Happy 1st birthday Ollie!

< -- A big birthday bear hug with older cousin Alexandra

It's my party, and I'll do what I want. The cake is mine. -->

Few, thank goodness that's done with! Now to eat all the leftovers.



<-- A special birthday song for the special birthday boy on his special 1st birthday. Thanks girls!

Mr. Popularity, especially with his granmas -- >

In the new place

< -- undoing the one dark purple feature wall

there's some sun outside-- >

We've moved in now, and most of the boxes are away. The main problem is the darkness inside. Then the crumbling kitchen, old old carpet, etc..

Back home in Sydney

< -- Mum, Alexandra, Anna, Gabrielle, me, Ollie, Marie, Tony

Peter's birthday; Peter + Jen -->

< -- Ollie on Fil's staircase. We stayed at Fil and David's for 3 weeks

helping out with netball practice - Marie, Ollie, Tess, Belle, Ceal -->

Leaving SF 19 May

<-- Ollie, Marie, Chris, Lisa and about 10 pieces of luggage

Our kind friends Chris and Lisa let us stay with them while we repacked, drank at the B2B, and got into a cab for the airport. The manager on duty was kind enough to let us check almost everything we had without charging us.

Bay to Breakers, San Francisco. 18 May.

< -- the bull runners and their magically alcoholic bull

thousands of people getting trashed -- >

This is the City to Surf, except everyone gets really drunk. San Francisco I am going to miss you.

< -- so, where'd you guys meet?


< -- There's no place like home.

Detroit again

< -- Toronto is big -- >

Well that's the end of the trip. It's a bit of a relief as finding a new place to stay, packing etc can be a pain.


Stayed overnight Guelph. Dropped in on Anna and Stipe, Marie's godmother and father, and got super stuffed one last time.

< -- me, fatty, fat Winston and a seagull

7 lanes in and out for lots of k's, Toronto -->

< -- the crossing into Detroit off Ambassador Bridge

At the booth on the border, the homeland security guy didn't like our story of travelling for a month. Seems like you don't do that kind of thing in the biggest, best etc country in the world. We still had the old visas in which was the problem. Two hours later we were let out of their office, all the while being watched by a smiling photo of George W. and two other probably suspect officials.

At the end of the flight, we were getting picked up. Ollie's car seat did not make it, so he and Marie had to home on the train and bus instead.

Now we're packed up, and crossing our fingers all our junk will be accepted for the long flight home.

Kingston

< -- spending hours behind the wheel. Stuck in Montreal.

Kingston -- >

Travelled near Sherbrooke to see some of the lovely countryside. It's just getting green now.

Then got to Montreal late, and a truck lost its 30 tonne load on the highway, so us and three lanes got diverted off, with no clue, and a big old mess. Stopped to feed Ollie, found a side street and went along strangely quickly given that it sounded all the other routes were not doing well. Got into Kingston late. Found a strange woman runnning a B&B in a nice place.

Kingston has plenty of beautful old stone buildings, and as per usual, the most expensive real estate, next to the river, was stuffed up by some hideous high rise buildings. Some in the process of still going up, so too bad they don't appreciate what would attract people to the town.

< -- Royal Military College -->

Visited the Royal Military College across the causeway, which is luckily protected from the developers.

Sherbrooke

< -- Sherbrooke

trail around the lake, Sherbrooke -- >

Yesterday we made it to Sherbrooke late at night. We stopped at a "Residence", that the GPS got us to, which is an old persons' hospice. The priest there sent us to our current place between HyperSex and SexStudio, near the Salvos. The rest of the town is beautiful and very green. I'm currently updating using the free town wireless - such a great idea and a reality here already.

We came via Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. It seems that our GPS is severely retarded and sent us the long way. I was driving and still have no idea how we got here.

<-- St. Johnsbury

In St. Johnsbury, VT, we did our washing while a four year old entertained Ollie. A nice man told me how he dined for the week, by raiding the supermarket dumpster at the end of the day. "I get salads for free from the macket. I get boi. Been in Vermont all me loif."

making tunes Dixfield -- >

Lunch was at the Front Porch Cafe in Dixfield VT. The owner wanted us to sign her wall. I did a mangled picture of Australia, so her visitors will probably think it's a bad picture of one of the states. It's funny being back in the US where Ollie is always so popular.

Northeast Harbor, Bangor

< -- on the postal service boat out of Northeast Harbor

Maypole dance at someone's 6th birthday -- >

A fellow in Millbidge told us to get on the mail ferry here, and we had a great day on Cranberry Island. 2 people invited us to get out of the cold in their house. Caught Sophia's 6th birthday party in the community hall,and some ribbon/May pole dancing/ piano playing. Dipped my foot in the Altantic ocean. What a great bunch of people. One sticker on a truck said "They call it Tourist Season, so why can't we shoot them?"

Tonight we're in Bangor, the home of Stephen King. A realtor on the ferry told us his address. His home has a black fence with assorted steel creatures welded on it, and a cool spider web style gate. His neighbour's homes were just as grandiose.

< -- Cranberry Island

Stephen King's house, no bull -- >

St. Andrews NB, Lubec ME, Millbridge ME

< -- St. Andrews -->


Another nice resort town / old fishing village.
Lubec is the easternmost point in the US, yay us.
Millbridge is nowhere, but that's the best thing. Lots of trees and a nice river. Ollie entertains some locals for tea, who are up for their sons graduation. The man at the bar with the "Ollie the Otter" cap tells us to take the Northeast Harbor mail boat.

< -- Lubec - most homes are about 100K, so you could buy the town for the price of an SF home

almost crawling, making progress in Millbridge -- >

Mahone Bay, Lunenberg, Digby, St. John

< -- 3 famous churches at Mahone Bay

Lunenberg home of the Bluenose boat -- >

More picturesque postcard towns. We get the ferry from Digby, and a ferry is always fun. Ollie got to try crawling again. St. John has so many heritage buildings in need of a facelift. Reversing falls is very cool, but there's a paper pulp mill right behind it.

< -- Digby, NS

St. John, NB -->

Dartmouth

A short ferry ride over the harbour. Walked around more Victorian homes. Some of the modern buildings look out of place.

Peggy's Cove

< -- all the sheds and homes are lovely

rugging up for the winds off the cove -- >

This is a beautiful fishing village in a preservation area. All the homes are pastel coloured and very cute. 40 odd people live here.

The lighthouse is also the post office in summer. It is built amoung domes of exfoliating granite. It had to be rebuilt once after being smashed by waves.

Swissair 111 went down here 8kms out to sea killing all 229 people.

< -- near the lighthouse

boat parking -- >

Halifax, Nova Scotia

< -- Ollie meets the locals

Halifax town clock -- >

Halifax is a beautiful city around a large harbour with tree lined streets and classic handsome Victorian homes. The Titanic went down around here. We visited the graves of some of the people who were pulled from the water.

Speaking to the waitress during dinner, she told us how different a French accent is in France to Canada. She was told that she speaks like Celine Dion. Each region is different with New Brunswick mangling both English and French into a new Canadian super language.

The youth team of Canada played USA in the ice hockey here. We watched at a pub. Canada scored the winning goal with 2 minutes left. Everyone shouted, making Ollie cry. Awwwww.

Halifax has a nice harbour -- >

Pugwash

< -- you'll know when you've got here

not much doing in Pugwash -- >

We stopped here because of the name. Turns out the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, came here to visit. Aparently, it was pretty famous in its day, gettting some bigwig scientists together for some peace conferences, courtesy of steel magnate Cyrus Eaton, a big opponent of the Vietnam war, who was born here. Captain Pugwash was named after this town. The name is Mi'kmaq for "deep water".