Melbourne

So Melbourne is 3 hours ahead of Perth so when we landed here it was after midnight and we were on Perth time still which had us at 9 pm which messes things up and honestly I failed to notice that when I was making all these bookings for flights . It would have been the smarter decision to leave Perth earlier and have another day to roam around Melbourne but regardless I’m sure Qantas would have messed that up somehow anyways .... I still think you suck Q-bag 🤨 we have the next day planned to go do a free walking tour as it’s always the best way to find things you want to do in these cities without forking out a bundle and being left disappointed . Kinda like flying Qantas hahaha ... ok enough of that , I know I’m not that funny . This walking tour was due to leave the meeting point at around 10 am and somehow mysteriously without setting an alarm we woke up on time and made the 30 minute trek to find the meeting point . I sweat my balls off though and my comfort level was not very high to be honest and I wanted to be the guy at the back of the tour as I’m sure I sweat through my shirt and didn’t want to be that fat guy ! You know the guy that you see walking down the street and you say to your friend look at that guy ? He’s a pool of sweat 😓 yeah I am soooo that guy . 

It was hot 🥵 and the only relief I was getting was when we stopped walking and stood in the shade to hear our tour guide talk to us and to be honest he was nowhere as entertaining as our guide in Sydney named Adrian . In fact I don’t even remember this millenials name and yes he related to millennials and the problem was there were any on this tour so his suggestions came up a bit flat as he suggested a few places where you can hear dj’s play loud music while trying to enjoy a drink 🥃 boy am I getting old or what ? I remember when I didn’t want to hear people talk while I got fucked up and now I don’t want to scream to enjoy a conversation over a nice stiff drink . Bah humbug lol 😝 one of our first stops was the prison where Ned Kelly was held and if you don’t know about him don’t be upset because neither did I until I was reminded of the movies made about him .... look him up and you might need a refresher like I did as it’s a pretty cool story . After that we started to hit the alley ways that are the backbone of this city . Tons of amazing street art litter these alleys and hidden little speak easy type bars and all sorts of interesting little shops . You could almost just do a tour of alleys here and skip the main streets . As I said this tour was not super exciting as the guide had a flat sense of humour and even dropped a J bomb during the tour which I’m sure nobody noticed and I’m sure there are other guides that do a better job but regardless it served its purpose and got us familiar with the city and gave us plenty of options as to what we would like to do . Melbourne as you all know doesn’t really have anything that pops and says come visit me ... think about it .... is there any sites you would go to Melbourne to see ? 

After the tour we hit up our hotel room which at this point we are realizing is on the wrong side of the city and we probably made a bad decision staying here as everything we want to do is about a 20-30 minute walk from here and we did look at hotels on the other side of the city . Can’t do anything about it now , let’s make the most of it ! We thought being near the train station would be a bonus but already this morning we’ve had to take a 20 minute walk for this tour and now we are back in the room showering off the morning sweat only to have to head out again for more punishing heat . Kathleen jumped in the pool at the hotel and I took a snooze ... upon awaking it was time to get ourselves a drink . 

We both like Gin so the original plan was to go to the Gin Palace but it was closed for some reason and we opted to go check out this place called Union Electric which was open based on google but when we arrived it was closed and yes it took over 20 minutes to walk there . Frustrated we decide to go check out one of the bars our tour guide suggested called Section 8 which is around the corner and it was rammed with kids listening to some DJ pumping tracks we could hear 3 blocks away and that as I said earlier isn’t exactly where we want to chill and drink a gin and tonic and seemed more like the kind of place I’d want to pop some molly or whatever the heck they call ecstasy these days . At that moment we decided to ignore any more suggestions from anyone under 30 years old hahaha ! I was in an ornery mood and I looked up another place called Pizza Pizza Pizza which is a pizza place with a cocktail bar in it and off we went . On route we came across this place called 1806 and it caught our eye with the cocaktail decor in the front window and we peeked in to see a barman dressed in white button up shirt and black pants with a velvet styled lounge area and only one table with a few suits enjoying their after work cocktail . The music was good and not too loud and the selection behind the bar was appealing so we grabbed a seat . Soon after we were the only patrons and began conversing with the barman who seemed to be a nice guy named Jack from Tasmania . He let us sample some gins and we eventually ordered some gin and tonics garnished to our liking and we talked about alcohol for about an hour or so and abandoned any idea of going anywhere else on this eve . 

We actually liked the service so much that we even tipped Jack on our overly priced drinks and if you didn’t know tipping  is not a thing on this continent which is awesome as the tipping bullshit in Canada is getting way out of hand ! Why should I give a pizza delivery guy 15% to drop a pizza at my house when we are paying delivery fee ? Fuck that shit ! Jack gave us a few good tips for where to get a pizza slice on our way back to the hotel and we were off to find a place called +39 Pizzeria ... seems like a good choice to somewhere that has my hockey number in it doesn’t it ? We hiked it over there to grab a pie before it closed and when we found out they didn’t sell slices we opted to grab a small pizza and eat it in the restaurant . Honestly the pizza was not that good and in my opinion was ok at best as it lacked sauce and toppings and for the price we paid you would expect more . Let’s just say it was not the best slice I’ve had on this trip and I’ve been to Domino’s . Nuff said ! 

Time for bed ... even though I snuck a nap in today my internal clock is going haywire from all this time zone skipping and tomorrow we have to be up at disgusting o’clock to get to our meeting point to go on our tour to the 12 Apostles and yes it’s a 20 minute walk and no this isn’t some religious freak show kinda tour . I will write about it later as I’m already a few days behind on my blogging . Smell ya later 🤪

 

Flying Qantas

First of all let me say that I really didn’t want to leave Perth but the time has come to jump on a plane and head to Melbourne where nobody has stepped up to organize any ice time for me and all they can talk about is this damn insurance they want me to buy to skate once with them .... I will vent about that later . My flight to Melbourne is due to leave around 3 pm and I’ve already pre paid for an extra baggage which cost me around $40 so I can bring my sticks with me . We decided to go for an early walk around and it was nice and hot out . The city was absolutely dead as it was the Monday of a long weekend and everyone had their festivities all weekend and most places were closed anyways . Our wander around was cut short by the heat and we headed back to the Holiday Inn where we were offered late checkout because I’m an IHG member so we didn’t have to leave until 12:30 pm and the front desk called us a taxi . When the time came our bags were packed up and my gear was mostly dry but not fully dry and I’m expecting issues upon check in but what we were about to experience was nothing I would have expected . 

Our taxi arrived and we headed to the airport , our driver was very talkative and even made some impromptu stops to show us some sites like the castle in Perth which is not much of a castle . Our fare was cheaper then the fare when we arrived and we seemed to go on a different route making me wonder if we were taken for a ride when we arrived ? We probably were ! These things happen and it’s part of travelling 😤 life goes on and sadly it’s time to leave Perth still so nothing has changed . We grab our bags walk into the terminal and go to a self check in kiosk and find out we should be contacting someone at the desk for assistance ? We walked over to one counter and they said to talk to someone at the self serve kiosk and we went back and spoke to one of the Qantas associates and we were told we were bumped from our flight ??? Ok now why did we get bumped .... we were told because the flight we were on that I prepaid like a day before for my extra bag and actually switched my seats on had changed planes and the new plane was smaller and we were randomly chosen to be bumped . Now I’m not clear on how this works but I am almost sure they have to ask if you would accept being bumped or receive some form of compensation ? Please correct me if I’m wrong . I then explain to the Qantas employee that we deserve compensation and I asked why we have not been notified about this before coming to the airport , and she has absolutely no clue and says we can’t get any compensation and when I ask to speak to her manager she said there is no manager present ??? WTF ! 

Got my ticket and went to the oversized baggage drop off and the security tells me there should be someone to speak to about this as I was bitching about it and he says to go to desk 20 or talk to someone upstairs in the terminal . Bags dropped and I stomped my way back to desk 20 and nobody is there .... sat down mulled over this whole situation and looked up online and tried to call the Qantas call in center but to no avail . Fuck was I pissed 😡 

Cleared security and marched to their counter and explained that I prepaid for an extra bag by calling it in about 2 days ago ,never notified .... checked out my hotel and jumped in a taxi and headed to the airport with no notification again with no notification and now I’m trapped in an airport waiting for a flight that I’ve been bumped from and it’s not fair ! I also explained that I tried getting an explanation before dropping my bags and apparently there is no management downstairs and that’s when they started to agree I am being hard done by . I explained how we should be compensated and they stand firm on the whole fill in a complaint thing online and they file it also ( I still have not filed ) after all my explaining was said and done they offer me a voucher for $30 to grab some food and the only place to eat at has nothing cheaper then $30 so I take my voucher and order a meal ... well Kathleen did while I was still fuming with anger . While we are sitting there Kathleen gets called to the desk and apparently is asked if we have hockey sticks ? She lets me know and I start to panic . Why are they asking if I have sticks , what’s wrong , did they lose them ? Apparently they lost the tag on one of the bags and needed confirmation for the bags I have paid extra for the flight I have been bumped off 😬 and just when you thought all was good .... our flight we were bumped to was delayed ! Mother .... 

This Qantas airlines is one piece of shit company and it’s the first time I’m flying it and if I didn’t have another flight booked with them then I would not ever fly with them again . It doesn’t get better either as we boarded we realized that we were stuck in a middle row instead of the window and aisle we had chosen only 24 hours earlier 😵 yay ! Just my luck ... all I can think of is reasons why we were really bumped and why wouldn’t they just ask or offer compensation ? What kind of two bit operation is this and why didn’t anyone want to tell me the truth and was there anyone else bumped ? We were lied to probably worse then the cabbie that took us for a ride when we arrived in Perth without any knowledge but this ride was definitely one where you knew the cabbie was ripping you off .

At the end of this dark tunnel called Qantas was some light though . Wayne Collier is a hockey player that lives in Melbourne and he was patient enough to pick us up at the airport even though the flights were bumped and delayed so that made my day . Wayne got us over to our hotel and we ended our night having a tea ... well I had a beer while they drank tea . Of course before he left I asked about getting on the ice here and this stupid insurance thing came up again and all I could think was I will just wait for someone to call me as an emergency call up .... let’s hope this hockey situation in Melbourne changes because so far I’ve played everywhere with no issues and no insurance needed. Qantas .... you will be hearing from me soon , you suck ! 

Last Game in Perth

Sleep is hard to come by and it’s hard to experience everything in so little time . Spending a week in some cities may seem like an eternity but in others it flies by as you have the time of your life . Unfortunately my time spent in Perth flew by and the friends I made and rekindled made the time go by in the snap of a finger and I only can wish that I return someday and allot more time to stay as I should have done in the first place . Last night we had planned a trip to Caversham to go see some wild animals and the plan is to meet Lara and Matt at the train station by 830 am and get a lift over to this remote area  , so we woke up around 6 am washed up and headed out to catch a train . The transit here is awesome .... in the city centre it’s free and anything out of the center is charged per zone travelled . We can’t help but notice how clean the train is unlike our shithole transit in Toronto called the TTC which is disgusting and the first thing we joked about is how we don’t see any pizza boxes lying discarded amongst Tim Hortons cups . If anyone is reading this from the TTC you should be ashamed of yourselves instead of patting yourselves on the back with your phony best transit in North America nonsense . Anyone that travels knows how shite your service is ...TTC stands for Take The Car . And for me as a born and bread Torontonian you are an embarrassment . Back to the story at hand .... we were so pleasantly happy to be riding a clean fully functioning service with friendly and helpful employees and the more we experience Perth the more we talk about the idea of moving here . We met Lara and Matt and they dropped us off on the way to snorkeling and I am almost sure this offer delayed their day a bit but they are such nice people for offering to help make sure our trip was complete . They are typical of all the people we have met in Perth going out of their way to make sure we enjoy our time there and I can only assume living there would be very pleasant . 

I love taking these silly pictures . And there were plenty of opportunities at Caversham ! I absolutely loved this place . When we arrived it was just opening so we decided to do all the shows first then wander around so we got to meet the Wombats and snakes and birds up close and personal and then we got to see the koalas and then we saw a farm animal show where they sheared a sheep and had these awesome dogs that wrangled the herd as part of the show then we hit the Kangaroo and Wallaby  walk where we got to feed them and hang out with them all and we fell in love with this really cute roo named Digit who was named Digit because she ( I think it was a female ) lost her finger when she was hit by a car 😢 all these animals were rescued and have been taken care of and are all beautiful creatures . I know most of you never see this side of me but I do have a soft side and this definitely struck a chord and Digit was so cute with her big eyelashes and friendly demeanour as she came hopping up to us one of the people working there introduced us and told us her story and mentioned how she was a favourite with the park workers . I wanted to cuddle her and take her home with me so badly 😌 but I was still a bit nervous as we all have that instinct to be wary around wild animals and we left to catch the penguin feeding . The penguins were so small and fun to watch waddle around but my mind was only thinking about going back to spend more time with the kangaroos and to not be a chicken shit and get closer to them all . We spent something like 5 hours at Caversham and if it weren’t for my big game that night I would have stayed way way longer even though it was a blistering hot day and you could tell even the animals were not enjoying it . We went back to the kangaroo enclosure and I wasn’t as scared or nervous around these magnificent creatures and I got much closer to them and got some amazing selfies and fed a bunch of them and then we found Digit again and stayed with her for a bit as she smiled and got close to us also . Aside from playing ice hockey here this had to be the highlight of my trip so far and I have had many highlights but spending time with the kangaroos was beyond amazing . Unfortunately I had to catch an Uber back to the hotel to get ready for my big debut for the Grizzlords . 

Now if you recall my first game in the Perth Summer League was a loss to the Grizzlords 😡 and I played for the last place Moose . The Grizzlords were  2nd to bottom and were playing the team above them in the standings and that team is the Wolves who have that sniper I skated with the other day named  Scott Hillier who I kept calling “dangles” as he did lighten up in that stick and puck session the other day . He mentioned there are a few guys on his squad that might have a good time lighting me up also ... this is on my mind along with the fact that leaving here without a win will have some serious implications on my future play and might not be good for my ego . This game was not going to be a cakewalk ... I can’t leave here losing both games ! 

Bruce Ross came by the hotel to pick me up and we headed to the PIA rink in Malager lol 😝 and he mentioned we would have a short bench and the whole time up until game time I was hoping their sniper with the Greek surname would be there to lead the charge and at game time I found out that he would not be there and the other squad has a smaller lineup also but their key guys would be there which means I am gonna have to up my game to get the win for the Grizzlords . As it already stood I had to based on not wanting to leave here winless but this added to the pressure and I could tell that the Grizzlords knew this was gonna be a tough challenge for them also . We got dressed and got on the ice and had a good warmup and started the game and right off the bat I could see my team mates were giving their all and we jumped into a lead after a few saves on my behalf and some easy goals given up by the other keeper who was clearly off his game and probably should have said no to playing this game because he was shaky on long shots and we were totally in his head and I don’t think I made it any easier on him when I absolutely robbed one of their players on a breakaway with a smooth glove save . As a goalie when you are having a bad game and you look across the ice and see your counterpart having a stellar outing it only adds more pressure and clearly my counterpart on this night was not good under pressure and didn’t do much to help his team . I think he is not their goalie but a fill in that also lost the game earlier against my goalie buddy Levon which if you ask me would have been shitty if he beat him and I lost to him 🤪 

The Grizzlords were utilizing their passing skills and moved the puck really well and blocked shots when they had to and listened to my advice clearly when I shouted at them to stop screening me and positioned themselves accordingly and we played really well as a team with no individual efforts needed . A team of players playing position properly will always beat the individual team ... the individual may come through but if you ask me I rather play for a squad that is playing together and tonight I was one lucky goalie and the Grizzlords went into the third period with a 5-0 lead and when I skated to the bench I told them these guys aren’t gonna lay down and just lose as I could see the fire in their eyes . They were hungry for goals and even though I came through with some big saves I can only do so much . I also told the gang that the hardest lead to hold is a 5-0 lead which I’m sure we all know because we have all been part of that one game that we blew that one day or night and it haunts you . I definitely wanted the team to be prepared for some action and without any doubt the Wolves were gonna come out strong . Halfway through that 3rd frame they broke my shutout after I made a few saves and we failed to clear our zone they had made a backdoor pass that I couldn’t reach when I slid across my crease and as much as it sucked to lose that shutout I almost knew it was going to happen . The pressure kept mounting but clock didn’t stop ticking and with a few minutes left they made the scoreline respectable by potting another goal on a bit of a scramble and a nifty pass from behind my net . The clock soon after wound down and we walked away with a 5-2 win and after the game we all shook hands and I tried to talk to their goalie but he didn’t want to talk to me or accept the fact that he sucked . I probably wouldn’t say he was a shit goalie if he had at least an ounce of respect and offered to talk back to me but he ignored me like he was some mute even off the ice when I went to tell him he had some rough luck .... I guess in his mind he’s better then me and should have won with the more skilled team but instead gave up weak goals from all angles of the ice 😛 change your attitude and people won’t be happy to see you acting like the sore loser you are . As you can see in the photo above he didn’t even want to be in the picture ....

The Grizzlords were so happy with my performance that they named me player of the game and I am honoured to say this because in my mind this was a complete team game . Each and every player out there gave it their all and the only thing I really would want more was to see Lara score on that one glorious opportunity she had becuase she played amazing and really deserved the glory of scoring . After the game we were supposed to leave early but the beers showed up and we enjoyed a few with a few laughs and some of the other teams players showed up to enjoy some beers also . For the most part they were not sore losers and I am almost sure some of them will be in Adelaide at the same tournament I’m in so I look forward to catching up with them over some more beers . Tomorrow is my flight to Melbourne and this wet gear will be very overweight if I don’t get back to my room and begin drying it ASAP ! On the way home Bruce drove me to a burger joint called Hungry Jack which is actually Burger King but the name Burger King belonged to someone else before the corporation decided to move here thus the name and yes they still sell Whoppers and everything else except the6 don’t have a King as their mascot and the food is pretty decent and it was really nice that Bruce paid even though he didn’t have to 🙂 that’s Perth for you in a nutshell ... it’s a big town full of people that do things that they don’t have to do and I would be more then happy to return , even if I had to face that angry goalie again and he had his revenge on me 😛 . 

PS- angry goalie ... you don’t have to take everything so seriously and next time try to enjoy yourself and learn to roll with the punches instead of becoming more and more furious . I didn’t say anything here to be hurtful or anything so don’t be hating on me or anything ... I did really try to reach out but you shut me out and I’m only telling the story the way it is . 

Time to dry out my bags . Thank you Bruce , Lara , James , Brandon , George , Will and all the old friends and new friends I made in Perth ! The hockey community here makes me wish I lived here . Keep being nice to each other ❤️ 

Australia 🇦🇺 Day

When we planned our trip the idea of being in Australia for Australia Day was not part of the plan but amazingly things worked out that we are in Perth to celebrate this day which is a bonus and we were planning to go watch the fireworks and all but at the same time we had plans to go spend the evening with Lara Irons and her husband Matt and also meet up with my old high school hockey team mate Will Carey-Hill who I haven’t seen in about 25 years . So the plan originally was to go to the Aviary or some pub with a rooftop and watch the fireworks with beers in hand and that was ruined when we found out that bar was reserving tables at disgusting prices .... that’s a hard no from me . Then the idea of lining up with mobs of people to watch fireworks went south also as none of wanted to deal with all the bogans that would be there also so the whole idea of watching fireworks was squashed and instead we opted to go enjoy some live acts at the 

Fringe Festival

.... we picked this comedy act and a circus type act called Fuego Carnal. Should be fun . 

So to start the day we decided to go to the Red Dot which is kinda like a dollar store so we could buy some cheesy Australia hats and stickers and fun stuff for the day .... as you do as a tourist on these big celebratory days . Then with our hats on we went down to the wharf where we accidentally found the boat cruise that Lara had suggested a few days ago . We were approached by Dave from Wild West Charters and he started to give us the spiel when I mentioned Lara he said he would give us a discount so we jumped on the boat and did a quick 20 minute cruise with Dave driving like a wild man and we had fun on our impromptu little cruise , unfortunately the harbour was filled with boats docked for the fireworks show so we didn’t get to see any dolphins or anything and when the ride was over we were hungry and thirsty and low and behold there was an oyster bar right in the harbour . Who would’ve guessed ? What’s the chances that you can find oysters near water eh ? Oyster Bar Elizabeth Quay overlooks the harbour and had some yummy oysters on their menu which I scarfed down with a nicely poured gin and tonic that was garnished with strawberries . The more of these fruity garnishes I’m getting , the less intrigued by limes and lemons I’m becoming . Pomegranates and strawberries mixed with gin and tonics are the shit yo ! We couldn’t stay there all day as they had a private function starting soon and that was only $15 per person which is way way cheaper then what The Aviary wanted . I think they mentioned something like $500 per table or some crazy shit . 

After a good meal and a bit too much sun I had to find myself time to squeeze a nap in so we went back to our room to wait for the clock to hit roughly 4 pm when we had to leave to go meet the gang over at The Pleasure Dome which is an open area with no entrance fee for vendors to sell funky food while people doing shows were there promoting their acts that they were performing during the festival . It was really cool as we met Lara and Matt and grabbed a beer while having performers running around on stilts and people selling candies as if they were old school cigarette girls from speak easy’s. The beer was good and the weather was really nice out .... I prefer snow but this was more fitting for a night out on a patio with friends . We waited for Will to arrive before we grabbed some food and when he arrived we all dispersed and grabbed our own eats , I grabbed a chicken taco 🌮 which was pretty good but definitely not your traditional styled taco . All the food here is kinda like food truck style with their own twists and recipes which makes their food stand out amongst the rest . Immediately got to talking with Will about the old days and our old coach Mr.Christie and Chris Lanis and how things were and did a bit of gossiping amongst ourselves and it felt like I’d seen him the other day rather then having that 25 year separation . Will’s in good shape now and isn’t that skinny kid I remember from back in the day and he’s really doing well over here in Perth . It’s always good to see old friends doing well and if you ask me he is definitely happy over here and probably never moving back to Toronto but he’s still a Toronto boy at heart . I just gotta convince him to get back on the ice and I feel as though I failed in my quest to do so as the weeks leading up to my visit I continually pestered him to join us but hopefully I can keep on him and get him to rekindle that love for the game which he swears he still has . The first show we were going to watch is a Scottish comedian named Leo Kearse who by chance is performing at a pub called The Aberdeen . On our way there we stopped in for a pint at another bar and got to the venue a bit early and that’s where we spotted the elusive Fringe Festival event poster we wanted and Lara swore to nick one off the window on our way out . Leo Kearse was funny and we all left laughing at his stories and if you’ve ever seen him perform you would want a pig in your toilet too 😜I gotta look him up online to see if he has any of his acts on the internet floating around ! 

After the comedy show we had to almost sprint to the next venue to watch Fuego Carnal which absolutely blew me away and as I said if there was one word to describe this show I would say sexy . It is basically a troupe of performers doing crazy shit like juggling fire and swallowing swords and even throwing knives with blindfolds on all mc’d by the lovely ladies of the act . It was like a burlesque type of circus act and that’s why I say sexy ... not trying to be a perv or anything as the acts were not all women ok 👌 if you ever have the chance to watch this show don’t think twice ! When we left we were all smiling and amazed about the feats they performed and nothing looked phony at all . As they continually said ... don’t try this at home 🤗 after the show we all got pictures with the performers who were all really friendly and appreciative of their fans . They are a very humble group of people that do some amazing shit . Don’t hesitate to look them up seriously . 

After the show we headed back to the pleasure garden for some more food and beer and I had a Greek styled poutine which I really liked and everyone decided to grab some ice cream after as I opted for one more beer before heading home to our hotel room . Will gave us this great idea to go see kangaroos at Caversham Farms and Lara and Matt said they would help us out by driving us there in the morning so plans were made and it was time to fight our way through the crowds of drunk bogans to our hotel to call it a night . I know you are wondering what a bogan is ... look it up 🤪🤔✌️

Hockey Day in Perth 🏒

Falling further and further behind on my posts so this actually happened on Friday as it’s Monday now here but might still be Sunday in Toronto so it won’t seem so far behind but in my time this happened 3 days ago which makes it hard to remember everything that happened as there has been a few nights of beers between now and then and getting old has its advantages but memory is not one of them especially when it includes a couple pucks to the noggin . So from what I recall the day started with coffee ... yes I know this is a recurring thing but if I don’t caffeinate Kathleen she might kill me in my sleep so it’s best to feed her what she wants . Off to check out Miss Maud’s Carillon which is down the road from my hotel . I couldn’t resist having a big breakfast as I’m not sure what my eating schedule will be since I have two ice times and who knows what else is planned . The food there was good and Kathleen was more then happy with the amount of java provided in the large cup we ordered and I see more coming from this place in the future . Two thumbs up from both of us . The plan for the day is Kathleen goes to the beach and I go to the rink so she takes off early enough and I wait in the hotel until 11 am when my buddy James Brown comes to pick me up for our first skate of the day . 

We head off to Cockburn Arena when he arrives which is in another part of the city that is closer to where James lives . There is a stick and puck session which is basically unorganized open ice time for hockey which runs for 3 hours and is $25 per person and yes even I had to pay even though I’m a goalie and apparently they never have goalies . This is probably the first time I have ever paid for shinny of any sort on any continent but I didn’t bitch or moan and I just mentioned the fact to James . All we cared about was getting on the ice and I had a feeling I was going to have to pay .... whatever ! When we got there we saw one skater training with another and there were a couple more skaters and oddly enough as we were getting dressed a few of them left ? I asked if I scared them away and I think they were shocked to see a goalie but opted to leave anyways . When I got on the ice the remaining 3 skaters were resting on the bench and then one of them skated over and said he’s heard of me . It’s always fun to hear that people know who I am because really in the big picture I’m nobody so a little recognition goes a long way . This young fella goes on to say he heard I’m from Egypt ??? Huh ? I told him no I’m Canadian and he went back to the bench to tell whoever told him this that they were wrong and I think there was some confusion over one of them explaining about my picture in front of the pyramids . Hahaha ! This ice time basically became a shout-out competition for over 2 hours which if you’re a goalie then you should know is very exhausting ... Bruce Ross then entered the building and the chirping began . One of the guys on the ice was asking if I’m playing any league games and I told him I’m playing Sunday and we figured out we will be facing off against each other . He was good and sniped me quite a few times but I think he knew it would be different in a game . I am pretty sure his name was Scott but I kept calling him dangles and I chirped everyone and made poses for them when I stopped them and I am sure we all had fun messing around on the ice and time honestly flew . The kid that asked if I was Egyptian scored top shelf and I chirped him by asking if he took some viagra to get it up , I tossed out some good chirps and I’m sure that all the guys shooting on me were wondering who the hell this guy was . After being on the ice for over two hours I was burnt out and needed to get off the ice as our time was just about done anyways .... I’m not even gonna get into the fact that dangles was scoring on me with a broken twig at the end of our ice time and I was so wiped out I couldn’t even bother waving my blocker at shots . That kids got some skills let’s see how he does in a game when we play them on Sunday night . After we showered we went to the bar in the rink and we all ordered some wings which we were lucky to have on sale this day and they were really good and much better then the other wings I’ve had on this trip and in fact are better then any wings I’ve had outside of North America but that is expected in a bar that is fashioned to be a Canadian bar which sells Molson products , has poutine and even makes their Caesars with Clamato juice !!! The decor in this rink is all hockey related and the rink has two ice pads with one dedicated to public skating and the other dedicated to hockey and figure skating ⛸ . The facility is very impressive , dressing rooms are nicely sized and showers were nice and warm with even filtered water stations for filling water bottles . The ice was in good shape also and was not too soft and I would say this rink is much better then the PIA one but there is always some form of politics and rhyme and reason to why things are the way they are based on location and who runs the rink and what rink lets the guys away with more comforting aspects like drinking in the parking lot and this isn’t the case here but I’m sure holds some merits . Regardless if I lived here I would be on this ice as much as I could and I’m not sure if they have a league there also but I would probably check it out if I had the option but on this trip I am in good hands with my new and old friends over at the rink in Malaga which everyone pronounces MyLager lol 😝 

After wings and beers with Bruce and James we had to disperse as Bruce needed to go get ready for the scrimmage he’s organized which means picking up beers and meat fro the after ice time parking lot bbq ! And James took me by his place to meet his kids Matilda and Beatrice and his lovely wife Stacey who I last saw at a Joe Rogan comedy show before they moved here and had these two little energetic kangaroos that hopped around with joy when they met me . They were both so cute and it was nice to remember how it was to be a kid meeting new people as they did .... showing me their toys and their bedroom and all ... do you remember being like that ? I definitely do and haven’t had those memories rekindled in a long time so it was nice to see some children aren’t stuck to their iPhones and iPads as most are these days . It’s sad but true isn’t it ☹️ time was flying and it was already time to head to our next ice time after going to the drive through liquor store .... yes I said drive through liquor store ! We didn’t drive through but opted to go inside to see what our beer of choice would be and beer is not cheap here at all . I picked up a 6 pack of a local IPA that ran me $26 or $27 , how insane is that ? We saw a local beer that I liked and a 24 was $88 ? Who pays that much for beer 🍻 really ? Well unfortunately, Australians do ! Crazy but we needed some beer for after our ice time . Beer league is not beer league without beer . This scrimmage will have some old friends and new friends ... if any old school Ghetto Blasters are reading this then they might notice Brandon Bailey seen above with me who played for our squad in 2012 and went on holiday and never came back ! James was there obviously and Lara and Bruce and the other goalie was a really cool dude named Levon Wilson who is the ebug for the Perth Thunder AIHL team here . If you are wondering what an ebug is then I will explain . Emergency Back Up Goalie 😜 basically a nicer way to say third stringer . He started playing goal 6 years ago at the age of 41 and now he is 25 going on 18 and has more energy then James’ children 🤪 it was a pleasure and an honour facing off against you bud and you get nothing but respect from me even when we played each other . 

We had the ice for an hour and had a good time out there with everyone getting their chance to score on either myself or Levon as we switched ends halfway through the ice time and honestly everyone was a winner today with no need for score keeping or bragging . There were beers in the room after and then even more in the parking lot as the bbq cooked up some sizzlers for us and we all shared and laughed at each other’s war stories as Levon blared some Tragically Hip in the background . It’s a long weekend here as it’s Australia Day tomorrow and there was fear that this event might not happen because people tend to go away on weekends but this event filled up in something like 20 minutes after it was posted that I was coming .... did everyone want to have a chance at scoring on me or is this bbq that legendary ? I would say they came for the camaraderie and even Brandon had never been before and probably found himself wondering why he hasn’t before and I would be shocked if it doesn’t become a regular thing . I know if I lived here it would be the one excuse to get in trouble with my woman for coming home late 😬 this really was a good showing of how tight knit the hockey community is here as some even brought their better halves out for some fun and nobody seemed to want to leave as the beers were flowing and the last of the sizzlers were cooked up and gobbled . It’s always nice to know you have friends and after this night out I can say I made a bunch of new friends and rekindled some old friendships as today was so much fun hanging with James Brown on our Hockey Day In Perth . 

Perth League Hockey

Haven’t had much hockey in the last couple weeks as I was only on the ice 3 times over my two weeks in New Zealand so I might be a bit rusty and at the same time this bit of a rest might be a blessing as it gave me time to heal some of my wounds .... injuries remain undisclosed 🙂 tonight I have been invited to play for the last place Moose in the Perth Summer League over at the Perth Ice Arena over in an area called Malaga . I will be playing for James Browns team and I have high hopes that I might make a difference and pull off an upset for them and help them begin their climb out of the basement and of course the team we are playing is the Grizzlies aka the Grizzlords and Bruce Ross and Lara Irons are on that squad and they have been very influential in sorting out ice times for me so it should be fun , especially if we win . 

When we got out of bed Hockey was already on my mind and we went to grab a coffee from a place called Nero’s around the corner and that was good and they even gave us a bag for free to take home which was very nice of them . The coffee was really good but the serving was not to Kathleen’s liking as she wants massive amounts but I would still say it was a happy experience . We got back to our room and planned the attack for the day and that would include a free walking tour which we always enjoy . Kathleen did the research before we came here and had printed out stuff off of the city website which said there are tours starting at The I-City booth which is around the corner and they start at 11 am so our plan was to go early pick a tour and wait until it started . When we arrived we soon found out that was wrong as the tour left already at 915 am ??? Apparently the website changed times from when we researched this without any warning and we were stuck without anything planned . This tour thing on this trip has been a real pain in the ass for us and we were feeling dejected and one of the volunteers at the booth saw this and said she would give us a tour . Her name is June 🤗 so off we went on our own private tour on what seemed to almost be a waste of time as one of the first stops she took us too was an elderly center where we were told we could get a good cheap meal ??? At this point I was wondering if the real tour would be making this stop on their route and I was almost hoping to find them wandering around to join them but that didn’t happen and our tour got better as we wandered around the CBD and found some alleys and buildings we wouldn’t have seen or known about without the help of June . On the tour we scooped out what we wanted to go back to see and do and the whole time we had our eyes peeled for Fringe Festival posters to add to our collection at home.

After our tour we decided to go to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant around the corner for some pasta and his restaurant gets a lot of flack from people here generally but the place was full and the food was pretty good with some decent specials . I had a fettuccine and Kathleen had a spaghetti and each came with a drink for $25 , yes that is a fairly priced meal in Australia unless you want to eat crackers with butter or McDonalds ! Jet lag still has a hold on me so I headed back to the room with a belly full of pasta and took a nap 💤 I think I was down for the count for almost 3 hours and when I woke up I had to begin getting my gear together to meet James as he is picking me up to go to the rink . 

James is another work buddy that I met in Toronto working in the film business . He used to be a kraft service dude that always made food food for our crews and when he left it was kinda sad to see him go but as it is for everyone that leaves ... the show must go on ! I always told him to get into hockey and he rekindled his live for playing the game here in the last year or so and found himself in a league through some connections he made here and he is really enjoying the camaraderie . It was so good to see James and I was excited to get on the ice with him for the first time . On the ride over to the rink we spoke about mutual friends from Toronto and caught up on most of the gossip then talked about how things are here and he really likes it and honestly I don’t blame him as it’s a really nice secluded big town ... Perth is a city but doesn’t have that dingy city feel like Toronto and people generally seem happier and is also one of the most secluded cities in the world as there are no other big cities anywhere nearby . When we got to the rink I was taken to my room which was small and shared by two teams with the other team on the ice now playing and one of the guys on that team is former Ghetto Blaster Brandon Bailey !!! I walked over to his bench to say hello and he was happy to see an old team mate and his team was playing well and went on to win their game . I grabbed my water bottle and went over to the bathroom to fill my bottle and got back to the room to get dressed . Brandon’s team came into the room and celebrated their win ! 

I was hoping that room would see another celebration after our game . There was one odd spot though as a guy got ejected from that  earlier game and came into our room full of piss and vinegar bitching about the refs ... one of the Moose guys told him to chill out basically and he kept yapping and it almost escalated into something worse and then to my surprise the same guy complaining about the refs put a refs jersey on and reffed our game 🤔 I tried to get on his good side and made some positive comments but I have my suspicions that he had his own agenda to uphold and prove to us that the reffing really is bad ☹️ our game started and almost immediately the Grizzlords were all over us and I had to make a lot of saves which were mostly routine and then they scored with a guy named “Kyros” I think that’s how it was spelled ? He was nifty and apparently plays for the Perth Thunder in the winter which is the pro team here and he was a thorn in my side all game as he continually put good efforts toward scoring on me and I thwarted him for a quite a long part of the game as we took the lead and went up 2-1 then carried a 3-2 lead going into the third period and that’s when the refs took over ....

We had three questionable calls go against us the first was a magic trip , the second was a high sticking double minor which happened behind the ref but he saw the whole play with the eyes in the back of his head ? The player injured was on his way down and got a stick to the face on a follow through from a shot , I felt bad for the guy getting cut but you can’t make a call on a play behind you that you didn’t see and it wasn’t a high stick and didn’t deserve the 4 minutes which put us on a long short handed penalty kill and started with a 5 on 3 which immediately cost us as a shot from the point with a screen tied the game up then we received another penalty on a play that was clearly offside where one of the defence men sweeped the puck off the offensive players stick and it was a beautiful play and to everyone’s surprise was called a penalty because these refs run off the nhl rule book and apparently go to all their meetings and are just following protocol lol ! More penalty killing and another clear offside where I had my arm raised but was ignored leading to me making a really nice save that lead to a fluke rebound goal which was the winning goal eventually . I knew we were done when this shit all started going down and if it wasn’t for the refs we probably would have won but in my mind this was the vengeance of an angry dude that took a disagreement with a player from the moose and made us all pay for it . That ref changed in our room after and heard us all bitch about how good the reffing was and he obviously couldn’t keep his mouth shut and instead referred to the fact that he was following the rules which I call bullshit on because if he was as consistent a ref as he expects others to be then he would have let the game play itself out instead of clearly tilting the ice in our oppositions favour ... I hate losing and this was a hard pill to swallow and not what I expected . I didn’t play a bad game and we were definitely outshot by a large a margin as I would estimate they probably outshot us 45-20 and that 20 is being generous . The other teams goalie wasn’t great but apparently was very rusty since he was a last second call up and I almost forgot to mention that for a minute this morning there was the fear that this game might be cancelled as it is a long weekend here in Australia and everyone will be celebrating Australia Day on Saturday so I’m not gonna knock the goalie for not being the best and I’m not trying to knock the fella that reffed the game but when you come into a room complaining about the refs being shit and then going out to prove your comments were right by being a shit ref yourself then the obvious is going to occur . 

After our game we had beers in the room and that carried on in the parking lot where Bruce and Lara had ear to ear smiles on their faces for a much deserved win .... yes they deserved it ! I know I’m saying the reffing was bad but they did clearly out play us and for that they deserved the win and yes I did my all to pull off the upset but couldn’t and that’s that 🤪 Bruce scored one of the goals on me and was very proud of his accomplishment and I was happy to see them happy . I will be playing for them on Sunday in another game where I’m playing for the underdog team .... hopefully I can pull that one off . Those parking lot beers soon had to be moved to the road beers out front of the rink as the gates were locked by the rink rats and we hung out with Levon , Elliott and Bruce for a few hours having laughs before James drove me back to my hotel . Tomorrow is a big hockey day as Bruce has organized a pickup game and we are also going to another rink for stick and puck earlier . I need my rest .... but it’s hard to sleep after a loss ugh 😑 

Keeping it Kuld

As most of you know already that my job back home is working in the film industry making commercials and I am really lucky to have a good job filled with good people but some people move on to do greater things and my old PA buddy Mati Kuld is one of those people . He owns an ice cream parlour and as we were joking that there isn’t a fancy name for ice cream scooping dude like coffee pourers are called baristas so maybe everyone should figure out a name to call the connoisseur’s of ice cream 🍦. It was my last day in Fremantle and I checked out of my prison cell released on full parole and I had no ghostly encounters even though I did try to channel the ghost of Martha to show up while I was showering in her former prison cell ... oh well maybe I’m not her type and if I am maybe I’m lucky not to be fed some acid like she did to her loving children . 

When we left we had some time to kill before Mati opened his shop in Fremantle as him and his Mrs. have two shops in Perth ! Pretty good for a couple that started off luring children into alleyways to try their ice cream eh ? Ok maybe not children but you get the jist .... maybe they were all fat kids like me except I’m no kid and I’m definitely not kidding when I say the ice cream is worth the visit as they have a few different flavours that they switch up weekly . When Mati left us in Toronto I thought he was gonna come work in the film industry here and originally he did and had this side hobby of making ice cream which they experimented with and it did well so he dropped the whole film biz and hopped into pushing ice cream . A few years later and he’s still putting in the hours to get this business to float on its own and I’m sure soon enough it will be ran by his employees giving him time to relax .... sounds like he’s working film hours but on the daily unlike most of us that only work 150 days a year . That’s some hard work but Mati was always a go getter . If you ever visit do yourself a favour and go visit one of his shops and tell him I sent ya 😜 it was good seeing him and if we can squeeze in the time maybe I can see him outside of his shop for a pint . It was fun setting up your shop with you buddy just like the good old days when we used to set up client/agency areas together . Best of luck mate ! 

Ok I’m writing this out of order but today was not a normal orderly kinda day and Kuld Creamery deserved to get the first mention but the truth is when we were on our way to find the ice cream parlour we came across this sign on the corner of this street screaming at me and this is another sign for me .... it has to be as my team back home that I run is called Ghetto Blasters as well . This sign was so ghetto it hurt in all the right places like making a save with my neck but knowing the puck didn’t go in the net and it kept my shutout but at the same time was gonna be the worst bruise ever ... yeah I’m a sick individual 😛 anyways this sign was sitting on the corner all lonely screaming at me to go visit this Ghetto Blaster Coffee shop and I followed and was lead to a small shop that was bumping Tribe Called Quest and all the stuff being sold in the shop was graffiti designed and yeah this is so me ... if you know me you know this . When I was there I was tempted to buy everything but I can’t carry too much stuff in my bags and I opted to walk away very reluctantly . I still want that ghetto blaster trucker cap grrr ! I got in touch with them and we might have some collaboration for the future if things fall in place .... time will tell and unfortunately I spent so much time catching up with Mati at his shop that we never went back to the coffee shop but I might try to squeeze in a return if I can find the time before I head to Melbourne .... yeah I’m travelling , that’s why they call me The Travelling Goalie . 

Got the train back to the CBD and checked back into the same Holiday Inn where I left my hockey bags and then we proceeded to crash hard as we are both feeling the effects of jet lag and a month of travelling .... we all need a day off and today I scored myself a half day . I’m not gonna even mention the crap food we ate as we were feeling lazy and grabbed whatever . Let’s just say it wasn’t healthy . Tomorrow I’m meeting James Brown who is another old work buddy from the film industry that has me coming to play for his hockey team . I might need the rest . Peace ✌️ 

Fremantle

Do I need to even say that our day began with us looking for a coffee ? Seems to be the every day start to my day and my blog posts . When we got down to the lobby the fella that checked us in late last night was just about to finish his shift and saw us and I’m sure he was surprised to see us but flipping the clock around has these effects on people when travelling . Remember we came from Dunedin the day before which is 5 hours ahead so when we got to the hotel it was around 11 pm Perth time but roughly 4 am Dunedin time which we were used to and now had to adjust to our new clock . When we went searching for coffee it was around 7 am here but again it was like we slept in after a late night except it wasn’t mid day here . We found a place next to our hotel called The Drip House which was alright but nothing to write home about and Kathleen is not impressed with what they call a large coffee . We went down the road to another shop called Soul Origin that had breakfast sandwiches and coffee deals where we grabbed some more java and a bite to eat then I headed to Miss Maud to grab a danish as I’m having a craving for some sweet pastries and we creeped back into our hotel with our stash of food to gobble in our room while planning our attack for the day . We are heading to Freemantle to spend a night in a haunted prison . 

By the time we got back to the hotel the shift change had occurred and a nice woman gladly helped us figure out how to catch a train to Fremantle and gave us some good pointers . If you ever visit here and take transit ... it goes by how far you travel so to travel to Fremantle from the CBD is something like $7 and there is a family pass which you can purchase after 9 am which is about $12.40 which gets you 2 adult passes and even passes for two children and it’s unlimited for the day which is a bargain even if you are just heading to Fremantle like we are . It was easy to find and we found out about the 9 am thing the hard way as we arrived at the station around 8:50 am and were told this by the super friendly transit staff . We wandered around and killed 10 minutes and hopped on the 45 minute train ride and got to Fremantle . We made a huge mistake by going to vsisit the visitor center , now the mistake was taking the advice of the person we spoke to and it’s usually a good idea to go but on this day the advice was all wrong ! You see our plan was to drop our bags at the YHA Fremantle Prison and head to the ferry to go to Rottnest Island for the day .... we were advised not to go because of high winds ? What high winds ? It was sunny , nice and there was a light breeze . Well we took the advice went to our hostel and instead of heading to Rottnest we instead took a tour of the prison which we found out had a long history of ghastly shit occurring which isn’t surprising considering it was a place where evil people were kept and also executed 😬

Highlight of the tour was visiting the gallows ! Took as many pics as I could in hopes of finding some orbs or distortions of figures in background but no luck and no ghostly encounters . Dang ! Now we didn’t take just one tour but took two tours as one tour had the gallows included and the other tour was more a narrative of the horrors that happened behind these walls which was way more graphic and not for children . Now if you ask me I’m not sure any of these tours are suitable for children . The first thing we were told about on the first tour was how prisoners were strip searched ... I bet mommy will love explaining that one to her 6 year old wondering what can be stuck in their bum ? Whatever ... #notmyproblem . While we were on tour we found out we are staying in the old woman’s wing and there was one woman in the 150 + year history of this institution where a woman was executed . Her name was Martha Rendell and she was hung for murdering 3 of her children and it just so happens her cell is the room where we are showering 😜 cool eh ! Hopefully her ghost gets a good peek at my bits in the morning hahaha . The two tours combined had us wandering the halls and cells of the prisons for over two and a half hours and Kathleen was a bit cranky as she noticed the weather was nice and really ... why weren’t we on Rotnest Island ? We went to our prison cell for the night and got our shit together and started making our way to the ferry . We made a mistake by stopping to eat because we killed the time that we could have caught the 2:30 pm ferry and that would have given us time to rent bikes and see the whole island comfortably but we didn’t know this .... 

Got to the ferry and spoke to a woman at the booking desk and she said the next ferry was 4:40 pm and gets us to the island by 5:10 pm and we have until 8 pm to catch the last ferry and the price for that is $39 each for the ferry which is much cheaper then what it costs in the morning which was over $65 . How insane is that ? These prices are criminal and these people should be sleeping in the cells we are in ! Anyways it’s a must do and Kathleen will fucking kill me if we don’t do this and our alternative is to either go in the morning before we leave Fremantle and pay more or c9me back to Fremantle and do this on a day I have hockey and still pay more except the weather forecast is for even windier and rainier days 🤨 and the big kicker in all this is that those reduced rates begin at 2:30 pm which is a bargain and the bigger kick in the ass for us right now is that the bike rental places all close at 5 pm . Stuck between a rock and a hard place , we sat down and conversed over this and planned out how to do this and the only solution we had was to go and hike it to this Pink Lake which should be a 45 minute walk and then hike back and head back to Fremantle . All the other options were bleak in comparison as we are not planning to come back to Fremantle to spend double on a ticket to go ride bikes in high winds and rain . This is our last ditch effort to do this so we bought the tickets and wandered around the ferry docks and saw a submarine and a couple drunk dudes trying to bum cigarettes while speaking some drunken Aussie jibberish . Along the wander we came across a statue commemorating all the brave young Maltese people that came to Australia to settle ? Very interesting to see something so random but this won’t be the only strikingly random occurrence for me in Fremantle . When we got on the ferry we were offered a free beer which made everything better when it came to thinking of the cost of this trip 👍 and it eased my mind as I hate being on boats . 

As we crossed the Indian Ocean the water was really rough and all I thought about is how fast I would die if the boat were to capsize ... I would firstly freeze to death in the water and there is no way I would be able to swim to either shore and if that was not any helpful I would more then likely become shark food . Yes I hate being on the water ... unless it’s frozen . When we arrived we could see the bike rental places locking up and the reality of hiking to this pink lake was coming to fruition . The highlight of this visit was seeing the amazing little Quokka’s , they are little marsupials that look like a cross between a kangaroo , rat and rabbit . And they only live on this island and I think another island on the whole planet . Amazingly friendly little things that are very docile and not afraid of humans at all . I was so amazed by them but the task at hand was to make this hike see the lake take a picture and turn back . It got windy ....fast ! Now this is one of those moments in my life where I was not sure if I made the right decision . As we were hiking the last couple bicyclists drove by us frantically heading back for cover and there we were walking into the storm with T-shirt and shorts on and it was so windy I had to hold my hat instead of wearing it on my head . I could only imagine those cyclists thinking wtf is wrong with these two people and one even warned us to turn back . We ignored the warning and kept going as we were getting more and more scared that the sky might open up and piss rain on us with the sun disappearing we would be stuck wandering in the dark alone on an island we have never been on . Kinda crazy to think we were close to having this happen to us but thankfully it didn’t . Oh we got to see that pink lake ... it wasn’t pink 🤨 apparently the sun needs to be shining a different way or some bullshit . On our hike we passed that crazy scary looking graveyard .... 13 people buried there and most of them were children and the graves were all from the 1800’s .... very very creepy . Good thing we didn’t end up being 14 & 15 . 

When we got back to the ferry dock we had some time to kill so we headed to this restaurant/bar there called Thomsons Rottnest where I had a couple Little Creatures IPA’s which were good and Kathleen had a gin and tonic with pomegranate garnishing which was very good . When our ferry arrived we boarde and with a happy buzz going we enjoyed the very bumpy ride back to Fremantle where it was cold , windy and raining ... what a mess ! We already had planned to go to the Little Creatures  brewpub and grab us some grub so we hiked it over to grab some dinner before heading back to our prison cell ....I’m not joking we really did stay in a prison cell ! Anyways when we finally made it to the brewpub we ordered some oysters which were ok but nothing special and then split a pizza which was actually quite good .... the place was pretty packed when we got there and it’s huge inside but by the time we were leaving the crowd had dispersed . Definitely was well worth visiting this place but now we have to brave the cold , wet and very windy weather . 

Hopefully we will experience some paranormal activity tonight ! The guy at the front desk said some people leave early .... I don’t think we will but who knows ? I guess you will all find out when I write my next post . Muah ah ah ! 

A Day Wasted

The morning we left Dunedin on our long ass trip to Perth we had a shuttle booked and usually we are told an exact time but this shuttle service told us to be in the lobby between 8-830 am . At 7:50 am our hotel room phone rings ... our shuttle is waiting for us ? Ok bags are packed just have to leave , we head downstairs without a moment to spare and our driver is gone ??? But there is another driver from the same company with his vehicle waiting for another passenger . And why were we rushed down for the driver to only leave ? The other driver says he has no clue and calls in to see if the other driver is returning which apparently she is . Ok so we wait but this is one of those hurry up and wait moments which is the norm at home when I’m getting paid to work but not exactly cool on my holidays . Our driver finally arrives and she’s all over the place and has one of her pickups even no show because they were told they would be picked up between 730-8 and we arrived at 815 and they apparently took a taxi instead .

We got to the airport with time to spare but haven’t had a coffee and Kathleen is not in a good mood without her morning java and I could use one also . Time to check in and drop my bags which last week I dealt with by having to make a long distance call to Aeroplan to fix my baggage situation . Pretty sure I mentioned in a previous blog post that I had Air New Zealand charge me $160 for my bags to Auckland from Sydney and they told me to call in for the next flight to make it cheaper which is horrible but I did call regardless and paid $35 for my sticks to travel to Dunedin and then tried to book my sticks for this flight to Perth but Aeroplan booked my trip with 1 bag for the first flight to Wellington and 2 bags for the other two connecting flights which made it messy for them to deal with so that is why I had to call Aeroplan long distance and talk to them for a half hour to get that other bag booked for the initial flight which they said they did and reissued my ticket to me so you would think when I was trying to check in that my additional bag would be on file ! No it wasn’t !!! And when I went to add it at the kiosk the machine wanted me to pay $250 ... my heart stopped . I asked the woman overlooking the kiosks and she was a bit confused so she called her manager and after some explanation she waived the fees and told me that I shouldn’t have paid $160 from Sydney to Auckland and in fact should have been charged much less as it’s considered a light item . She was super friendly but I really hate knowing I’ve been scammed .... it’s in the past now and too late . We haven’t even jumped on our first flight and I’ve already had two shitty things occur and Kathleen still hasn’t had a coffee .

Sorry for the lack of photos as I wasn’t really in the mood to take pictures dealing with all this nonsense and having the burden of not enjoying a cup of java yet . We cleared security probably too early thinking there would be a coffee shop inside the terminal which was also a no go and then waited for our first flight to Wellington . It’s only an hour flight and I started watching this new show on Netflix called The Titans which I might add is pretty good . Best thing I did for this trip was buying an iPad to load up with tv shows and movies to fill in the time on these short flights with no inflight entertainment . When we arrived in Wellington we darted right to a coffee shop and got our fix then grabbed some feed as our kiwi friends would say . Unfortunately the feed we partook in was supposed to be a hot dog 🌭 but was more like a sausage with what I would call questionable meat that even the people serving didn’t know what it was ...is this beef ? Or lamb ? Or pork ? Or what ! I can’t remember the name of the place but regardless I wouldn’t eat there again ... maybe these long days take effect on me as I’m writing this I notice it feels as though I’m writing some hate mail that I’m sharing for approval but hopefully it’s not coming across like that and is more of a tutorial of what not to do . 

I almost forgot to mention that before our first flight we received an email from our neighbour in Toronto letting us know that our Co2 alarm has been going off for days back home . Wtf ! We kept corresponding over the whole day and this issue hung over our heads like a storm cloud ☁️ oh the stress knowing this and the head scratching involved as our amazing neighbour John did his best to figure out the problem as I’m sure the alarm is being heard throughout the neighbourhood . Nothing we can do aside from hoping for the best and assisting by corresponding promptly . I think we owe him a nice bottle when we get back . Or a solid dinner or whatever to make up for his efforts . Next flight is to Auckland ... that flight again has no inflight entertainment and I continue watching Netflix and worrying about our issues back home . When we arrived in Auckland we had to leave the domestic terminal and find our way to the international terminal to catch our next flight after clearing security and all that non sense and when we finally boarded our plane we found out the seating arrangement was wrong because Air New Zealand is renting this plane from Singapore Airways and it’s got a different seating plan ... so instead of sitting in a row of two we had a young fella that sat beside us and he was no problem at all . We found out a strange thing though ... even though this was a 7 hour flight and you would expect to be fed based on the amount of money one spends to fly these long international flights this airline charges $40 for meals !!! Ours were included without us even knowing as they were booked through Aeroplan points we have saved but this poor fella opted to say no to paying that ridiculous fee and he also told us inflight entertainment was another charge but he was lucky because his screen actually worked . Imagine having to pay money for a flight and not on the cheap then being asked to pay for extra luggage and your meal and to even watch a movie ? Shame on you Air New Zealand ! SHAME !!! Our food was crap and we offered it to the fella sitting beside us and he gladly accepted it , the movie I watched was Deadpool 2 which I’ve seen before but this was like watching one of those old burned DVD copies that someone sat in a theatre to record illegally . The sound was horrible and the picture was distorted . If I had to pay extra for this I would be very disappointed and if I was Air New Zealand I would be embarrassed for charging anyone for this subpar shit . It’s a good thing some of your employees are good people , not all but some ... I’m looking at you Mrs. I’m gonna charge you $160 for your sticks woman . Grrrr ! 

When we landed it was after 10 pm Perth time but after 3 am Dunedin time , we have travelled for more then 17 hours from when we started off at our hotel and now we have to take a taxi to our hotel in Perth CBD . Can you believe that all the taxis we approached didn’t want to take us with my bags ? No joke ! We found a taxi that was confused why no one took us and he gladly took us and said that they have all been sitting there for a long time waiting for people to jump in and he felt lucky to get a fare . He was probably the 15th taxi in the row and would have been there forever . He got us to our hotel which is the Holiday Inn on Hay St . it cost me around $45 and we got into our hotel and finally went to bed . What a long friggin day that was .... I don’t think I would organize this trip like this if I could go back in time . Not the greatest idea wasting a full day travelling like this so if you’re reading this planning a trip like this just don’t do it ! As I said I’m not bitching but rather trying to educate you all with my mistakes .