were actually pretty good seats and we could see everything. The Canucks won so that made it even better.

The night after the Canucks game we had tickets to see the lead singer from one of our favourite bands (The Weakerthans) do a solo show. As well as doing stuff from his newly released solo album, he played a lot of Weakerthans and Propagandhi songs.

When we got to the island my brother decided that we should do an overnight trip up the island to go see some family and go to Tofino (somehow I'd never been to Tofino before).

On the way up we stopped at Cathedral Grove to see some of the oldest trees on the island (up to about 800 years old!)

We got to see snow as we went over the pass to Port Alberni (and there was even snow in town when we arrived in Port Alberni but it was mostly gone when we left a few hours later).
We stayed at Crystal Cove Beach Resort in Tofino for a night. We had a private cabin with ocean view (we could have got one with a private hot tub but the ocean view hot tub cabins weren't available when we made our booking and we decided ocean view was more important). We did have a fire place and sat infront of the fire all evening after a walk on the beach. The bed was the most amazing bed I have ever slept on (all 4 of us agreed the beds were the best ever and even Maya slept longer than usual so I'm sure she'd agree it's the best bed if she could talk).

The next day we went to Long Beach and did a beach walk and hiked the Amphitrite Lighthouse trail.
The rest of the trip was mostly spent in Victoria enjoying the amazing spring weather, helping my brother with stuff at my mom's house and spending time with family. The Canucks made it into the playoffs while we were there, with game 1 happening the night before we were flying back out. We managed to get 2 tickets off a friend again and went to game 1 of the playoffs. Unfortunately the Canucks didn't do so well that night so it was kind of a sad way to end our trip but we did get free Canucks playoff towels from the game (hopefully we'll get to go wave those around at the pub if the Canucks go further in the playoffs and we actually make it down to the Imperial Hotel when they're showing the games).

On our way home we had a 10 hour layover at LAX so we decided we had to leave the airport so we didn't go insane. We managed to have a nice afternoon out, eating lunch at a veggie burger place and going to Manhattan Beach. I'll do a separate post about that part of the trip though.

only in oz

so the AFL grand final went pretty much the same way as the election: nobody won. i think that's gotta be the only major sporting league in the world that a final game can end in a tie and "see you again next week for a rematch"
the up side is that next week we'll be able to watch the game at a pub with some friends. this week zac had a gig so i watched it at home and then ran up to the gig as soon as the game was over.

sport

this weekend was a weekend of sports. saturday nite we went to see the melbourne ice play at the new "icehouse" arena in docklands. much nicer than where they used to play in south oakleigh (? i think that's where it was). we were really surprised at the crowd they pulled. it's a 1000 seat venue and we had to stand along with probably 50-100 other people! unfortunately it was melbourne's first loss at their new home rink but it was good to watch some hockey. hopefully we'll make it back again this season (it had been more than 4 years since the last time we saw them play. this rink is a lot more convenient to get to though-- we just need arrive more than 10 minutes before the game starts if we want seats though).



the age even had an article about ice hockey in the sports section today.
after the game we walked down the road to where the canada club was celebrating canada day (a few days early since thursday won't be a public holiday here). we missed most of the celebrations cuz the event had been going on all day (we just hadn't made it down before the hockey game) but still fun to see everyone in red and white and have a beer.
today we went to the community cup for the first time. i think we'll have to make a point of going again. it was an entertaining game of footy between the espy rock dogs and the RRR/PBS megahertz (who won by 1 point on the final buzzer). although as the commentator said "i think football was the real loser today, maybe ice hockey was the winner"-- a lot of muddy sliding around the oval, missing the ball, passing to the wrong team.... but all very entertaining and for a good cause. we didn't make it early enough to see any of the bands before the game and we had to leave right after the game but we did see the living end at half time (although we were paying more attention to all the cute dogs running around the oval than the music)

canadian hockey pride

(probably best viewed on you tube cuz i don't know how to make the player fit here without making it small)

a weekend of good music and canadian stuff

last weekend started on thursday nite (i had an rdo on friday) with the weakerthans. they aren't only one of both mine and zac's favourite bands but they're also canadian (and they also happened to be the band that zac and i went to see the first time we ever hung out together before we were even friends). the gig was really good. they're one of those bands that if you like them, it doesn't really matter what songs they play at their gig-- it will be good. friday morning i went down to docklands to james squire (who were nice enough to open 2 hours early for the 4 of us who showed up for the game) to watch the canadian women's hockey team beat the americans. unfortunately i couldn't make it to the big party at james squire on saturday afternoon to watch the mens team win the semi-final that took them on to the gold medal game. sunday we briefly went to the sydney rd street party (after a "goodbye tart'n'round" lunch) before heading down to the national gallery to see henry wagons and beaches (we were too tired to stay around for ned collette and zac won tickets to see him next week at rrr anyway). monday morning my co-workers were very kind in swapping around shifts and covering me so i could be down at james squire (again) at 7am to watch canada's men win gold. soooo worth getting up at 5:30am to see!! my back is sore from being tensed up for most of the game. i wish i'd remembered my camera. it was sooooo cool having that many canadians (i'd say at least a couple hundred, maybe more) packed into the pub in the early morning all in red and white cheering on team canada (and the poor 4 or 5 americans who obviously chose the wrong venue to watch the game at). great way to finish a fun weekend.

finally a win!

the demons have been pretty disappointing this year. by the end of the second round the total points they'd lost by was 199. they continued to lose in rounds 3, 4, 5 and 6. finally yesterday afternoon we got to hear the melbourne theme song for the first time this year! it was a good game too (well, the second half was good-- at the end of the first half they were down by 50). the managed to make an amazing come back though and won 119-113! now they just gotta keep doing that so they can get off the bottom of the ladder.

keep your eye on the red and the blue

the other morning one of the kids came up to me and said "hey shawna, listen to this" and he started singing "its a grand old flag, its a high flying flag..." and i was thinking its cute but why does he know this american song. he continued on and i realized what he was singing "its the emblem for me and for you. its the emblem of the team we love, the team of the red and the blue....." he did the entire demons song!! sooooo cute. i told him he'd have to do it for my co-worker when she came in (also a demons fan) and he did. then at group time he got up infront of the group and did it for everyone. i was a little disappointed though when my co-worker asked the kids what team that song was for they guessed at least half the footy teams before someone finally said melbourne.

my little demons fan

after spotting some dog footy shirts a few weeks ago i knew wombi needed one. the largest size would have been too small for wombat so i decided to make her one (much cheaper too probably). i found a plain navy blue youth shirt at an op-shop, chopped the sleeves, ordered some transfer paper for dark t-shirts, found the demons logo, printed it up (that was by far the most time consuming and frustrating part of the process-- lots of issues with the printer, the ink, the feed......), ironed it on to the shirt and now wombi is a melbourne fan too.

here's the little princess taking a nap (she's sitting there now except she has her teddy tucked under her head)

more napping. this was the other morning in bed.

she crawls in with us usually around 4:30 or 5am. we're too tired to do anything about it. she knows the routine now. she gets up, goes in between us (she'll use force if she has too) and then dives under the doona head first. she's finally started to learn that when you sleep completely under the covers you get too hot (she kept waking up panting) so now most of the time she'll either stick her head out the bottom end (if we don't have a sheet tucked under the mattress) or she'll put her head on (or under) the pillow.
she's sooo lazy!

138 minutes

that's how much hockey most people i know back in canada watched last nite. 4 periods of overtime!!! and the canucks won (it was game 1 of the western conference quarterfinals) i'm hoping they'll show that game at the next hockey nite in melbourne at glitch bar (which hopefully will be soon-- the last one was in january). not much left of the hockey season before the stanley cup finals.

(ice) hockey

thru the canada club email list i got a tip about hockey nite in melbourne. it was happening at a pub not to far from our house last nite. i convinced zac to go check it out with me. they were going to be showing 2 of the games from hockey day in canada last weekend. first up was going to be the canucks and the leafs. we got to the pub just slightly early and found the air conditioned theatre room was full. we took a seat in the lounge room with the giant screen on the wall. soon every sofa in that room was filled and people were sitting in any gap on the floor they could find. the game was pretty good (for the canucks at least). something a little bit wrong about watching hockey in summer clothes and sweating thru the whole game cuz there's no a/c in the room. still really good though. the first period the canucks weren't doing so good (other n the goalie keeping a bunch of shots out of the goal). they came back in the next 2 periods and ended up winning 6-1!!! go canucks! apparently they haven't been doing half bad this season.... i haven't really heard much or looked up anything. it's nice to see them kick the leafs arses though.

saints and demons

last nite we stayed home to watch the melbourne/st kilda game on tv (my idea, not zac's). the demons were down most of the game but i kept telling zac they'd win. he didn't believe me. in the last quarter they finally got ahead and beat the saints 90-72. melbourne seems to have a habit of doing that-- looking like they're gonna lose until the last quarter or so and then getting their game together and winning. it was such a different game last nite cuz its the first game i've seen since the beginning of the season where it rained a lot (started pouring right before the game started). the field was soaked and everyone was sliding everywhere and having trouble with catching and bouncing the ball. next week they'll be off to perth or adelaide.... keep your eye on the red and the blue.8)

canada day the aussie way

i got to spend the first half of canada day doing one of the most australian things i could do-- the footy! zac's nanna took me to go see the demons play (cuz that's my team now too). she didn't just take me to the game though. she has a friend that is an mcc (melbourne cricket club) member and he was able to get us all into the members section as guests. he also managed to get us a booking in the mcc dining hall (a very nice restaurant in the mcg). so we had a fancy (expensive) lunch and some wine before the game and then instead of using our complemetary reserved seat tickets that we get with out meals we went back downstairs closer to the action and sat in the members section right near the bottom (we could have sat in the very front but there was a big chance of rain during the game so we sat in the first undercover row). the game was really good (melbourne played pretty poorly in the first half but they were ahead the whole game). melbourne won 120-82 (against port adelaide).
the second part of the day i got to spend with a bunch of other canadians celebrating canada day. the canada club got a function room at a pub and had a huge turnout to celebrate. they played the grey cup game and the stanley cup games (the ones the oilers won) and i even got to drink a labatts (mmmmm). i haven't seen a room filled with that much red and white and so many people wearing team canada hockey jerseys in a long time.

going to game 7!

i managed to catch the last 21 seconds of the game on nhl radio. the oilers won 4-0 so now they're heading to carolina for the final game of the stanley cup playoffs 8). i checked when espn international was playing the game and its on 9pm on tues nite. i've heard of a bar/gaming place at crown casino that will put nhl games on the big screen if people wanna watch it but they're advertising for people to come watch the world cup games there so i think i'd have to show up with a lot of people interested in hockey to override the soccer being shown. maybe i'll listen to part of it on nhl radio but i don't think i could just listen to a whole game (i've a visual person). wait- i just remembered. zac's sister and her boyfriend have cable 8) i think i'm gonna have to ask them if i can watch the game at their place...

ice hockey

i've been doing a bit of cleaning and i came across this. it's the front page of a vancouver free street press (the mx equivalent) from last summer when we were in canada. its the day the hockey strike that cancelled the 2004-05 season finally ended. i think the end of the hockey strike was headline news for every piece of media in canada that day. for australians to understand, it would be the equivalent of the afl being cancelled for a year. without footy it would be a long, cold winter in melbourne.
speaking of footy, melbourne had a great game last nite 8) they beat hawthorn 136-61. the last game i watched melbourne play was a couple weeks ago when we had a REALLY wet nite. it was such a different game then. the ground was wet, the ball was wet, everyone was slipping everywhere and fumbling. the stands were pretty empty too cuz it was such a wet nite. there's a great photo of the wet grounds and empty stands (i think it was taken a bit before the game started) at this site (click the image there to make it extra big to see the detail). i've also got a few photos up on that site

melbourne ice

*insert stompin' tom conners "good old hockey game" song here*

i got to go to my first hockey game in australia today. it was pretty good. definitely not like watching an nhl game but it was hockey. it was kinda like watching an amateur game at a small ice community ice rink but it was melbourne vs. adelaide in the australian ice hockey league. the penalty box was just a bench in the front row of the bleachers. the bleachers were cement steps which they had padded/insulated with 3 layers of bubble wrap rolled out over the cement and the refs were kind of idiots (they made a couple really controversial calls). it was fun to watch some hockey again and i would definitely go again. unfortunately melbourne lost (4-3) but next time they'll win 8)
on a happier note-- the demons finally won their first game of the footy season against the swans (97-92)

go the demons!

i got to go to my first footie (australian football) game last nite. it was REALLY good. zac had a couple free tickets from work that he was supposed to give away but couldn't find anyone to take them so we decided to use them so they wouldn't go to waste. we were kinda thinking about going to the game anyway but it was supposed to be pretty wet all weekend so we never got tickets or anything. my team (melbourne demons) were down by about 13 points when we got there near the end of the first quarter (the team they were playing is #1 on the ladder right now, my team is tied for 5th and we're only a few games away from the grand final). they made a comeback though and were doing pretty good thru the 3rd and part of the 4th quarters. the way the clock works, you don't know when the quarters are going to end (it counts up and they add time on to the end instead of stopping the clock). it was definately near the end of the forth and they were down by 10 points so they needed 2 goals (6 points each) to win. fortunately the quarter was extra long and they did it, they got a few free kicks and got a couple points and 2 goals!! in the end melbourne beat the bulldogs 105-109!!