The other night was our pizza Tuesday on Wednesday night and I had Sol e Luna 1/2 set up in the backyard almost ready for a evening of pizza and atmosphere when L said hey we should eat near the water. So we did. We always have these camping chairs in the back of the car so L made some salads we packed a few drinks and off we went to the Nightcliff foreshore (or the shoreline) which is a 2 minute drive from our place. We plunked our chairs right at the waters edge. The reason L wanted to go was that the tide was really high that night. Well one thing I like about Darwin is there are lots of places to just sit and eat and it's never really crowded. Now we have seagulls here but they seem to be watching their weight unlike the fatties we have in Canada. People are always fishing from the shore, although I've never seen anyone catch anything.
Here are some pictures that I've added to the Sol e Luna picture show.
The pictures make it look darker than it was, it's the flash. Well the pizza got cold quickly but that was ok, there was a strong breeze coming off the ocean that's why L is wearing a hoodie. Looks like she's becoming a Darwinian pretty fast feeling the cold which back in Canada we'd regard as great weather.
This past weekend we went to a place called Aquascene here in Darwin. It is a place where you can feed the fish. It was great fun, there were fish everywhere and lots of bread to chuck in. Some you could actually feed by hand and there was this one lonely Monk fish, one of our favourites from diving. Here is a video of L feeding the little critter he sure is cute.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
The Perils of Paul & Luna:Crocodile done deal
Well this weekend we saw our "FIRST CROCODILE". How did we see it ? Well we were driving along this dam, which was really a pile of dirt for a road and L looked in the water and there it was. Now it wasn't one of those jumping crocs, more like sitting in the sun waiting for a tourist to come along so I can eat him crocs.
We took some video, see below, and a few pictures, see belower. I must admit that the outback is really a lot of driving. The Ausies sure do contribute to global warming just going out for a little drive, when it comes to the outback because nothing it close. They also have this sneaky way of saying you're there, but you have another 45 minutes before your really there. We drove to a jumping croc place and the sign said "your here" but after a 1/2 hour drive down the dirt road at 20km/h we arrived for the lady to say the last boat left 30 minutes ago.
Good job L saw the other croc and we saved $35 each I guess. Another thing with the outback is the dust. The car was covered in dust inside and out. So thick you could scrape it with your finger.
After the croc sighting we were good and hungry so we went to a different buffet called Seafood on Cullen. It was very busy but we really didn't think it was as good as the Casino. But they had these neat food heater things that were magical, see video.
We also went to this place in Darwin where they have fish feeding. It was pretty cool. Unfortunately you could only get in with them on the boat ramp. which is pretty limiting and the lady was constantly reminding us of box jelly fish that can kill a child in 1 minute. No wonder parents were pushing there kids to the front of the dock. I have some video that I'll try to put up as well but we took so much that I may want to edit it down a little. We saw Henry the Cod and he was ugly and beautiful at the same time. He moved so slow. They gave us bread to feed the fish but Henry only liked fish scraps so he patiently waited for the presenter to throw him a scrap or two. Most of the time the other fish grabbed it before he could come up to the surface to take it. I think Henry didn't like the commotion on the surface it was just crazy. It is a definite recommend and we'll probably go again although it is hot out in the sun. They only do it in high tide and we need to look for a higher tide because yesterdays tide was not as high, kinda low actually. This really impeded feeding them from this other area as the water did not flood this other area to stand at so everyone had to stand at the dock. The place is called Aquascene, I think next time we'll go on a weekday when the kids are in school.
After eating at all these places that just seem to disappoint we tried a new place called Sol é Luna which I believe roughly translates to Luna's shoe. Don't quote me on that cause my Italian/Spanish isn't all that great. Ok so Sol é Luna is really our backyard fancied up with some bamboo citronella lamps, $2 each at Coles, a folding card table, $18 at Bunnings and a $10 table cloth. Who knew it was so cheap to start a restaurant? I think with all the lights and stuff we really almost have created a Caribbean paradise in Australia. The only down side is we had to clear the table ourselves, oh and cook the food, oh and put all the stuff away. But as you can see from the pictures it really looks nice. L says she wants to dine there every night, looks like I'll be washing lots of table clothes.
L's Facebook page is doing really well she is connecting with people from her old jobs back in Canada at York CAS, so if you're not a friend of L's on Facebook then friend her, she's actually got more friends than me now.
I'm working on a NEW combined Perils of Paul & Luna Facebook page I have lots of great ideas but none of them are working out but as soon as it's ready it'll be another thing to ignore haha
We took some video, see below, and a few pictures, see belower. I must admit that the outback is really a lot of driving. The Ausies sure do contribute to global warming just going out for a little drive, when it comes to the outback because nothing it close. They also have this sneaky way of saying you're there, but you have another 45 minutes before your really there. We drove to a jumping croc place and the sign said "your here" but after a 1/2 hour drive down the dirt road at 20km/h we arrived for the lady to say the last boat left 30 minutes ago.
Good job L saw the other croc and we saved $35 each I guess. Another thing with the outback is the dust. The car was covered in dust inside and out. So thick you could scrape it with your finger.
After the croc sighting we were good and hungry so we went to a different buffet called Seafood on Cullen. It was very busy but we really didn't think it was as good as the Casino. But they had these neat food heater things that were magical, see video.
We also went to this place in Darwin where they have fish feeding. It was pretty cool. Unfortunately you could only get in with them on the boat ramp. which is pretty limiting and the lady was constantly reminding us of box jelly fish that can kill a child in 1 minute. No wonder parents were pushing there kids to the front of the dock. I have some video that I'll try to put up as well but we took so much that I may want to edit it down a little. We saw Henry the Cod and he was ugly and beautiful at the same time. He moved so slow. They gave us bread to feed the fish but Henry only liked fish scraps so he patiently waited for the presenter to throw him a scrap or two. Most of the time the other fish grabbed it before he could come up to the surface to take it. I think Henry didn't like the commotion on the surface it was just crazy. It is a definite recommend and we'll probably go again although it is hot out in the sun. They only do it in high tide and we need to look for a higher tide because yesterdays tide was not as high, kinda low actually. This really impeded feeding them from this other area as the water did not flood this other area to stand at so everyone had to stand at the dock. The place is called Aquascene, I think next time we'll go on a weekday when the kids are in school.
After eating at all these places that just seem to disappoint we tried a new place called Sol é Luna which I believe roughly translates to Luna's shoe. Don't quote me on that cause my Italian/Spanish isn't all that great. Ok so Sol é Luna is really our backyard fancied up with some bamboo citronella lamps, $2 each at Coles, a folding card table, $18 at Bunnings and a $10 table cloth. Who knew it was so cheap to start a restaurant? I think with all the lights and stuff we really almost have created a Caribbean paradise in Australia. The only down side is we had to clear the table ourselves, oh and cook the food, oh and put all the stuff away. But as you can see from the pictures it really looks nice. L says she wants to dine there every night, looks like I'll be washing lots of table clothes.
L's Facebook page is doing really well she is connecting with people from her old jobs back in Canada at York CAS, so if you're not a friend of L's on Facebook then friend her, she's actually got more friends than me now.
I'm working on a NEW combined Perils of Paul & Luna Facebook page I have lots of great ideas but none of them are working out but as soon as it's ready it'll be another thing to ignore haha
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The Perils of Paul & Luna:Ants on a tight rope
A quick video of how the ants have used our string lights as their new bridge over our patio. Here they try to move a rather large insect, compared to themsleves that is.
Monday, September 19, 2011
The Perils of Paul & Luna: No work = Holiday
One rule we live by here in Darwin is that if you are not at work, you must be on holiday. So Monday to Friday holidays start as soon as L leaves work. Now today was an official holiday for her as she took off some time for time. Since we were going to relax we went to the Skycity casino for buffet lunch. We sat outside and had the whole outside to ourselves. So we changed seating twice. The second place had a breeze and a slightly better view.
Please check out the pictures below of our day. If you are interested see if you can find Waldo in our pictures.
Here are the pictures below
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.163315250420663.42502.100002265677558&l=b96bd5e419&type=1
Please check out the pictures below of our day. If you are interested see if you can find Waldo in our pictures.
Here are the pictures below
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.163315250420663.42502.100002265677558&l=b96bd5e419&type=1
Sunday, September 11, 2011
The Perils of Paul & Luna: Happy moon festival
Happy moon festival everyone and for our Vietnamese friends happy Tet Trung Thu which I think they just shorten to Tet (don't shoot me if I get this wrong).
Not much is happening here in Darwin but this last weekend we went to the Casino for the seafood BBQ. Well it wasn't what I expected they just BBQ'd it then stuck it in the warming trays for it to go all soggy. So a NOT RECOMMENDED. We later went into the Casino because they gave us each $10 for joining the casino (so the can send emails to me), let me tell you this is the quietest casino there is. The machines make just enough noise for you to hear it when you are sitting in front of it. Most machines are 1c, 2c. They have all the other expensive things like poker, roulette so I think the stakes are in the 10's dollar range.
So after loosing the car at Pokies (that's what they call slots) we went into the bar because there was a local band that play "good music", so the doorman told us. Well it was music we knew but not any good for dancing and since everyone was well on their way to being "corked" by 9pm (a little early) they pretty much would dance to anything. I had to convince L to stay around, I kept saying "they'll be better next set honest". Well the 3rd set was OK and we danced but we had to create the atmosphere.
I also said we need to get a BBQ, well to be truthful L said this 1 1/2 months ago, so we went and looked at the 2 places and chose one. Got it home out of the box 3 dents. 2 of the dents made it so you could not open the lid. Of course they close at 6pm on Saturday, and that's late for a store here. So the next day we exchanged it no hassles so, way to go Bunnings. Bunnings is just like Home Depot, we have one here in Darwin and one in Palmerston and from what I have learned if they don't have it in one store then drive to the other. It's like combined they make one complete store. One lady once said, when I was in the Palmerston store 1/2 hour away, "You drove all the way from the city?" ... like it was a long way.
Well during Moon Festival everyone will be eating cake,except us, because I don't even think it's even on the radar here in Darwin, we went to the market which is all Asians (Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese) and not one moon cake. It's funny here people do tend to take on the Auzie accent quicker than in Canada. Everything seems to be a little washed down more HERE than in Canada or San Jose, culture wise... as far as the Vietnamese culture that is. It's funny hearing a Vietnamese lady speak native Vietnamese on minute and be calling you a "bloke" or "mate" the next with the Auzie accent.
Not much is happening here in Darwin but this last weekend we went to the Casino for the seafood BBQ. Well it wasn't what I expected they just BBQ'd it then stuck it in the warming trays for it to go all soggy. So a NOT RECOMMENDED. We later went into the Casino because they gave us each $10 for joining the casino (so the can send emails to me), let me tell you this is the quietest casino there is. The machines make just enough noise for you to hear it when you are sitting in front of it. Most machines are 1c, 2c. They have all the other expensive things like poker, roulette so I think the stakes are in the 10's dollar range.
So after loosing the car at Pokies (that's what they call slots) we went into the bar because there was a local band that play "good music", so the doorman told us. Well it was music we knew but not any good for dancing and since everyone was well on their way to being "corked" by 9pm (a little early) they pretty much would dance to anything. I had to convince L to stay around, I kept saying "they'll be better next set honest". Well the 3rd set was OK and we danced but we had to create the atmosphere.
I also said we need to get a BBQ, well to be truthful L said this 1 1/2 months ago, so we went and looked at the 2 places and chose one. Got it home out of the box 3 dents. 2 of the dents made it so you could not open the lid. Of course they close at 6pm on Saturday, and that's late for a store here. So the next day we exchanged it no hassles so, way to go Bunnings. Bunnings is just like Home Depot, we have one here in Darwin and one in Palmerston and from what I have learned if they don't have it in one store then drive to the other. It's like combined they make one complete store. One lady once said, when I was in the Palmerston store 1/2 hour away, "You drove all the way from the city?" ... like it was a long way.
Well during Moon Festival everyone will be eating cake,except us, because I don't even think it's even on the radar here in Darwin, we went to the market which is all Asians (Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese) and not one moon cake. It's funny here people do tend to take on the Auzie accent quicker than in Canada. Everything seems to be a little washed down more HERE than in Canada or San Jose, culture wise... as far as the Vietnamese culture that is. It's funny hearing a Vietnamese lady speak native Vietnamese on minute and be calling you a "bloke" or "mate" the next with the Auzie accent.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
The Perils of Paul & Luna:Who needs a script ?
Well here is a little video that I created and posted to Facebook (of all places). Now why Facebook ? Well with my current internet service all Facebook traffic is free. That means I can upload videos. They must hate YouTube. So I thought I'd give it a try and see what happens. This will get posted to YouTube eventually.
Please enjoy watching me struggle.
Please enjoy watching me struggle.
The Perils of Paul & Luna:New Facebook page
Well I finally got around to creating a Facebook page for L and I. Now personally I hate Facebook, but I said I would do it and I did, so there's no telling if it will be updated or not. Now if you want to be our friend or whatever you are on Facebook then look us up our name is Paul N Luna. Our user name is ThePerilsOfPaulAndLuna only do this if you are a Facebook pro, then sure go add us as a friend. If you are not into Facebook don't worry all the good stuff will be on our blog and our YouTube site(s). But the blog is the place to start because if I post pictures, a video or send an email it all goes into the blog. That way you can always keep up and I'm sure you all are just sitting there just waiting to for my next email/blog update.
L's water plant was put in a new pot that's about 2feet deep and the leaves have grown about 1foot in 2 days to get to the top of the water. It's been quite amazing to monitor it's progress. But the possums discovered it (I figured it was too tricky for them to get on) and ate one of the leaves a bit so now we have to leave the laundry basket on top of it with a rock on top for weight every night.
The weather is starting to get more humid but nothing like I expect they've had in Toronto but it's coming and they tell us it'll be worse. Plus they say the wet season won't be as wet (sure we know weather predictions) so it'll be hot humid with no rain to remove the humidity. I'll keep you informed as the buildup (buildup to the wet) happens.
Oh and it's Domino's Pizza Tuesday night celebrated on Wednesday. Why Tuesday on Wednesday you ask ? Well Tuesday is a special price night at Domino's here but the place is such a zoo and the pizza we get is only 5cents cheaper on Tuesday we do it on Wednesday. Plus we have to save next Tuesday for 2 can dine for the price of 1 at the Casino.
You have to have these small things to look forward to here in Darwin since we don't have high speed internet, cable TV, water or electricity ... OK well it's not that primitive we have PowerWater (yup that's what they call it they combined it into one word).
L's water plant was put in a new pot that's about 2feet deep and the leaves have grown about 1foot in 2 days to get to the top of the water. It's been quite amazing to monitor it's progress. But the possums discovered it (I figured it was too tricky for them to get on) and ate one of the leaves a bit so now we have to leave the laundry basket on top of it with a rock on top for weight every night.
The weather is starting to get more humid but nothing like I expect they've had in Toronto but it's coming and they tell us it'll be worse. Plus they say the wet season won't be as wet (sure we know weather predictions) so it'll be hot humid with no rain to remove the humidity. I'll keep you informed as the buildup (buildup to the wet) happens.
Oh and it's Domino's Pizza Tuesday night celebrated on Wednesday. Why Tuesday on Wednesday you ask ? Well Tuesday is a special price night at Domino's here but the place is such a zoo and the pizza we get is only 5cents cheaper on Tuesday we do it on Wednesday. Plus we have to save next Tuesday for 2 can dine for the price of 1 at the Casino.
You have to have these small things to look forward to here in Darwin since we don't have high speed internet, cable TV, water or electricity ... OK well it's not that primitive we have PowerWater (yup that's what they call it they combined it into one word).
Monday, September 5, 2011
The Perils of Paul & Luna: Long Litchfield Drive
This past weekend we endured the long 1.5 hour drive to Litchfield park. This is a popular day trip for many Darwinians as well as other Australians.
They have camping there but the main draw is the waterfalls with the pools at the bottom. Now 1.5 hour drive only gets you to the gate of the park. In order to get to any of the water falls you have to drive another 45 minutes to get to the first falls. So it's a lot of driving. Well we went to the first falls (picture with the guy jumping) but it was small, crowded and cold. So we ate lunch there and promised we'd go in the next falls (honest). Well it was 130 steps back up and carting the lunch and stuff back up the stairs was pretty straining. Well L carted it down while I took pictures. Guess she's smarter than me to volunteer to go first.
The 2nd water fall another 30 minutes (at least from the first) was very nice as you can see from the pictures. The water was cool but was nice once you got in which we did quickly as there was many people watching. We wandered around the lake and we got to see some bats in the trees hanging upside down. Of course if we wanted bats we'd just go outside our house cause we have lots. Really the only interesting wildlife was the odd Cockatiel (parrot like bird), bats and some wild cows. Well they were on the road to start then they wandered in to the bush to eat it.
Needless to say it was a long ride for a swim it may have been better to go to the local pool. The local scenery is lots of sparsely leaved trees and red dirt. That goes on for pretty much miles. But it's nice to get away but this country is gonna be a lot of driving.
We have been looking at Diving in the great barrier reef maybe a 3 day/2 night on board a boat but we'll see.
Oh and L's plant that was eaten by the possums we put it in it's proper pot today. It had some leaves just starting to grow. When we put the plant 1 leaf was 4 inches below the top of the water now it's 1/2 inch. It has grown or stretched or something quite a lot in one day. Maybe it likes fresh water.
Here are the pictures here or click on the slideshow below for a bigger view.
They have camping there but the main draw is the waterfalls with the pools at the bottom. Now 1.5 hour drive only gets you to the gate of the park. In order to get to any of the water falls you have to drive another 45 minutes to get to the first falls. So it's a lot of driving. Well we went to the first falls (picture with the guy jumping) but it was small, crowded and cold. So we ate lunch there and promised we'd go in the next falls (honest). Well it was 130 steps back up and carting the lunch and stuff back up the stairs was pretty straining. Well L carted it down while I took pictures. Guess she's smarter than me to volunteer to go first.
The 2nd water fall another 30 minutes (at least from the first) was very nice as you can see from the pictures. The water was cool but was nice once you got in which we did quickly as there was many people watching. We wandered around the lake and we got to see some bats in the trees hanging upside down. Of course if we wanted bats we'd just go outside our house cause we have lots. Really the only interesting wildlife was the odd Cockatiel (parrot like bird), bats and some wild cows. Well they were on the road to start then they wandered in to the bush to eat it.
Needless to say it was a long ride for a swim it may have been better to go to the local pool. The local scenery is lots of sparsely leaved trees and red dirt. That goes on for pretty much miles. But it's nice to get away but this country is gonna be a lot of driving.
We have been looking at Diving in the great barrier reef maybe a 3 day/2 night on board a boat but we'll see.
Oh and L's plant that was eaten by the possums we put it in it's proper pot today. It had some leaves just starting to grow. When we put the plant 1 leaf was 4 inches below the top of the water now it's 1/2 inch. It has grown or stretched or something quite a lot in one day. Maybe it likes fresh water.
Here are the pictures here or click on the slideshow below for a bigger view.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)