Vanuatu- Mi likem yu

Voted happiest place on earth:
It's green..it's hot..it's tropical..it's Vanuatu- and we made it! We have successfully set our watches to island time- hence the lack of blog. We have been staying at Eman Imalo guesthouse and Noel (the owner) has been just wonderful.


Our first day in Port Vila was a long one. After settling in we went into town and drank the local Tusker beer with some Australian yachties that we met. In the evening we drank some kava at Freswata 2. For those that don't know- Kava is a miiild halucinogenic strained from a plant, that mostly just makes you sleepy and is a huge part of Ni-Van culture. Unlike the outer islands in Vanuatu, women are allowed in the Nakamals (kava bars) here in Vila. We had a great evening with new friends and enjoyed a solid sleep.

Thanks to the roosters, our next day had us up a bit early, round 5:30am? We went for a walkabout in the community we are staying in, taking in all the sights and smells, and practicing a little French with neighbours. In the afternoon we went for a swim while Robert, who I know from last years trip to Vanuatu, watched our belongings and laughed at our saltwater clumsiness. Robert suggested we drink Kava with him in the evening, and we just couldn't resist. He hinted that we should go home and prepare supper before having Kava as we wouldn't have the energy afterwards. While at home Franky, another friend from last year, came by with gifts of pomplemousse. We all ventured to a Nakamal together, two shells later- Amanda and Sandie are ready for bed.

Up with the chickens once again yesterday, and feeling very hot, we all decided an early morning swim was a good idea. The rest of the day was spent enjoying a small spel (nap), exploring the market, and sorting out future travel plans for Vanuatu. We are leaving first thing today for Nguna- Franky's home island. A 45 minute back of truck ride, and a small sail after will take us far from internet. After our visit to Nguna we are planning to take a ship north to the volcanic island of Ambrym. Updates when we return- Lot's of love to every one. I stret nomo!! (it's all good for everyone) ;)

Gone Hollywood

Woke up in LA the other day- who ever imagined we'd actually make it this far? The very LAST stop! Excited and tired to be there, we arrived in North Hollywood after a very restless 8 hr bus ride through the night, and grabbed a taxi to a hostel to drop our stuff.

We took advantage of some coffee, cleaned up and were out the door to meet our 3rd travel buddy, Jessica, who'll be joining us for the next leg of our trip. We made our way up and down the Walk of Fame just outside the hostel, taking loads of shots of the stars of all our favourite actors, musicians, etc. We also met some MJ and Marilyn Monroe lookalikes, and a Spiderman from Mississauga who very kindly offered to pose in a photo. We passed the famous Chinese theatre, the Kodak theater (where they hold the Oscars) and got a nice view of the Hollywood sign from the top of the mall. Woo!


We later strolled down the Boulevard to haggle some bus tour prices to see what we could see of the city in such a short time. None of us were too keen on seeing any celebrity homes, but this seemed to be the highlight of most every tour. After settling on one we hopped on openair bus to Beverly Hills. Some highlights of the tour included the chicken restaurant where Brad Pitt worked as a chicken mascot in his pre-movie days; Rodeo Drive; the tree Lindsey Lohan drove into last year; the 'body parts' hospital where lots of stars get their Botox fix; famous clubs where Janice Joplin (etc etc) played; the homes of tons of celebrities (Robert Deniro, Orlando Bloom, Leonardo Decaprio, the house MJ died in, Tom Cruise + Katie Holmes, Angelina Jolie, Ben Affleck + Jennifer Garner; the list goes on ), all filled in with other ridiculous facts that none of us ever really needed to know. All in all it was a fun little jaunt around la la land!
Sandie and I ended the afternoon with some pints at the Pig N' Whistle, Hollywood's oldest restaurant/bar, and then checked out a movie being filmed infront of the Chinese theatre-- when what famous person would reveal himself? None other than Justin Timberlake! We're bringin sexy back... Yeah! ;)


Onwards to the airport for a 11:30pm flight!
Things were going smoothly until we are about 10 minutes from LAX, and Jessica says, "Hey! Where's my wallet?" The rest of the van got dropped off at the airport while Jess frantically trecked back to the hostel. Amanda and I begin to sort out our luggage when I discover an entire bottle of shampoo has exploded all over my stuff! ah! Cleaned up, we are going to check when the lady informs us we need to have an exit ticket from Vanuatu in order to board the plane. Whoops! So much for deciding on this later... and so after a mad dash to find some internet, we booked our Vila to Auckland flight for the middle of September, and made it back in line. Amazingly, we all made the flight- just another airport adventure.

The San Fran contradiction

Mecredi- A week come and gone- day 8

We knew this would be the day we got rid of the ol' buick. Amanda ventured out to see some sights with her friend Janet, while I waited with the buick for a tow truck that would be there "within the hour".

Amanda's lovely day- Crookedest street in the world, Fisherman's wharf, laid around the park, watched sea lions, went shopping, lovely catch up with Janet.

Sandie's crappy day- Sat with the buick in San Fran's hottest day of the year. Tow truck finally comes 5 LONG hours later, and the Buick is gone. Worse yet-no money for it. A bittersweet end- happy the car is gone, but ever grateful it got us this far. We cursed and doubted the poor thing many times since Winnipeg, but it got us through nearly to the end. Cheers Buick, we love you!

The day ended with a lovely dinner followed by drinks with Jason and Janet. We were all the loving the hot hot weather along with the rest of San Francisco.


Day 9- Wednesday- Amanda and Sandie joining the throngs of tourists

Our day began with sorting and repacking our belongings, trying to give Jason his living room back. First stop of the day- Full House house, and the infamous Victorian Painted Ladies. We took the city bus to Alamo Square, which gives a great view of the famous row of 7 houses set infront of the San Fran skyline. We sang more of the Full House song and had a riot trying to imitate the Tanner family as much as possible in a hilarious series of pictures.


From there we took the bus back downtown towards Fishermans wharf, passing through the Jazz district, Japantown, and Chinatown. At the wharf we ate the famous sourdough breadbowls filled with a veggie alternative to the classic clam chowder.

After lunch we went and saw the sea lions, and took a tourist photo on the famous trolley. Then it was time for a ride on The Dixie- Joe Dimaggio's dad's 1923 fishing boat. We went for a rough sail around Alcatraz island, and Amanda saw a harbour porpoise! We had a great view of the city and also witnessed the fog roll in over the Golden Gate. Captain Morrie was a hoot, he told us many stories of fishing on the open sea.


We dashed back to Jason's, via Coit Hill, where we got another amazing view of San Fran, this time in it's usual fog. We packed and loaded all our stuff, and the lovely Janet and her old students visiting from Korea dropped us off at the Greyhound.

Another sad good-bye, we would have loved to stay in San Fran longer. We'll miss you Janet, come visit us in NZ!

Golden Gate-Golden State

Monday monday monday. Day 7

After a chilly sleep in Redwood National Park wearing all the layers we had- brr, we ventured on another hike for one last frolic amongst the Redwoods. We never did see any bears or mountain lions, but we did lot's of birds and a banana slug.

A few hours into the drive, temperatures spiked to a whopping 36 degrees! We spotted a watering hole with loads of people enjoying a swim and decided we just couldn't resist. We quickly turned off the freeway and changed into our swimsuits and enjoyed a fast refreshing swim. Nothing else of note on the drive except more Redwoods, which soon turned semi-desert landscape, farms, and more hot weather. Boy could we use an A/C right about now!

Roughly 7 hours later an orange beacon of happiness appeared before us...it was the Golden Gate bridge!!! *insert Full House song here" A landmark seen so often of T.V. right before our eyes- we were thrilled beyond explanation. BUT... there was a hitch. Who knew there'd be a toll to get across the Golden Gate bridge?

Us-"How much is the toll?"
Bridge lady-"$6"
Us-"Oh, we are sooo sorry, we only have $2 between us! Oh wait, we have lot's of Canadian coin too- don't suppose you want that?" Bridge lady-"No."
Us-"*crickets* So what do we do?"
Bridge lady-"Where are you from?" (while counting a wad of bills and not making eye contact)
Us-"The Prairies. In Canada."
Bridge lady-"So you're from Canada...?"
Us-"*more crickets*........"
Bridge lady-" *sigh* Go on-there will be no charge today."

A little embarrasing, but not enough to damped our Golden Gate high... That was until the streets.
As we may have mentioned before, the Buick is a bit of a dodgy vehicle. It has been known to stall, and doesn't exactly stop on a dime. In search of Jason's place (Sandie's 2nd cousin), we made ourselves into quite the spectacle as we shouted, laughed, and cried; driving up, and down, and UP, and DOWN the incredibly unsafe and inhumanely steep streets of San Fran.

Following Grandpa's old '85 Truckers Atlas, we finally made it to 290 Green Street, at the top of yet another brutal hill. Jason welcomed us into his roof-top home overlooking the Oakland-Bay Bridge and a stunning view of the city, and took us out for a delicious dinner and wine at Calzone's. Thanks Jason!

Wonders of 101

Day 6- Sunday

After a refreshing sleep and shower we made our way to our next destination- Redwood National Park, California. But first- the beautiful and wonderous landscapes of Oregon. Veering west after Eugene we passed a momma deer and her Bambi twins, and soon found ourselves on the 'Scenic by-way', highway 101. We passed through some picturesque towns- Dune City (obviously full of sand dunes), Bandon, and Gold Beach. Not a McDonalds or Taco Bell in site, how refreshing! We stopped for a quick run outside Dune City through some trails in search of sand dunes, and hopped back to the car.

Hours later the forest and tree plantations gave way to ocean- and one of our highlights of the day- a photo shoot pitstop in Cape Sebastian. One of many possible turnouts along the winding road along the Pacific, we found a spot we couldn't resist. Dashing down the sand towards the ocean, in the shadows of huge rock outcrops exposed in lowtide, the wind pelted us with sand and nearly blew us over as we ran through the water and climbed the rocks. Words cannot decribe- it was magic!







At long last, we cross our last state line into California (naming as many California-themed songs as we could), and made our way into Jedidiah Campground. The Redwoods, with a captial R, most definatly 'Stand' up to their reputation. After pitching our tents in site 93 it was time to head out to explore before the sun went down, and so we made our way to the great great great grandfather of redwood trees- a tree SO big, that you can walk 22 steps (or 23 for Amanda) around the trunk of the tree. It is HUGE. Fun fact: this particular grove is also where Star Wars was filmed, wow! The ground was carpeted in clover and ferns, and giant redwoods towered all around-- this is one very special place.

Ended the night chowing down on some smores around the campfire, and laying up as much as possible against the cold CA night.

Goodbyes to Canada

Day 5- Saturday

We started our day with a quick crappy brekkie at the hostel, and made our way to Stanley Park. It was full of beautiful trees, runners, city ocean views, and even some bald eagles. Unfortunatly, we were crunched for time so we said our good-byes to Stanley Park and made our way on the sky train back to Surrey. After one last Tims stop we made off to the border- ready for the 2nd half our trip. The border, sadly, was as busy as can be- and after a lengthy 2 hour wait in our stalling buick we finallllly made our way into the U.S.A. Hellllo Washington State!

The initial drive was easy-going, but it wasn't long before we hit the crazyness that is the interstate through Seattle. I (Sandie) happened to be driving and nearly had a heart attack while Amanda was enjoying what she calls an amazing city skyline. All the while this is going on, Seattle radio stations were playing around with remixes, most notable being a Coldplay cha-cha. We pulled over just outside of Seattle for a driver switch over, and met some nice guys at a gas station on their way to a hemp festival. haha!

The afternoon quickly passed, bringing us to a dusk drive through Portland. The city looked beautiful and we were both keen to stop but again we were in a time crunch. Putting as many miles as possible behind us we made our way into the state capital, Salem. A few miles off the highway we saw a bright light- the Budget Inn. $48 dollars, and bag full of Chinese take-out later, we hunkered down for the night to the comforts of a warm shower, cable tv and a cozy bed.

Mountains and rats

Where were we? Ah yes, in the car, sleeping on a residential street in Banff! You'll all be happy to know that we had a decent night in the Buick, complete with a sheet curtain, sleepingbags, and the windows rolled up as we watched deer and coyotes walk by; and what felt like 100 trains rumble down the tracks through the night. Banff was too rich for our blood though, so after a quick tour around town and a free breakfast at Subway, we were on our way to Lake Louise!

Lake Louise, as you can guess, was "Stunning!", "Beautiful!", "9 out of 10 tourists give it a big thumbs up with 2 peace signs!". Great reviews eh? It was a perfect setting for your typical tourist photo infront of the lovely turquoise, and freezing water, set against the towering Victoria Glacier. We picked the shortest of the trails and did the 6km hike that bordered the lake. A picnic lunch on a rock in a mountain-fed stream finished off our sightseeing- it was time to get back on the road.

The drive from Lake Louise to Golden was something out of Sandie's worst nightmare. Nails were dug into the dash as we flew along steep, death-defying hills, and past 'run-away' ramps provided in the event your car can't hack it. We had to stop in Golden for a breather, and to do a quick tune up and top-off of fluids, as Sandie looked for a used car lot. Luckily we met a nice BC man named Reg in an old yellow camper van, who let us use his funnel and provided us with a much-needed security blanket as he drove behind us all the way to Kamloops.



We also met 2 young hippies (16 and 18) lookin for a ride, and who smelled as though they'd been lookin for a while. Another animal surprise with this pair- as we turned around to chat with them in the backseat, we discovered a 3rd travel companion- little Greta, the baby white rat. "Oh, is that ok?" asked Melissa- Well, sure, we suppose. On Sandie drove as Greta ate some of our veggies and ran amok all over the backseat.


We found our couch surfing destination in Kamloops, with a 50-something host named Ruth. We enjoyed a delicious home-made plum crumble with 3 other surfers, and elderly lady named Flo. A good evening exchanging travel/WWOOF stories and off to sleep in the gazebo out back, thankful for a mosquito-free night.

Day 4
The smoke got thicker the further west we went, and so what was a mildly hazy mountain view eventually disappeared in thick clouds of smoke. Luckily it cleared up as we made our way out of the Okanogan valley. The drive was pretty- river, gorge, green, and less scary.


Considering how finicky the car is in city driving, we decided long before it wouldn't be taking us into downtown Vancouver. We parked in the suburb of Surrey, and took the Skytrain to Main Street to the C & N Backpackers Hostel. Dropped our stuff and made our way to Gastown to see the Steam Clock and meet an old friend. It was great catching up with Aly and reminicing about old Roots & Shoots times over Mexican food (our first real meal we've purchased since our roadtrip began... oi!). After supper it was over to the Sea Bus to North Van, just for the view. Met a couple of nice guys from Mexico and exchanged emails and a souvenier pen. Spent the better part of the evening exploring Granville and Davies downtown, which was full of buskers, food and fancy bars. Long day! Back to the hostel for our last sleep in Canada...









*Note: We realize we worried some family with our stories of hitchhikers, and we just wanted to let everyone know that we're driving by lots and lots of them on the road, and have only picked up twice- young ones that look lots like us.. of course it only takes one- so we promise no more, we don't want more worry! Sorry guys!

Alberta- more than just oil

Look at the jello on your spoon...it's vibrating. There is a T-Rex in the distance, VelociRaptors in your kitchen. We are in the Badlands!!

Driving from Medicine Hat our destination was Drumhellar- we didn't make it to there, instead we went to the Dinosaur National Park- about an hour and half north of Medicine Hat. The scenery was much the same as Saskatchewan except there were more cows and oil rigging machines. It really is like a northern Texas.

Dinosaur National Park was awesome!! The sun was shining, the mossies were biting, and the Prairies gave way to a beautiful gorge of rocky Badlands. We even saw a real fossil with a structure built over it's original excavation spot.


After a lovely day of exploring, it was back in the car for us with Calgary and the Rocky Mountains on the horizon. The car gave us some troubles in Calgary with city driving (never again) but smooth sailing on the highway. Squeals of excitement filled the buick as we entered the mountains- suddenly wheat gave way to evergreen trees and beautiful landscape all around.
...Which brings us to our current location- the Samesun hostel bar, Banff, pounding back a pitcher of Beaver beer. Tonight we sleep in the Buick on a residential street where we are very much out of sight. Life is good. Tomorrow- Lake Louise and Kamloops! Love to all!

The Praires and their Infinate Flatness

Hi there!
The ol' buick made it through the Prairies! We had a minor detour around Winnipeg thanks to me not knowing my own city. After an enthusiastic sing-a-long to Don't stop believin', we were on our way. Just west of Brandon we made a funflower pitstop, and did a bit of a photoshoot frolicing in the cheery yellow field. An hour or so later we made it to our first border crossing- Saskatchewan: "Naturally!".What can we say about Saskatchewan? As you probably know, not much. We'll sum it up with flat flat flat. The flattest thing I've (Amanda) ever seen! It defies imagination- how can fields just go on and on and on-- for sooo long? I was also impressed by the abundance of grain elevators, abandoned houses, combines, and wheat.

Stopped for a quick lunch in the small town of Wolseley. Temp was around 10 degrees, and we carried on. We didn't make any stops in Regina, but we did pull over in Moose Jaw for some juice, where Amanda saw a cowboy (handlebar mustache and all:).
We saw the epitomy of prairie livin just outside of Moose Jaw. A young fella of about 12 herding cattle through a field with a shotgun and his dog in tow. On we drove.

Driving for what felt like ages through nothing but fields, and almost no sign of human life, we drove through the big city of Swift Current and took a risk....
NOTE- not the readers digest version...parents read at your own risk.
We spotted a hitchhiker- (dun dun dunnnn).... and his pup!!! We went with our gut a some trust and had Cody and Jade join us our 2 hour journey to Medicine Hat. Cody the 21 yr old from Hamilton was a character and told us many tales about hitchiking/train hopping to BC, this being his 8th time. We now know which train cars are suitable for hopping and which are not, and how the conductor changes work along the CN line.

After dropping Cody and Jade at the Value Village in Medicine Hat we made our way to our couch surfing destination- Tim and Blaire's! Tim and Blair were some of the most wonderful couch surfing hosts we could have hoped for. They waited up for us even though we didn't get in till 8:00, and had a lovely dinner together, and a quick tutorial on "So you think you can dance". We had a great time getting cuddles from Kaya the retriever, and their 2 kittens, Mi and Fa- also- best sleep ever :) Thanks so much guys!

Happy day 1...eve

Hello! and Hello!
from Sandie and Amanda :)

Writing our very first blog entry from the chilly streets of Winterpeg Mani(snow)ba (ha ha)- where August 16th tempertures are due to dip to a chilly 7 degrees tonight. All the more reason to leave first thing in the morning.

The destination? The sunny south Pacific island nation of Vanuatu- you know, where they filmed Survivor that one time- to be followed by an undetermined number of months in New Zealand for some WWOOFing (organic farming) and perhaps some paid work to fund further travels-- we'll see what happens!

Mode of transportation? Sandie's grandparent's abandoned (but still running!) Buick bound for the junkyard. So we thought, why not give this car one last grand adventure?

We'll be driving to explore the 'Land of Living Skies'; a jont through the rockies; a stopoff in the Olympic city; and a scenic drive down one of the most beauuuutiful highways in the USA, along the Pacific coast. So long as everything runs according to plan, with our Couch Surfing and camping, we'll be arriving in LA on the 26 to catch our 11:30pm flight.

Wish us lots and lots luck! We'll do our best to keep you posted on our misadventures and any discoveries we make along the way!






Stay tuned....:)