Neglecting the blog...

Hey everyone!
OK, don't hate us for neglecting you and the blog. Adrian and I have been fairly busy lately... just with work and trying to get a bit of sleep and stuff. We're slackers! Adrian's off checking out a van right now (yippee!) and I just helped put a fourth issue of the Gazette to bed (yay and phew!). It's time to have a little relax and say hi to you at home.

What's happening here? Still colder than ever. Raining lots. Our friend Hanne is leaving Port on Friday (and heading back to Denmark this week... we're very sad) and said she LOST all of her fabulous South American tan in this crazy little Aussie beach town. It's true! We won't be making anyone jealous with our beachiness, it's been anything but suntanning weather. Fingers crossed it gets better in time for the big road trip (July/August).

Adrian's still working at the construction site and is amazed they measure everything in millimetres here. I survived last week as the only reporter at the Gazette, and nearly died but got it finished with much help from my amazing editor, Susannah. But now I'm about ready for a vacation!

We went out stalking Pink last weekend, sort of on assignment from the Gazette. Rumour had it she was in Port Douglas (staying with friends) and people thought she might hit up a couple of local spots. Adrian, Mark and Karen and I were out late looking for that cheeky singer who just never showed up. Instead, we used the newsroom camera to take funny pics of ourselves. So much for being the papparazzi!

And we have to recommend a great Australian movie to everyone-- it was recommended to us. It's called Gettin' Square... quite a funny action/mobster/Ocean's 11 type deal that takes place on the Gold Coast (which seems to be the Oz L.A.). Sometimes you have to put the subtitles on (the accents!) but it was a really cool flick. Fairly new, too. Check it out and tell us what you think.

Hope you're all celebrating Canada Day this weekend... we're gonna get out the beer and have a proper barbeque, don our Jays caps and Canada flag tattoos and say "eh" a lot. Cheers!

Working life

Hope the weather is still fantastic back in Canada. It's actually gotten a bit chilly here lately (yeah yeah, laugh at us if you want- chilly for us is now 22 degrees or so). One girl at work even came into the office last Monday in a puffy, fur-trimmed vest. But, it seems to warming up, just in time for our first day of winter!
Life at the newspaper is busy, crazy, getting insane. This coming week I am the only reporter there (yipe!) and I also have a work experience student (think high school co-op) to "show the ropes". Ha! I don't even know the ropes myself. It's going to be an adventure. If you want the hottest news here, well, I'm right on top of it. I get to cover exciting things like the start of sugarcane harvest season, the birth of a tree kangaroo (actually, she just stuck her head out of the pouch, which I learned was a big deal), and the election of a new fire station officer (like a fire chief, to Canada). I got to try out this really cool "hydrotherapy massage bed" for a story... it's like a waterbed/Jell-O/bathtub thingie that has water jets and coloured lights inside and you lay in it and afterwards feel fantastic! In fact, I couldn't get any work done on friday after my 5 minutes in that thing. I was that relaxed. We all need one at home! (It's called an Ocean Wave)

And the other funny thing about Port is that it's SUCH a small town it's ridiculous. Just a few examples...
a) Needing to find a model for the photo shoot of the spa bed, I ask my roomie Karen. She's OK with it but not sure if she has to work. I interview the spa owner, Renee. She says she'll try to find someone. I get a call from Karen later that afternoon... turns out she works with Renee at another hotel (where Renee is opening another spa) and the whole model/friend/co-worker relationship is just all over the place there. So we all had a good time Saturday at the photo shoot, and laughed about the small world we live in...(and of course I run into Renee at the grocery store tonight)
b) I run into my good buddy the fire station officer, who I talk to on the phone about 3 times on Friday, that same evening at the bar. I also find co-workers from the Gazette there at a table, with his daughter who I worked with at a one-off waitressing gig, not to mention all the people we know from Dougies Backpackers.
There's more... it just keeps on going. Maybe it's time to leave once you know everyone in town! more later.... luv, D

Old creepiness in Port

Spooky pirate-ish tombstone... yarrrrr
Originally uploaded by bigquestionmarks.

Adrian thinks I'm morbid for having a fascination with this particular gravestone in Port Douglas Cemetary. Maybe I am, but I ride my bike by it every morning and am totally drawn to it. And now I know why. Everyone and everything seems to have a connection in Port Douglas. (Much like a Stephen King town, come to think of it!)

I've finished 3 days at the Port Douglas & Mossman Gazette now, and the paper we just put out today has an article that very much relates to this grave... and maybe it's since I had to spend yesterday in Mossman court, hearing about smallish crimes and fantasizing about the drama that could be happening instead...well, here's the deal:

This so-called "treacherous murder" of William Thomson was allegedly committed by his wife, Elizabeth Thomson. And though she claimed innocence to the end, Elizabeth became the only woman ever hanged in Queensland, back on June 13, 1887. The story goes she was executed with her supposed lover, John Harrison, and now they're both buried side by side in unmarked graves in Brisbane, while William gets a fancy, dramatic monument in the graveyard here. And now a local actor/artist/director here is making a play about it. Cool! (Makes me think of the Salem witchhunts). I'll definitely have to go see the play. And that's my weird tidbit of the day... hope you enjoyed a little piece of Australiana!
Love D.
PS. I'm about to start reading "Crackpots, Ratbags and Rebels: A Swag of Aussie Eccentrics" by Robert Holden. I'm sure there will be some more tales to come... :)

Weird twists of fate

So lately we've had trouble keeping up with our new schedule of power walks, canasta, and shuffleboard. Time for an update!

Thanks to everyone who voted & watched our monkey video on Lonely Planet's website. We made it to the finals, thanks to you! Winners are announced on June 11-- time to get out our four-leaf clovers.

After finishing a superfun couple of days with our German "Echucan" friend Birte, we flitted off for an awesome weekend in Cairns-- shopping and gallavanting around "the big city." We even got to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3... which Adrian thought was "delightfully entertaining" (thanks, Ebert) and Dayle, of course, fell asleep in (but just for a minute!). We felt like real road trippers and even managed to get the very same room-with-a-hammock at Travellers Oasis. We even snuck in a snack of McDonald's fries, and a little Baskin Robbins. Ah, civilization!

In other news, Adrian helped complete a huge deck at a soon-to-be opened beachside restaurant, and usually comes home covered in paint and sawdust. Dayle was about to move onto a better housekeeping job in the Sheraton's villas, when fate came a-knockin'. By Friday she landed a 6-week contract at the local newspaper (The Port Douglas & Mossman Gazette) as a reporter. Sweet! She had to quit her new housekeeping job before even starting, and today was her first day back in the newsroom. It all began with a cool photo op of the beach finally opening up for swimming and a huge pissed-off crab. (But no more stingers!)

Port Douglas is still hot as hell in "wintertime," so we got a DVD player... and Adrian is silly with glee over getting to rent Aussie classic The Proposition.
Off to watch some more movies...Love, D&A
PS. Check out our pics of Koh Tao (our dive trip in Thailand) on Flickr. Bat videos and more Aussie photos to come!