Hi Everyone,

Well, thats us home and back to the grim reality of life in Scotland. We’ve probably already seen most of you, but apoogies to those in Glasgow that we haven’t caught up with yet. Those of you overseas, we promise to try and keep in touch.

Till Next Time….

Escapees Out

Yup -its true. We’ve booked the next trip already.This time to sunny Somerset (think thats how you spell it).

Julie and I are now in Seattle - home of coffee and grunge. Herading out soon to see what it has to offer.

We have just spent a nice few days visiting family in Victoria, Vancouver Island and before that we were cramming as much boarding in as we could with Jonny in Vancouver.

Looks like we will be home on the 16th. Justwaiting on confirmation from STA.

Took some photos recently.

Here they are:

Canada: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/julieturner84/album?.dir=30d3scd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Fiji:
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/julieturner84/album?.dir=3edfscd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Raro:
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/julieturner84/album?.dir=fd28scd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Later

Dave

The site has been down a bit recently. Our techy informs us that the web domain provider is being unaccomodating for some reason. Its a conspiracy man!!! Hopefully - all problems have been resolved. We will post somethng new very soon - i promise.

Hello one and all.

We are now back on the top side of the planet again and, my goodness, it’s a chilly place! But who cares about that when theres miles and miles of white stuff just waiting to be boarded down for days on end! Yes - we have just landed in Vancouver (yes US customs let us in) and are finally back in the part of the world where a pint of milk will not set you back a weeks wages.

The Pacific Islands were awesome! The weather was a bit mixed (particularly in Raro) but we had more good than bad. In Fiji we stayed at a resort on the Coral Coast called Beach House (the resort where Celebrity Love Island was filmed for all you weirdos that watch that trash). It was lovely - swimming pools with views of the beach (and the bar), island treks, Cava drinking, Volleyball, snorkelling, shark & wreck diving, coconut jewellery making, straw hat making… and that was just Monday - needless to say - we were rarely bored.

Raro was a lot more laid back and we were hindered a bit by tropical storms for 4 or 5 days but we got a good dose of sun at the beginning and the end. There is no other word for Raro but “Paradise” - gorgeous beaches, tropical rainforests and water so clear, its like being in a bath (not kidding).

Really loved both places - difficult to pick a favourite. Snowboarding is the only thing keeping us from staying there forever. (only kidding mum)

It was nice also to meet up with the rest of the guys but we are now split again. Jonny comes to Vancouver tomorrow for a couple of weeks of Extreme Boarding and then Julie and I will be heading to Vancouver Island and then on to the west coast of the US. Also hoping to catch up with our diving instructor - “Nathan” - who we haven’t seen since Thailand. Maybe catch him for St Paddys day on Saturday (think we might get a few drinks bought for us since , it seems, very few people can tell the difference between Irish and Scottish :-))

We have plenty of photos but that is a job for another day - maybe when i cant physically move any of my limbs from boarding so much.

Hope everyones ok - not long now to we see you all again.

Fish - congrats on the new job

Creanor - hopefully congrats on the new job

Well - heading out for dinner

Speak soon

Dave

Hi All,

We too are in the land of extreme… well everything. Even small things like sending emails take on a new meaning of craziness in this place. We are rockin it up in Wanaka at the moment. To say its gorgeous is to do it a diservice. Think alpine mountains, lake, small town, unbelievable fun and you might crack the surface. We have been busy too! Climbing glacier, surfing,climbing 5000ft mountains,climbing,etc etc. All in a days work for your average Kiwi apparantly. Off to Queentstown tomorrow - yes we havent even reached party town yet!

Well - like Jonny i wont go on- there will be plenty of time for that. Jonny - defo was thinking of you when we saw the “Extreme Danger” sign at the bottom of Franz Joseph Glacier.

Well- i’m off - think i heard someone saying there was a chance to do an underwater bungy out a helecopter on the moon later.

Peace, Love , Other

Dave

howdy do all

sorry its been so long but you know me. lately ive been havin a blast in new zealand ,and what a great place it is to. the scenery is unbelievable the people are cool and they love to invent crazy ways to spend your time jumping ,slideing,swinging off stuff .which as you may know is right up my street. o yea not to mention the fact it is actualy illegal not to drink loads of beer on a regular basis !! i wana live here.well i m gona come back for longer next time anyway. ive got my self another camera as the last one carked it so the photos will be coming soon.

sorry again for my lack of calls emails ect it just takes me ages to get anything done these days ,(yes ive got even lazyer)

stuff ive done so far in nz,swiming with dolphins,climbing,nevis 134m bungee(sic),climbing up a glacier ,drinking and er more climbing.

any way you wont here the end of it when i get home .so i,ll keep it short

miss you all loads

hope you are all good

jonny

Hope you have a good one!

ebo x

Here are some pics of xmas day in Freo!

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lema542000/album?.dir=9bb0scd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Ema & Lee xx

Well to start this post I would just like to wish everyone well for the new year & apologise for my absence. I havent forgotton about everyone just caught up in Freo (Fremantle) life, doing too much socialising, which mostly ends up in too much drinking which inevitably ends up in serious lack of communcation!

I hope everyone had as best an xmas as it could be,we had a great one, I wont brag, but champagne, lobster & lots of other treats were the main things going on that day! ( not too shabby!)

still miss the classic cold chrimbo though, it just feels like a christmas cast off over here, but Im not complaining, it was something to experience.

 After xmas we took off on a road trip down south, first stop Margaret River, for the surfer, wine & chillout enthusiasts.

Its a small beautiful town with wineries at every corner, we went on a wine tour (it would be rude not to) which was really good, learned how to appreciate the taste & not just guzzle a bottle. Although Jonny didnt get to do the wine tour for ”Dudes” he did manage to get through a day of red wine & white wine, he also bought a couple of bottles, so for those of you who know jonny, watch this space!

We were meant to of made it to Esperance the next day, passing through Albany, but we hit it pretty hard the night before around the campfire with our Wino buddies, we just couldnt go on any further so we stayed in Albany for a night, not a great deal going on but a lovely picturesque town all the same.

The following day we continued the drive to Esperance on New Years Eve, we made it by around 3pm so not a great deal of time to plan our debauchery for the night, but after driving around we werent getting our hopes too high for a rendition of the millenium, although Esperance is probably one of the most beautiful coastlines I have ever seen & the most untouched beaches, its not exactly blowing the roof off with banging djs & parties, ( hence the beauty).

So we got our chataux al a tents up & headed out for the night with a few guys we met at the campsite, seeing as it was new year & all we thought we’d head to the local hotel pub for some kareoke just to get into the spirit of things. It was looking glum, but hey its new year!

Thankfully we noticed this suspect que of young people heading to the back of the hotel & there they were all the under 50’s of esperance, we wondered where they were hiding.

So to our relief it turned out to be a banging, messy, drunken night out, like every other new year , thankgod!!! We all had a blast & made it home safe & sound.

We left Esperance on the 2nd & made it home at around 9pm & recieved some news that we just couldnt belive.

While we were driving down south there were massive bush fires basically on the same route we took, then on the return journey, as we arrived home in Freo a cyclone hit esperance which just got announced yesterday as a national disaster, the place is a mess its such a shame cause it is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in oz, you have to believe me when I say that there is practically no one there its just so un touched.

Anyhoo we are back in the run of the mill again, cant belive its nearly time to leave oz, jonny is off in 12 days, then Lee & I are heading off to party in sydney with our housemate nic then we will head down to melbourne where we will hopefully catch good vibrations, Beastie Boys, Jurassic 5 etc etc, cant wait. Then its off to Nz to catch up with Dave,Jules & JC, cant wait, but will be sad to leave all the same, I cant believe how quickly it has all gone by!!

Well I just want to say hi to all, Fish hope you are doing the finest in your new bachelour pad, give my love to Daniel I hear he’s giving you some lip, about time, Iam well pleased ! Give your missus a big hug & kiss from me & let elaine we are wishing her well! xx

Creanzo & Mahari I hope all is well in the new pad of love Have a fantastic new year! xx

Danilo I hope you are well & enjoying your new bachelour pad too, dont be too cruel to fish! Look after each other! x

Smeg I hope all is well with you & Lara & for gods sake boy take a holiday you work too much!! x x

Cross if you see this, good luck in the future with the band saw your music videos they are awsome you’s have done so well Im so proud to let everyone I meet hear your tunes, take care xx

Toni the man ho hows life or should I say hows the ladies treating you! Take care & I hope you have a great new year whatever that may entail!! x

Bob & Stevi I Know you might not see this but hopefully someone will pass on that we ware asking for you & wishing you a great new year I hope all is well for you both xx

Right I think thats enough from me, Its been hard extracting all those memories I guess thats why I should do it more often, I promise to try!!!

Missing you all so so much,

All our love & Best wishes

Ema & Lee xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Everyone,

Happy New Year!    I am back at work now for the last 4 weeks before we move on which we are really looking forward to, particularly meeting up with the rest of the group to go to Fiji.
 Julie and I have been pretty busy over the Christmas break. We had Christmas day with Julie’s extended family who live in Auckland which was lovely although unusual to be worrying about sunburn on Christmas day. Christmas is good fun in New Zealand but is definitely not as full on as at home – partially because everyone also gets their summer holidays then and leaves the city for destinations elsewhere. Between Christmas and New Year we borrowed a car and drove down to Palmerston North to visit the last of Julie’s family we had yet to visit. While we were down there we took a day trip to Wellington which was nice. Wellington is a lot more compact than Auckland and has a famous interactive museum call Te Papa which has lots of traditional Maori things as well as information on the landscape of New Zealand – much more interesting than I’m making it sound. It also has an old cable car which takes you up to the top of the hills that overlook Wellington, offering a wonderful view. We also visited Parliament and saw the building which is nicknamed the beehive (when you see the photos you can see why). On our way back to Auckland we stopped off a Turangi to try to do the Tongariro Crossing again (this is a famous 1 day walk between 2 volcanoes over cratered landscape) but, although glorious at ground level, we couldn’t go as winds on the hills were 70kph. We travelled further up past Lake Taupo (the big one in the middle of the top island which you can see from space apparently) to Mount Monganui. This is a beach resort town which was very lively with young people when we went as lots of people go here for New Year. The mount which gives the town its name is a short climb which offered us brilliant views of the peninsula and the lovely beaches.
 For New Year, we went to a club called ‘Metro’ with a few people I’ve met while over here. The music was good and the club was pretty full but it didn’t really seem to have the atmosphere of a Scottish Hogmanay. We still had a good time though.
 Only 4 weeks to go until its finally time to move which we are really looking forward to. The rough plan is 3 weeks exploring New Zealand’s South Island, 1 week in Fiji, 1 week in Rarotonga and then 2/3 months (depending on money) in Canada and then America.
 Well, as usual – there are photos here:http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/julieturner84/album?.dir=6791scd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//uk.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos 

Take care. David