To begin with, I have made the decision to be “okay” with all of this stuff going on with my Toronto man. Funny enough, as soon as I was telling myself I was “okay”, I kinda actually was. One point for positive thought! Also, funny enough, as soon as I was okay, I began getting emails from him about apartments and stuff…nothing romantic, but still definitely taking an interest. I had decided that it was for the best anyway as I have sooo much to deal with now. Most importantly, I have finally been given confirmation of my job, which starts in two days, eeeeek, and have to focus on finding a place in TO and getting settled. Its actually taking a lot more energy and time than I thought it would but I’m hoping I find the perrrrrfect place!

Ive also decided that I will do lots of entertaining in my new fictional and fabulous apartment.  With more entertaining and such,  I need more space than a bachelor and I also definitely need to be above ground. No more basement apartments!  A girl about town must have a fabulous apartment and I will not rest until Ive found it. 

I was in TO last week for a few days, then up to Ottawa to meet my very very perfect new niece, and then was back in TO continuing “the Great Search”. I came up short but am heading back tomorrow for good to start work and of course find a place to live. In the meantime I will be living with my very gracious friends out of my very large suitcase(s). The verdict is out on how many suitcases I am allowed to bring to TO with me, but its going to have to be WAY more than what I took to Oz with me. hahaha, this time I do actually  need heels and make up and dresses and lots of work clothes.

The event that I have been hired on to do is high profile and very  meaningful. I’m soooo excited to be involved in it and can’t wait to get going. I will update on it as soon as I’m allowed to speak about it. But let me tell you, its incredible!!!

anywho, off to drink more red wine with my very fabulous Mom!

xoxo,

GDU

I am heading out with a couple of my oldest bestest friends for some red wine on saturday night and I am quite excited about it. Will be great to catch up and see them, plus always great to drink red wine.

Am expecting a bit of Easter candy from the Easter Bunny, which will interfere in the Weight Watchers diet I have started. I will have to figure out a way to include the chocolate into my points for the day. It won’t leave many points left for actual food but I think it will be worth it.

The weather seems like it is making a turn for the best. Lets hope it keeps on keepin on.

xoxo,

Gal Down Under

I’ve decided that on the days it chooses to snow, I will stay inside and pretend like it doesn’t exist. Not sure if its the best way to deal but have decided that I will not under any circumstances put on a winter jacket this year…or a toque or mitts for that matter. I just want the weather to be nicer, is a little sun too much to ask for?? It just makes a gal sooo much happier.

I think God chose the wrong continent to be born in. There is always sun in Perth, ALWAYS!!

That’s all.

xoxo,

Gal Down Under

Part of getting back to business included coming back to someone that I was dating before I left. I met Mr. Toronto about 2 months before I left and we really hit it off. We didn’t get serious b/c we both knew that I was leaving, but I did develop feelings for Mr. Toronto and was looking forward to a reunion.

Anyway, since leaving Toronto we have continued to talk, text and have a few phone calls. Its been tricky, as it is when you are trying to communicate with someone who is living on the other side of the world, but we were always in contact. We were not committed and were free to date others, which I did, but there was always some affection shared and a common thought that if we were both single when I got back we would go out and see how we felt. 

Approx. two weeks ago Mr. Toronto and I had a great conversation. I told him I would be home no later than three weeks from then and he was happy. He told me that he was excited to see me, wanted to take me out, was offering to look at apartments if I needed him to and was just being generally sweet. It was nice. I was thinking he would be something fun to come back to and begin life back in TO with.

So today, when I finally get a facey message from him, he seemed a little aloof. Alarm bells go off, as they do when a gal knows something is not right. After about six emails back and forth today, he comes clean and tells me that he is “seeing someone, not seriously though”. Like what does that mean? are you seeing someone or not, are you pursuing a relationship with someone else you met in the last two weeks or aren’t you?? I don’t get it! Im a little annoyed b/c im not sure why after over six months of being away he decided now was a good time to start dating someone else. After reminding him of our last conversation and stating my confusion, I got an answer of “it wasn’t planned, they had only been out twice and it wasn’t serious” Again, my mind races back to, “well are you dating her or not??” 

 I just don’t get it.

I am happy to get back to TO, get out on the scene, and hopefully meet a new leading man, but it’s never as easy as it seems and I kinda thought it would just be nice to have someone to be excited about upon my return. What I want to know is, why continue talking to someone for six months only to change your mind two weeks away from her return and begin to “not seriously” date a random b-road from highschool (apparently)??

So needless to say, I didn’t write back. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to tell me that he still wanted to see me and that him and this girl weren’t serious, that he wanted me to wait around, or that he didn’t want to talk to me anymore. None of the above options gelled well with me and have left me feeling a little bit down. I was thinking of writing back to see if I could gather more information in hopes to understand what the H had happened and if he actually wanted to pursue a relationship with this b-road but didn’t. I did want answers but took a road less travelled by myself and decided that this would give him too much power over the situation. Im going to try to hold out and ignore him; im never very good at this trick, but am going to give it a good old fashioned try.

me no likey. im a bit sad today AND its cold here! maybe im being punished for something.

xoxo,

GDU

Remember the good old days where I thought I had met “the Australian man who loved Canadian women”? well he went to the way-side. He just started getting crazy annoying. First blowing me off a few times with crazy excuses and then becoming totally enamoured again to the point where I had to start being mean to make him see that I didn’t really want a relationship with him. haha, I felt bad but it was necessary.

examples included:

1- “can we hug?” followed by sad face and a very long hug.

2- protecting me whilst crossing the street so I didn’t get hit by cars.

some might say this is all nice and cute, but when you aren’t interested in someone its just plain annoying.

anyway, I said I would call once I returned to Sydney but accidentally forgot to do that - haven’t heard from him since. Seems I have shaken the Aussie who loves Canadians.

xoxo,

Gal Down Under

My first night included a free sail on a nice big Yacht called Magic. The Yacht Club in Port Douglas likes to take the public out on free sailing trips in order to increase interest and profit (from bar sales). That evening I was selected to go on a boat called Magic. We hit the jackpot with the Captain of Magic, who took a liking to my English friend and I and became our new social coordinator/gentleman caller in Port D. 

After our posh sailing lesson where I learned to steer the boat we were invited to stay for dinner at the club. We got to know a few of the guys there and overall had a nice time, not aware of what would soon be in store for us. Our Captain turned out to be the CEO of Port Douglas tourism and has a habit of making sure cute tourists have the best time possible. He is the man to know in Port D and basically has an “in” everywhere. 

Friday night after a few drinks at a local pub we ran into The Captain who was out entertaining some media he was having up that weekend. He quickly invited us out for another sail and lunch on Saturday and then after a few more drinks he invited us out for a five course degustation at one of the most exclusive restaurants in Port Douglas for the next night. The restaurant is called Nautilus and is set up in the trees, is all outdoor and hosts celebrities on regular occurances. The degustation costs $250 per person and our Captain thought it would be “beneficial” to have some tourists there to help entertain the media and answer their questions. **For those that don’t know, a degustation is a number of fine courses at a restaurant and all are paired with very specific wines. The meal was fabulous and had some of the best lamb ive ever had, plus the decor and ambiance at Nautilus was incredible. An experience I will not soon forget. The rest of the evening was pretty boozy and filled with lots of free drinks and dancing. All of it was on the up and up, so just went along with it and enjoyed! 

Sadly, my friend left on Saturday morning, but I stayed for a few more days to enjoy the sun, relax a bit and partake in any more freebies that were sent my way. Basically spent the rest of my three days in Port D. by the pool at the Sheridan Mirage relaxing and sunning and having the time of my life.

I strongly suggest anyone who is heading to Port Douglas to head to sailing on Wednesday nights at the Yacht Club and ask to be on Magic. Best tour guide in Port Douglas ever!!!

xoxo,

GDU

We spent the day on the “Aristocat boat”, heading out quite early in the morning and got to see three different sections of the reef. I knew that we would see amazing fish and lots of coral and I was hoping that it would be colourful and pretty but I didn’t expect it to be that colourful or that pretty.

Our first stop was by far the best and it was just amazing. At one point we saw some coral that looked like tree branches and in one section it was bright turquoise, another section it was purple and then another section it was gold…. it just unreal. 

Throughout the day I saw Nemo fish, sting-rays, lots of really pretty purpley-turquoise fish, sea turtles, groupers and many  more but too many to actually talk about.

Ive taken some underwater photos and will post those asap. I hope they turn out okay but will definitely not be as good as the real thing. 

Its still stinger season, so we had to wear very fabulous stinger suits from head to toe. Very sexy but they weren’t that bad once in the water. They actually really took all of my fears away. I was a little nervous of seeing sharks and of course of being stung by the poisonous jelly fish but the stinger suit turned out to be kinda like my invisibility cloak! who knew a very thin lycra body suit would take away all of my fears in the ocean!

anyway, headed back last night around 430 and can safely say that is one of the best things ive done in Oz for sure. would almost even do it again if I had the money.

tune into my next post about life in Port Douglas. have met some interesting people and have some good stories about that. will post soon.

xoxo,

Gal Down Under

I haven’t been very exciting lately but will try to do better.

Today I took a tour of the Daintree Rainforest, Cape Tribulation and the Mossman Gorge. It was a very full day but sooo worth the money. We began the day with a “jungle” type cruise on the Daintree River. This is croc country, so the goal was to spot as many crocs as possible and not be eaten by them. The first half was pretty uneventful, but by the end of the cruise we had seen two wild saltwater crocs. One was a teenager and was ONLY 2 meters long, the other one was the Alpha male of the pack. His name is Scarface…..yes Scarface and he was one scary MF!! He is measured at 6 meters long and is massive. The biggest head ever! Apparently, when he took down the old Alpha male to become the new big croc in the river he celebrated by heading over to a local farm and taking down a cow. A whole cow! He apparently dragged the thing kicking all the way to the water and proceeded to do death rolls with the cow while massacring it. Yeek.  Scary story but also kinda interesting.

The rest of the day wasn’t nearly as exciting but I did get to see some pretty incredible things. The rain forest, my first one ever, was amazing and I was glad that got to see it. Well worth the money.

Tomorrow I head to Port Douglas a small town just north of Cairns. Much smaller but WAY more posh and looks to be a lot more fun. this is where I will do my Great Barrier Reef tour. I met some boys today who said they had done the tour a few days ago and could not stop talking about how incredible it was. I can’t wait! this has been on the top of my to-do’s here in Aussieland, so Im crazy pumped that I get to do it soon.

Anywho, that is all for now. I do have some better stories that deal with boys and drama and fun stuff like that but I am just about out of time on the Internet so will write more very very soon.

xoxo,

GDU

Anyway, I am currently in Melbourne, have been for two weeks and am leaving tomorrow to head up North to Queensland. specifically Cairns and Port Douglas. I am tres excited about the upcoming week. But this post isn’t about what’s to come but what I have been up to.

The two weeks In Melbourne has been great. Ive had free rent in a very cute granny flat with a few other girls. These are the girls who I spent time with in Manly and it was soo great to see them again. I was especially happy to get a chance to see Melbourne b/c it wasn’t originally on my list of things to do, but free rent  plus cheap flight is always a bonus.

In the two weeks ive been here ive seen lots of things and done some very special stuff. Melbourne is all about its pubs, bars, restaurants and shopping. I don’t have as much money as I would like at this stage to do the shopping and the drinking,  but have seemed to do quite well.

My big highlights have been seeing the Yarra Valley, learning how they make champagne and getting to taste some of Australias best wines AND best of all, getting to see the very very famous Penguin Parade.

Wineries are pretty self explanatory but the Penguins are something special. Each night the fairy penguins rise from the ocean to head back to their burrows. ONce they come out of the ocean they form into groups of ten or more, so that they are not attacked by birds and head to their burrows. When I saw them on friday night, they were just about to head into their moulting season. This is when they spend three weeks without going to the ocean for food, so they are very very fat. Needless to say, the descent to their burrows was comical. Very small, very fat penguins braving the sand is pretty funny.  Was a great day and a very great experience to see them. worth the big dollars I spent!

Other than that, have been spending a lot of time relishing in nothing. Having a house, with a tv, with no other dormmates that speak twelve different languages is surprisingly nice. hahah.

Anyway, onwards and literally upwards to Cairns/Port D. where there is more sun and lots of snorkelling to be done.

will try to be better with posts in the upcoming weeks.

thanks to my avid reader Sarah L.

xoxo,

Gal Down Under

My very first niece, Avery Elizabeth Kemp, was born in the wee hours of the 15th of Feb. Good girl that she was held on a little longer to push past Valentines day!  She too must already be jaded! hahaha

Weighing in at 4 lbs, she was a month and a half early, so very very little BUT she is a strong girl and only had to spend a few days with some oxygen. She is now home with new Mom and Dad and is doing well. Even gets to sit in the sun for a few minutes every day to avoid jaundice.

 Her pics are already gorgeous and I can’t wait to meet her.

xoxo,

GDU