Deep and crisp and even

Happy New 2008 and all that! Ra ra.


We brought the new year in in downtown Detroit at a restaurant which had a really cool band. It was an All-American event, I saw Dick Clark's New Year's Rocking Eve and the ball drop in Times Square. The restaurant had a great atmosphere and so it was less of an anti-climax than I'm used to.


The restaurant even gave us Smooth Criminal hats! Nothing says Happy New Year like a Happy New Year hat.

When we left it was snowing pretty badly but we made it home ok, and this morning awoke to this.



I reckon it's about 10-12cm deep and perfect for a snowman build.

The snow has put paid to our Grand Rapids (across the state) trip though. But it does give us more snow time!

In other news, my computer has passed on. No flowers please, he wouldn't have wanted us to mourn his passing, he would want to celebrate all the happy hours we had together of tinternet dossing, essay writing and presentation making. Rest in peace little laptop.

Well that's another Christmas over*

I did it. I had a Christmas away from home. I am now an adult. Of course it was helped by being with Megann and her parents making a big huge special effort to make it like Christmas at home. There was ham as well as turkey, my mum emailed the pavlova recipe and they made it even though they had no clue what they were aiming for and my parents sent a tin of Roses over (which cost four times as much to send as to buy...oops). I even got to watch the Queen on You Tube (I am such a geek, this was after a blow by blow account from my dad!)

I got lots of nice presents too. Santa surely is a smart man knowing where I was. Another big excitement though is the skis that I bought in preparation for Colorado next week. Woo hoo.

See how excited I am?! And yes, I do know you need the other ski on for them to be truely effective. You also need to be on snow, not carpet.

Ahh, up close. They are the prettiest skis that ever lived. And I am seriously considering a move to the Alps in order to make full use of them. The boots also cleverly match. When we went to get them, the guy, Jeff, that served us in the shop at first didn't understand the importance of them matching, bringing out an orange lined pair, claiming 'well no one will see that.' I will know Jeff, I will know.

Anyway I still need to put on photos from before but my computer is still being stupid and forgetting wireless, plus we're busy doing other things. Just like you probably.

Oh and Happy Birthday Megann! And congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Bell. Finally!

*My Grandpa said this every Christmas Day. It got earlier and earlier every year. But never before HMQ.

Yay, flipping yay!

1. I made it to Detroit! Many laughs have already occurred. No doubt many more to come, I'm here long enough to unpack and everything!

2. My computer has now remembered it has wireless capabilities. There is still no rhyme or reason to why it should stop or start but for the time being it's working again so hurrah. Photos and stories soon, but it's late here so I'll just put this one on for now.


Waikiki in Hawaii and the last outing for my shorts and tank tops for a while. Hawaii is the new answer to the question, 'if you could live anywhere...'. A-maz-ing.

Seeing as I didn't get the chance to update my blog with the weather I've added it up the side for places I've been the past two weeks so as they get their moment in the sun, as it were. Only now can I say 'it's beginning to look at lot like Christmas'.

Grr, bloody grr

I'm not in Sydney anymore. And in between then and now I've been in Hawaii. Aloha. Well actually goodbyah because now I am in San Francisco, where it is freezing (except that it's not, it's like 10 degrees celsius or something, bodes well for later in the trip eh?!).

I'd tell you all the cool things I've seen and done and maybe even put a photo or two on but my stupid computer has once again forgotten it has wireless just at the time I am staying in a place with free wireless!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

These things just seem to happen to me

With Lynsey and Caroline gone our room now has new people. One girl, Cat, is from Glasgow and is travelling on her own and we get on really well. We just got two new girls today.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I’ve never met an über fan before, you know the sort you see on documentaries with walls covered in posters and things the star may have touched and all that, kind of like Michael Jackson’s weird fans? You know the sort of thing right? Well our two new girls are…wait for it…drum roll please…Delta Goodrem über fans.

I wish I was joking.

I’ll fill you in on the backpacking world, I am, after all, an expert now. When you get someome new in your room you find out all the usual stuff, names, where everyone’s from, where they’re going, what they’ve done etc etc. When I came in the über fans girls (plus their other über fan friend (thankfully in another room) didn’t even give me a sideways glance. So I interrupted them and introduced myself.

If you’re not aware (which I would imagine the majority of the western world is) Delta had a new album out this week. Well apparently today she’s singing a few songs and signing the album in the backarse of nowhere in the city. It’s at 1.00pm. So what did our new roomies do? Got themselves up at 3.00am to get themselves in line ready for the big event. I wouldn’t have thought there would be a mad queue myself.

Anyway, when I met them I had just come from a nice shower and was already in my jammies. Two minutes of being in the room with them I knew I had to leave again. So on went the shorts. Not before I heard these genius quotes though:

‘Delta will be so surprised I’m here. She just saw me in Melbourne two days ago.’
‘We know everything about Delta, even what her pets are called.’
‘I don’t like the video to that song, we should make our own one.’
‘I miss the metaphors in her songs, Bryan has done that to her!’

Dear, oh dear.