Rocky Mountaineer: Vancouver - Kamloops

Mom and I were up bright and early for our Rocky Mountaineer First Passage to the West two day train journey from Vancouver to Banff. When we arrived at the Vancouver Rocky Mountaineer Train Station around 6:45 am we were greeted by the friendly staff who brought our bags to the check in counter to tag them for the hotels we would be staying at over the next two nights. The train station was big and filled with sunlight and you could get drinks and lounge around watching clips of the journey on large screens while a piano player played in the background. 

Before boarding the train they gathered everyone together at the front of the hall for a departure ceremony with a bagpiper. After the call of "all aboard" everyone headed to their designated train carriage and as we departed at 8:00 am all the Rocky Mountaineer staff were outside waving us farewell on our journey. We were in the SilverLeaf Service single level dome car and had assigned seats near the front of the carriage. There was lots of leg room and large windows to peer out of to see all the scenery. You could also go out back to the outside platform where we entered to take pictures as well. 

Each carriage has three dedicated staff - we had sisters Katie and Tracey as our servers and tour guides, and Jordan cooking all our meals. One thing about the Rocky Mountaineer is that you will never go thirsty or hungry. They are constantly serving you throughout the day. The food was hot and excellent. For breakfast we got a cinnamon scone then three cheese omelette with chicken sausage, skillet potatoes and roasted tomatoes. For lunch we had a sliced tomato salad and grilled salmon with a creamy dill sauce, garlic mashed potatoes and roasted root vegetables. For dessert there was a chocolate brownie with fudge sauce, as well as snacks of mixed nuts and dried fruit in between meals if you were interested. 

For today's journey we traveled from Vancouver to Kamloops, which was 460 km/285 miles. We began with the green agricultural region of the Fraser Valley and the sight of our first mountain - Mount Baker.

As we climbed into the Cascade Mountains it got very green and lush, and then we saw Hell's Gate, which is the narrowest part of the Fraser River in the canyon.

Next we hit the Cisco Crossings, where the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National train lines cross the Fraser River on an orange arched bridge.

As we traveled further we came through Lytton, where the Thompson and Fraser Rivers met and the water goes from muddy to clear.

From here the landscape changes and becomes more dry and arid. The trees became more sparse as you went along and then it became more like a desert with all the brown rocks and slides.

On the way into the town of Kamloops the Thompson River widened into the massive Kamloops Lake. As we traveled around it we kept an eye out for animals on the hills and saw a few mountain goats along the way.

We made really good time during the day, and as the Rocky Mountaineer pulled into Kamloops we were greeted by the volunteer Kamloops Mounted Patrol. They come out with their horses to welcome train passengers into town.

Everything was very well organised as we departed the train. We got on our designated motorcoach and then drove the short distance to the Thompson Hotel and Conference Centre, where everyone was already checked in and had their bags waiting for them in the room. Mom and I grabbed dinner next door at The Noble Pig Brewhouse, and then got to sleep as it was another early start with a 6:15 am departure back to the Rocky Mountaineer in the morning.

Vancouver- Granville Island

I have been wanting to do a trip to Canada for a while now, and being in the States in late spring provided the perfect opportunity to finally go. My Mom and I flew up to Vancouver midday today ahead of leaving on the Rocky Mountaineer train tomorrow morning, so only had this afternoon in the city to see some sights. As we were staying downtown at the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel we took a walk down Hornby Street to the dock to catch the cute little Aquabus across to Granville Island.

Granville Island is a bit of an arts precinct with its theaters and artisan studios along Railspur Alley. We saw some great public art from the Vancouver Biennale with a mural of six characters on gigantic concrete silos called Giants by Brazilian twins Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo. The island also has a great Public Market with fresh local food, products and other goodies you can sample or purchase from the various stalls (sort of a mini Queen Victoria Market).

There are a few different venues to sit down and eat at on Granville Island and we decided to have dinner at Edible Canada, which utilises the best local and seasonal ingredients for its dishes. My Mom had the BBBB burger with duck fat frites and I ate the crispy skinned wild salmon with bacon glazed spring beans, smoked fingerling potatoes, beet and apple reduction. The food was fresh and tasty. 

There were so many other areas of Vancouver I would love to explore if I had more time, but for an afternoon adventure Granville Island was a good place to go, especially on a sunny day.

Oscar de la Renta: The Retrospective

It is the last few days of the Oscar de la Renta: The Retrospective exhibition at the de Young museum in San Francisco so I was lucky to be able to go see it today with Lynne. Originally from the Dominican Republic, de la Renta came to New York City in the 1960s where he began designing for Elizabeth Arden before starting his own label a few years later.

The exhibition features more than 130 ensembles from de la Renta's career, although it mainly seemed to focus on the 2000s. He is best known for his amazing ball gowns which were worn not only by First Ladies but also Hollywood celebrities during awards season. Each room of the exhibition is based around a different theme, and as is the case with most fashion exhibitions, it is a great opportunity to see the craftsmanship of his designs up close.

There is a video room where you can see two short films about de la Renta, which give you insight into his personality and the things he was passionate about. The exhibition closes on 30 May so if you are in the City be sure to get down there this weekend to check it out.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

On our drive back to the Bay Area we stopped in Monterey so that I could visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I was last there when I was in primary school, so it was exciting to go back and see the present day exhibitions. Our first stop was for the feeding of the sea otters, which happens three times a day and always attracts a big crowd. The sea otters were very playful with each other and fun to watch.

The mission of the aquarium is to educate people and inspire conservation of the ocean. There are hands on areas such as the touch pools as well as a variety of exhibitions that showcase the local ecosystems of the Monterey Bay and California coast.

My favorite exhibition was Jellies with all the different varieties of jellyfish. They looked so beautiful behind the safety of the glass as they gently floated through the water.

Viva Baja was also an interesting exhibition and featured the garden eel - which sticks out of the sand and looks like sea grass. It also has Pacific seahorses and some beautiful coral.

Hearst Castle

If you are traveling around the California central coast one stop you have to make is at Hearst Castle in San Simeon. Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hurst worked with architect Julia Morgan to build this amazing hilltop estate from 1919 to 1947. Its style is Mediterranean Revival and the estate is filled with art and antiques that Hearst collected throughout the years.

The drive up the hill to Hearst Castle is an amazing sight in itself. It's hard to imagine how they put in the road, let alone brought up all the materials to build the estate. The views of the coast are fantastic, and there is a lot to see on the grounds.

There are two different pools on the grounds. The Neptune Pool is located outside, and is currently empty as it is undergoing repairs. This gives you a unique opportunity to see its white marble floor.

The other pool is the indoor Roman Pool, which was built using more than a million Murano glass tiles. It is beautiful and over the top in its design.

In order to see inside the buildings you need to book into tours, which are $25 each and last around an hour. Our first tour was the Grand Rooms Tour, which takes you through the main downstairs rooms of Casa Grande, including the Assembly Room, Refectory, Billiard Room and Theater. The rooms are quite dark and gothic with the wood ceilings, old church pews and tapestries hanging from the walls.

The second tour we did was the Upstairs Suites Tour, which allowed you to see the living and working quarters of Casa Grande, as well as bedrooms for guests and Mr. Hearst himself. This tour takes you up the winding staircases to the top levels of the house and the tour guide provides you with interesting stories about what it was like to actually be a guest of Hearst. It was quite fascinating and definitely the better of the two tours we went on.

When we returned back down to the Visitor Center we went to the Hearst Castle Theater to watch the 40 minute movie Hearst Castle - Building The Dream about the Hearst family and the building of the estate. The film is a mixture of reenactments with actors and some original film footage that paints Hearst in a very favorable light (aka no mention of the mistress who lived across the hall from him at Hearst Castle). If you plan to visit do give yourself most of the day to explore the grounds and take in the different tours.

California Central Coast

There are many small towns that dot the coast of California as you drive along Highway 1. While we were in the central coast we stopped at a few of them during this trip. We based ourselves in Cambria at the Fogcatcher Inn, which is located just across the street from Moonstone Beach. There you can stroll along the 1.5 mile boardwalk that gives you great views of Moonstone Beach and the ocean, as well as some encounters with ground squirrels that may pop up along the boardwalk.

The coastal town of Cayucos is where my cousin had her wedding. Its downtown area is quite cute and you can get some fresh cookies from the Brown Butter Cookie Company. Their original brown butter sea salt cookie is one of the best I have ever tasted. You can hit the beach or walk out along the pier for a great view of the town and any surfers trying to catch a wave.

Further south along Highway 1 is Morro Bay, where you can get up close to Morro Rock via Coleman Park. The rock dominates the coast line so it was nice to be able to walk around part of its base for a different perspective.

Finally, if you head north to San Simeon you can visit not only Hearst Castle, but also the elephant seal rookery at Piedras Blancas. We were able to see hundreds of elephant seals lying on the beach as it is currently molting season. It was such an amazing sight and one of the highlights of the trip.

Mercedes and Damon's Wedding

One of the main reasons for my trip to the States was for my cousin Mercedes' wedding to Damon. We drove down to Cayucos on the California central coast yesterday and caught up with family members ahead of today's big day. The wedding took place at the Swallow Creek Ranch in Cayucos, with the ceremony up on a hill overlooking the coast. Thankfully we had a shuttle to get us to the site - otherwise I would have been trekking uphill on a dirt road in heels!

My niece and nephew were the flower girl and ring bearer, so it was great to see them head down the aisle ahead of Mercedes and my uncle Tom. The ceremony itself was lovely, with some personalised vows thrown in by the bride and groom. After the ceremony wind swept pictures were taken up on the hill before everyone headed down to the barn for the reception. We had a cocktail hour outside where you could choose between the bride and groom's signature drinks before heading inside to grab our table assignments from a card catalogue.

The barn was a beautiful rustic setting, with a buffet for dinner and dessert table filled with cookies and mini cupcakes. Speeches were made by both families as well as the maid of honor and best man before we all hit the dance floor. My nephew broke out some spectacular dance moves which I'm sure will make the video. We got our obligatory cousins photo (which has expanded with the new babies in the family) and I hit the photo booth with my brother and nephew before heading off the ranch for our hotel. It was another fun family wedding and great to be able to catch up with everyone in one place.

Eurovision 2016

It's the middle of May so that means it is once again time for the Eurovision Song Contest, which was held this year in Stockholm, Sweden. After watching the Semi Finals on delay Friday and Saturday night I was up early in the morning to catch the Grand Final live- well, at least most of the performances before I had to leave for the airport.

Before boarding my plane to the States, this year's winner was announced - Jamala from Ukraine performing the politically charged "1944," a song about the deportation of the Crimean Tatars by Stalin (and with obvious parallels to Russia's treatment of Crimea in the present day).


Once again that little nation of battlers, Australia, was able to send an entry to Eurovision, with Dami Im absolutely slaying her performance of the power ballad "Sound Of Silence." We came in second place (and would have won if the voting system hadn't changed this year).


Since by Eurovision rules I am not allowed to vote for my adopted country, my top three this year were as follows:

12 points: Douwe Bob (The Netherlands) with "Slow Down," a nice little alt-country song.


10 points: Laura Tesoro (Belgium) with "What's The Pressure," a great r&b groove track to dance around to (and it sounds a bit like Kimbra's "Miracle").


8 points: Amir (France) with "J'ai Cherche," a nice song with a very catchy chorus.


Note: normally I would upload the live performances from the Grand Final, but the Eurovision TV You Tube channel is blocking the videos in some countries, so I have gone with the original videos.

The hosts Mans Zelmerlow (last year's winner) and Petra Mede did a fantastic job, and in a very meta moment during the Grand Final interval they discussed the required elements for the perfect Eurovision performance and sang their created song "Love, Love, Peace, Peace."

The Basics Present The Songroom

The Basics have begun a new venture on Wednesdays in May at the Northcote Social Club with The Songroom. Each week features Kris and Tim playing along with two other artists in the round with special guest MC Jess McGuire.

4 May

It was a small and intimate gathering of punters for the very first Songroom event. Kris and Tim started things off with The Basics classic "Home Again." This evening's special guests were Kiwi singer/songwriter Skyscraper Stan (Skyscraper Stan and the Commission Flats) and Felicity Cripps (Hoy, Slow Galo). Each artist played a couple of their own songs, with Jess McGuire interviewing them in between tracks. Stan's love of Americana and Delta Blues suddenly became a running joke about "Delta Goodrem Blues" throughout the night. We also learned that Felicity is the songwriter in the Heath/Cripps household, but Tim contributes music (and does the dishes). There were numerous lesser known cover songs played from a range of artists, including Johnny Cash, The Triffids, The Everly Brothers, Elton John, Stevie Nicks, David Bowie and Joni Mitchell. The final song for the night was Crowded House's "It's Only Natural." It was a good first attempt at a format that I'm sure they will iron out over the coming weeks.

11 May

I think tonight's gig had at least twice as many audience members as last week. The Northcote Social Club provided bean bags for people to sit on and the "in the round" was lit by a series of large and small desk lamps. Kris and Tim began the evening with a cover of John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over" as a way to ease some tensions between the two of them from the previous week. The special guests tonight were William Crighton and Angie Hart (Frente!). The show went much smoother as there was a set list and it seemed like everyone's parts in each song had been arranged ahead of time. Jess McGuire's interview questions between songs were quite insightful, covering such topics as Cold Chisel's "Khe Sanh," the writing process, and what it was like for Angie to have fame at such an early age with Frente!. William and Angie each played a couple of their own songs as well as some covers, with highlights being Angie's duet with Tim on "Little Bridges" (a song she co-wrote with Mark Seymour), Smokey Robinson and The Miracles' "You Really Got A Hold On Me," Frente!'s "Ordinary Angels," William's song "Priest" and The Bangles' "Walk Like An Egyptian." They finished the evening with "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" by Stevie Nicks.

There are two more weeks of the The Songroom remaining so if you are in Melbourne be sure to check it out.

Sarah Blasko- Eternal Return Tour

Sarah Blasko's latest album Eternal Return is a bit of a departure from her previous albums with its more electronic feel and songs about love. Onagh and I were looking forward to seeing her bring these tracks to life at tonight's show at The Forum. We arrived as the second act Jack Colwell and his band were on the stage. While obviously talented, his performance was a bit over the top at times, and included a dramatic cover of Divinyls' "I Touch Myself."

Sarah Blasko and her band were all dressed in black as they took to the stage and started the evening with "I Am Ready." The first half of the set was songs from her new album, with highlights being "Better With You," "I'd Be Lost," "Say What You Want" and "Maybe This Time." Sarah was in a good mood and she danced around the stage throughout the night (attributing this to the fact she was wearing tap shoes). It was nice to hear some older songs, including "Always Worth It" from her first album The Overture And The Underscore, "All I Want," "We Won't Run" and "No Turning Back" from As Day Follows Night, and I Awake's "Cast The Net" and "Here," which was played in an acoustic style at the front of the stage and had the venue listening silently.  

For an encore Sarah honored the recent passing of Prince with a cover of Martika's "Love... Thy Will Be Done" (written by Martika and Prince) while bathed in purple light. She then played "I Wanna Be Your Man" and the fabulous "Luxurious" before finishing the night with "I Awake." It was another fantastic show by Sarah, and great to see her so happy in her life.

Here's the video for "I Wanna Be Your Man"

Where To Invade Next

I am a long time fan of Michael Moore, so was excited to get the chance to see his latest film Where To Invade Next when it opened here in theaters. In this film Moore "invades" different countries not to claim them for America, but to bring back their great ideas. This included things such as paid annual leave from Italy, healthy school meals from France, high performing schools from Finland, free university education from Slovenia, the rehabilitation of prisoners as in Norway, decriminalisation of drugs from Portugal, women's rights as in Tunisia, educating children about the horrors of the past as in Germany, and the prosecution of bankers that caused the GFC as done in Iceland.

As Moore learns about these great ideas it is pointed out that many of them first originated in America. While the United States has lost its way over time, affordable healthcare and the legalisation of gay marriage have happened in the last few years. In addition, presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders is bringing many of these ideas to the fore as part of his political revolution to take back the country from the establishment.

For me, many of these ideas are not as far fetched living in Australia. We have universal healthcare and I have four weeks of paid annual leave each year with my job (plus three months long service leave after 10 years). Women have paid maternity leave, and many of my colleagues usually take a year off work to care for their baby. While higher education may not be free, the Commonwealth's loan program means you don't have to pay fees up front and only begin paying back the loan as a percentage of your income when you start earning over $54,000. There are some ideas from the film that would be useful though, particularly confronting the country's treatment of its first peoples and the continuing racism that is a result of White Australia policy in the past.

MICF- Celia Pacquola and Velvet

I've been to a lot of shows over the course of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and the past two evenings have been my final ones for this year. On Monday night I went to see Celia Pacquola in The Looking Glass at the Comedy Theatre. Celia is a veteran of MICF and has branched out into acting with the comedy Utopia and drama The Beautiful Lie on the ABC. However, she joked that if someone as messed up as her can have that kind of success, imagine what a person with their life together could do. Celia's show mainly covered her being a single woman, love for beer, visits to a cat cafe, and a hilarious hate read of a passage from Miranda Kerr's book "Treasure Yourself." The ending was a very funny throwback to a story from the start of the show.

Tonight I headed down to the Malthouse Theatre for the disco cabaret show Velvet. The room was pumping from the start with DJ Joe Accaria playing music to get people in the mood. The show is set in a Studio 54-esque nightclub as a young conservatively dressed man (Brendan Maclean) wanders in and is intrigued by who he encounters. The cast is a hugely talented group that includes an acrobat, aerialist, hula boy, muscle man, two female backup singers and the legendary Marcia Hines.

Each member of the cast had their own moment to shine, with hula boy Craig Reid a real stand out. Marcia Hines nailed her vocals, but my favorite moment was Brendan Maclean's touching stripped back version of "Stayin' Alive" on ukulele. By the end of the show Maclean's character has transformed and is dancing around in a sequin jumpsuit with large feather collar. Velvet is a fantastic and entertaining show that will literally have you grooving even after it is finished - it's the only show I've ever been to where the audience stuck around to dance.