We're in Miami... beach!

Home!!!! Yes people we felt like we were coming home. Landing at Miami international airport we made our way to our lovely little hostel, Jazz on South Beach. Peeling off our jeans, long sleeve coats and scarves, we dug deep into our bags and pulled out our shorts and t-shirts. Our first mission was to find a waxing parlour for Heidi (mission accomplished) while Serena sat at the Mojito bar drinking... what else but Mojitos! Our next mission was to find a new pair of bikinis (mission accomplished x2!) and we were off to the beach! Ahhhh... home sweet home!

A mannequin Miami style! Imagine trying to get a bikini to fit those!

After bikini shopping and leg waxing it was straight to the bar for Mojitos - with sugar cane of course!

Enjoying a Miami sunset from our lounge at the bar....

Our next 4 days mostly consisted of sleeping in, getting up to go to the beach, cocktails and cheap meals! Our hostel provided the wonderful service of lunch and dinner each day for $3 per meal per person and we are talking a genuine home cooked meal. Mmmmm mmmmm! This was our best bargain deal that we have come across yet. Jack Daniels Chicken casserole with Rice, Garlic Bread and Salad - $3, Spag Bol, Pesto Penne, Garlic Bread and Salad – yep $3 and this was provided 7 days a week.

More cocktails at lunch time at South Beach

South Beach atmosphere....

Oh life's a beach!

Our amazing hostel chef who cooked home made lunches and dinners for $3 EVERYDAY!

Travelling around the world allows you to meet some very cool people. It does however, allow you to meet some very dodgey people too. Before leaving, friends and family warned us of such people like South American drug runners, European murders outside nightclubs (yes mum I do remember Dubrovnik) and other such shady people. What they forget to warn us about were the dodgiest of all people world wide... Australians! Yep that’s right, and right here in Miami we found a couple of such dodgies. Sitting in the lounge room of our hostels we heard the Australian accent coming from a guy at the front counter. We cringed. Although proud of our country and homeland, travelling abroad brings to light certain idosyncrasies of each nationality of peoples. For example, Americans have a reputation for being loud (true), the French have a reputation for being arrogant (mostly true), South Americans have a reputation for being the smooth talkers (very true) and so on. Well Australians, although recognised as having a great country to live in with laid back, easy going people, they are fast becoming a nation know for it’s obnoxious travellers. They are louder than Americans, more arrogant than the French when it comes to talking about their own country (you very often hear coming from the voice of an Aussie – ‘well in Australia we have this which is bigger, in Australia we have that which is better’) and put together with their frequent drinking habits tends to render them obnoxious. I have even read articles in foreign papers talking about this subject. So because of this, upon hearing our fellow countrymen’s loud, overbearing nasal accents we tend to cringe. This is a generalisation of course and along the way we have met some lovely Aussies however on this occasion we ran into one of our typical Aussie male obnoxious traveller, Scott.

Scott was a beefed up, fisherman hat wearing, ‘I’ve been all over the world so I know best Aussie’. What we soon discovered is that Scott had been all over the world and mostly to the dodgey South American countries. At first, he seemed like a nice easy going, laid back Aussie guy who had a bit of a slack jaw but someone nice to chat too. We soon came to realise that, along with the disappearance of his travel companion overnight who left a note left on his bed saying he was going to ... Columbia and his very strange behaviour later that night at a nightclub, he was probably the dodgey ‘South American Drug Runner’ that we had been warned about.

Along with the cheap meals that our hostel provided for us, they also provided nightly entertainment. Each evening there was an outing organised to keep it’s young, restless backpackers busy with things to do. One evening, we got back in touch with our 18 year old selves and we joined a group from the hostel at 11pm to head into town (a time of the day that we would normally be crawling into bed). We headed off in our stretch hummer into town to the very swish, Club Mia. Well how else do you get to a nightclub in Miami? So the dynamic duo got all tarted up in our Sunday best and off we set. Shortly after ordering a drink each and paying $15 EACH for one vodka (insert heart attack here for poor Aussie backpackers), we were out on the dance floor with our group having a fun time when we met our next obnoxious Aussie traveller. I was approached by a tall, pimpled face computer geek who obviously took a fancy to me – well he’s only human!!! Over the loud music, he attempted a conversation. Going through the usual, ‘Hi my name is xxx' (couldn't hear and didn't really listen anyway), 'what is yours?’ and then the ‘So where are you from?’. The next word I heard made me groan. ‘Australian’ I heard. Oh man!!! So after a few minutes of Mr Aussie trying to ‘sexy dance’ with me, I decided my only escape was to do the ‘Serena hold my drink, I’m going to the toilet’ wink wink. The hint was not taken and when I returned the computer geek attempted to sexy dance again until I gave Serena the nod. Suddenly she grabbed my hand and we were off and running around the dancefloor, dodging the clientele, the bouncers and drinks in hand. Our assailant was in hot pursuit but no man can keep up with the speed of two chicks on the run from the dance floor horror dancer. Phew we finally lost him taking refuge in the ladies toilets. I did not come half way around the world to sexy dance with an Aussie.... where was my smooth dancing South American?!!! He could have possibly been the dodgey ‘European murder’ waiting for us outside the nightclub! Yep, Aussies are the worst!

We knew of an old friend of Serena’s who worked at a charming bar in Miami so we decided he was better company. Moving onto Segafredo bar to meet up with Yen (and in the hope of scoring free drinks) we found ourselves enjoying the early hours of the morning surrounded by Cubans. Upon entry, as with all bars in the States, we were asked to produce photo ID. The security looked quite casual in clothing as opposed to the usual black pants and a black shirt of most security guards but figuring it was a relaxed, open aired bar we just took it as the ‘norm’. After surveying our passports and looking at our nationality, names and dates of birth a big tough looking guy in black pants and a black shirt approached our ‘security guard’ and tapped him on the shoulder signalled to him to ‘move along’. We realised he was just one of the patrons playing a trick for a good laugh. And laugh we did at how gullible we really are!

Serena catches up with a friend she met 4 years ago - Cuban American, Yen

All tarted up for a night out at Club Mia and then onto Segafredo bar

Funnily enough at approx 3am we were ‘joined’ at our table by 2 Columbian guys. At first we were wondering how these children had passed through security before realising that they were actually of legal age but just looked about 12 years old. Just our luck again. These Columbians fancied themselves as somewhat of philosophers... just what you want to hear at 3am in the morning. But friendly as they were, they liked the sound of their own voices and chatted away using such words as ‘monopolising’. We just humoured them and listened. It got a bit much when at 4:30 am they had run out of things to say and scrounging for a topic, asked as what ‘our sign’ was. A little confused, we realised they meant zodiac sign. They then launched into more ‘conversation’ about their star signs when we were suddenly asked if we thought they could be models. I thought Serena was going to fall off her chair laughing. At 5am, when Yen had finished his shift and came out to join us, the Colombians suddenly realised that we would not be leaving with them and their 2 hours of endless chatter was futile. The look on the poor boy’s face when he realised that Serena had a friend was heartbreaking. Saying goodbye to our new found 12 year olds, we headed home and stumbled in the door at 6am managing to get a glimpse of sunrise. Yep back to our 18 year old days.

And thus ended our very enjoyable adventure in Miami but seeing as we didn’t want to become criminals in the United States, we decided we had better not overstay our visa period of 3 months and hit the road again onto yet warmer horizons... Costa Rica here we come!

H and S

Just blew into the Windy City - Chicago!

My train trip from Syracuse to Chicago was an overnight one which was great as it meant that I could sleep. The trains are fantastic as the seats are quite wide and the train is never full so you can get two seats to yourself! Well that was our experience so far.... of course when I boarded the train in Syracuse and was told which carriage to get on the only two seats spare where right at the front of the carriage and next to the door. Not a problem I thought, until I tried to actually get some sleep! The noise that the door makes when it is being opened and closed is quite loud but even worse the door was catching on something when closing so it didn’t actually close, allowing the full sound of the train to come in. Initially I got up a few times to close the door properly but no sooner had I closed the door then someone else would walk through it opening it again! How many people need to go to the cafe cart at 10.30 at night!! So I left it until I felt that the traffic had slowed down which it eventually did at 1am! I should have checked to see if there was a party going on in there and joined them!

The following morning I awoke to a passenger opposite me clearly having an argument with his girlfriend over his phone. He kept saying he was going to hang up if she didn’t stop yelling at him and I just kept wishing he would do what he said! Hmm.... maybe that was the problem?

I arrived in Chicago at 1030am armed with my directions to the hostel as well as the email address and phone number of the train conductor Brian. Apparently I was to call him if I wanted to know anything about Chicago and he could show me around (yeah right!). A twenty minute walk later I was checked into our hostel and promptly went to sleep for a couple of hours before heading out to explore the city.

Heidi arrived around 6pm that evening very sick and puffy eyed so after a quick meal and a shower it was off to bed where she stayed for the next two days. I spent the 1st day walking through the city and on my way to the Navy Pier, I saw “the bean” which distorts the reflection of the city, very cool! Day two poured all day long and was basically a miserable day so when I eventually did venture out, it wasn’t for long. I did however spot a Chinese takeaway so I picked up some hot and sour soup for Heidi.



Chicago street decorations - herbs and veges! So decorative.

Heidi was feeling much better by day three and ready to catch up with her Uncle Geoff and friends so we made our way over to the fancy side of the city via public transport (of course). After a cup of tea I decided to go out for a walk and leave Heidi and Geoff to catch up (Heidi was still not 100% and the trip up had worn her out). I headed for the waterfront which is named the Gold Coast and walked along the beachfront taking in the wonderful view whilst trying not to be blown away! I was joined by many joggers and even had a really cute guy stop to take my photo for me!! By the way he offered I didn’t stop him! I then walked back through the neighbourhood looking at some of the beautiful buildings and even seeing the original playboy mansion (Hugh Heffner’s house before he made it famous).


Serena takes in the Windy City sights


Chicago has a great zoo that is FREE!!! So I took a couple of hours to visit the zoo and check out all the animals. The highlight for me was seeing the meerkats!! They are soo cute and of course I kept thinging about meerkat manor. There were bears, rhino's, giraffe's. lions, gorilla's but unfortunately I did not get to see the polar bear. I even saw wallabies in the Australia section and felt like I was back home!

A black bear having a snooze

I can't remember what this animal was called but it was a cute mini version of springbok!

Get together everyone....look at the camera and smile!

One of the best ways to see the city is by one of those “hop on hop off” buses and so we decided that we would do this one day even with temperatures down at 14 degrees! Meeting Uncle Geoff at the Navy Pier one morning we bought our tickets and then headed to the top of the bus where we could get the most amount of sunshine as possible! Heading around the city we saw locations such as Oprah Winfrey's current apartment location, the old water tower that was the only building in downtown that survived the fire of 1872, right through to where the Mafia ran their operations from. I had already decided that I wanted to go the Adler Planetarium as I am quite fascinated by space and love the Star Wars movies (not Star Trek though) so I hopped off there and spent the next two hours wandering through the planetarium and watching movies in the Imax theatre. It was fascinating (particularly the display of telescopes from the first ones through to current) and I could have spent another couple of hours to go through it properly but alas it was closing time.

This face moved and smiled and then spat!

Checking out 'The Bean' at Millenium Park with the city reflection in the background

A beautiful day down at the Navy Pier

Uncle Geoff and I check out the sights on the Hop On Hop Off bus

The 'Corn on the Cobb' buildings

The John Hancock building where we had drinks on the 96th Floor

The sound shell

Chicago City skyline

Meeting Heidi at the Sears Tower (which is now called Willis Tower) we quickly walked back to our hostel, got changed and made our way back up to “the Gold Coast” to meet Uncle Geoff, Belinda, Ian, Kathy and Barry for drinks at the bar on the 86th floor of the John Hancock building. The view is spectacular and I am going to take the very brave step here of actually saying that it was better than the Empire State Building!

Uncle and Niece have a mojito together in Chicago

Leaving the bar much lighter then entering (both the hip pocket and in the head!) we went for dinner for famous Chicago deep pan pizza and headed to the House of Blues to experience some of that live blues music that Chicago is so well known for!

Serena enjoys the famous Chicago Deep Pan Pizza

The Blues Bar at the Chicago House of Blues

Uncle Geoff and I listen to some Old School Blues

Upon entering I headed to the bar (what else would I do!) and before I had even ordered our drinks I was approached by a man wearing his cap backwards and trying to be very cool! Being polite I chatted with him and even shared a few laughs. I don’t know what it is but Americans tend to think that we are from England first and when we say no the next guess is always Ireland??? What the? So after I explained that I was from Australia, I headed back to Heidi to enjoy the blues music. After a few minutes “cap backwards man” came over to have a chat and try to entice me to a dance. Well after watching him dance there was no way that I wanted to get up there and have him try to slow dance with me! So I convinced him and Belinda to get up and have a boogie which they did! It is important to note that “cap backwards man” was 47 yrs old so this did mean that I set a new low record and the age of men asking me to dance had decreased from 60+ to 47!! Not something that I would generally be proud of but in this case it was something worth noting!

Excited about our flight to Miami the following day and the prospect of warmer weather, we had a reasonably early night, said goodbye to Uncle Geoff and friends and headed home.

Siamese separation - Kenora and Collingwood

Kenora - Heidi
Someone once said to me Kenora Kenora, how I adore ‘ya! And how I do now! Leaving Serena to join her Aunt up in Collingwood, north of Toronto, I flew to Winnipeg and was met by the Carter family. I first met Megan when we worked on cruise ships together and soon fell in love with her big smile, her big laugh and big heart. Very quickly we became the best of friends and never left each other’s sides. Infact, we were bit of a phenomenon on the old Sea Princess organising the entire ship’s crew social life as Crew Club President and Vice President. We were a team that’s for sure! So being able to visit her in her home town that she had spoken so much about was a real treat for me.

I remember meeting Kellon for the first time also on the Sea Princess. Megan and I had been onboard for some time at this stage so I was very protective of her... Kellon was a ‘new joiner’ and a cheeky one at that! He took an instant liking to Megan (he’s only human!) and I knew I had trouble on my hands! A very striking man from the Caribbean Island of Grenada, I had a feeling that with his smooth manner with his gentleness with Megan, this could be serious. Totally smitten with each other, more than 4 years later, they are now both living together with their gorgeous son Mekhi and have baby number 2 on the way.

So I found myself driving with the Carter family 2 hours from Winnipeg to their home town of Kenora, Ontario late at night in the pouring rain and the FREEZING temperatures. Walking into their house was truly walking into a cozy home (just a bit colder until the furnace was put on!). Megan managed to get a good amount of time off from work so we spent the next week exploring her home town – that took the first 2 hours of the first day as it is not the biggest of places! A quaint little town, Kenora floods with people in the summer time who come to this beautiful area to camp and spend time on the myriad of lakes and in the parklands. The biggest lake is called Lake of the Woods and in winter time it freezes over and as turned into a fully functional highway! However now in Autumn time, it was much quieter place but the lake area was just as beautiful if not more spectacular with the changing colour of the leaves.

Each day required us to rug up before heading out but I have to admit that the blue skies made it inviting to head outdoors,however first things first, we went straight to Walmart to purchase some hair dye and fixed up the mess that was on top of my head! It worked and now I love my friend Megs just that little bit more!

Some days we would take Mekhi to day care while Megs and I got a bit of girly time (poor Kellon had to work!) and then pick up the little tike in the afternoon. We headed out to Rushing River one afternoon which Mekhi loved to say over and over ‘Rushing River, Rushing River’. He is so cute with his half Canadian half Caribbean accent and his miles and miles of curly fro on top of his head. And what a little character he is. We taught him to say Aussie Aussie Aussie to which I would reply Oi Oi Oi. Aunty Heidi read Thomas the Tank Engine with him, watched the Thomas the Tank Engine movie with him, played with his Thomas the Tank Engine toys with him and went up to his room to look at all his Thomas the Tank Engine decorations. Are you guessing where his interests lie?

Aunty Heidi reads Thomas the Tank engine to her little man Mekhi

Heidi and Megan hanging out at Rushing River

Mekhi and Mum at Rushing River

One evening we went on a bear hunt in search of Yogi himself. You’d expect that we would go looking in the woods or near the lake but no. The best place to look for bears in Canada is by the dumpsters outside the restaurants. Around and around we drove with Mekhi chanting ‘bear hunt, bear hunt’ but unfortunately there were no bears to be found.


The highlight of my Kenora experience had to be our fishing trip out on the Lake of the Woods. With the sunshining, our snacks packed into our bags and our 6 layers of clothing on, we headed out into the woods towards to lake to meet Cap’n Dave and Granny Evenden (Meg’s family friend and mum). Cap’n Dave as Mekhi liked to call him provided us with the boat, the fishing rods and the skill to drive us out onto the lake and find our fishing spots. It was quite a windy day but just stunning weather. First to catch a fish was myself and proud as punch I was to have caught it... until that was when I realised that we were actually going to eat it for lunch and then I couldn’t stop apologising to it! Granny took it off the hook and put it in the live fish box for Mekhi to talk to all afternoon. I have to admit that it was a darn good catch and the biggest fish of the day. However, Cap’n Dave was the only other successful one to catch any other fish that day! We like to blame it on the wind. Mekhi helped Granny get the minnows onto the hook and even decided to throw a couple over board!

After we decided we had enough for our ‘shore lunch’ we headed towards one of the little rocky outcrop islands and set up a roaring fire. Cap’n Dave prepared the fish, Granny collected the fire wood, I help set up the fire, Mekhi tried to eat the little red berries off the bushes and Megan attempted to stop Mekhi from eating the berries! Not long later we had fresh fish, fried potatoes, baked beans and Dora Getti (Dora the Explorer tinned spaghetti!). What a feast! It was so nice to be out in the open fresh air. It was then time to head home. So on top of our 6 layers we bundled into more ski pants, rain pants, heavier jackets and scarves to keep warm. The sunset was purely golden causing the trees to have magical reflection on the lake. What a stunning place it was. A big thanks to Cap’n Dave for his skilled boat handling and Granny for threading my line, tying on the hook, baiting my hook and taking my fish off the hook when I caught it....but I DID the catching!!!!

Cap'n Dave and Heidi prepare the fire while Granny searches for more wood

Cap'n Dave and Megs get into serious fishing mode

Heidi and her HUGE catch of the day (held by Granny Evenden!)

Mekhi helps Aunty Heidi to catch her fish

All too soon my week was up in Kenora and at 5am I was catching my bus to Winnipeg to get my plane to Chicago to meet up with Serena and my uncle Geoff and friends who had come all the way from home: Cairns, Australia!

Collingwood - Serena
While Heidi went to Kenora to visit Meghan, I went to Collingwood to stay with my Mum’s Aunty Philippa. Having never met her before there was the question of how do I know who she is when we meet? Of course Philippa solved this problem by sending me a photo of her and telling me that my mother looks just like her. So when we did meet at the Toronto Union Station I recognised her straight away. Phew!

Aunty Philippa

Collingwood is a lovely town with activities all year round. During winter there is skiing and during summer there are lots of trails to hike and bike riding. On my first morning I woke up with a sore throat and the start of a cold! I was devastated as I had managed to avoid it so far. My first day in Collingwood was spent chatting to my Aunt and drinking lots of tea. The following day I didn’t feel that much better but we went for a drive around and had lunch at the ski resort. I also spent some time in the sauna (who would have thought I would be pulling out my bikini!) trying to sweat out my cold.

After watching the weather Philippa and I had decided that Tuesday would be the day for our drive north to see the changing colours for fall. I woke up feeling absolutely terrible! Determined to not miss out on Heidi‘s sole reason for bringing me to Canada at this time, I dragged myself out of bed and got ready to see the spectacular colours. Philippa drove while I sucked on my throat lozenges and popped panadol. As we got further north the colours got more vibrant and I pretty much sat in awe of the amazing array of colours with each tree being better then the last one! I only wish that my camera could capture the vibrancy of the yellow, orange and red leaves!

The colours of fall

Me and my friends

The town of Meaford and the scarecrow invasion!

My last day with Philippa was spent going through family photos and looking at the family tree, something that I have always enjoyed doing simply because I like to see where people get their looks and personalities from. What I did find really interesting was the similarities between my mother and Philippa. Remember Philippa is my Mothers Aunty (one of her Mother’s younger sisters) so when you consider that Philippa moved to Canada over 30 years ago and yet my mother and her have exactly the same mannerisms it is really something that makes you wonder about nature versus nurture.

We woke up very early the following morning (4.30am) so as we could get to Toronto for my 8.30 am train to Chicago via Syracuse. Now that seems like a strange way of going but when I was looking at the train schedule the most direct route had me waiting for 12 hrs at a place with the 3 letter code of CBN. Heidi and I searched both Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada websites to find out where this place was with no success. Not wanting to sit in some remote place from 1pm till 1am, I decided that for the additional $10 I would prefer to sit on a train and go to Syracuse and have dinner with Jay, Lisa, Elliot and Jackson, besides, their company was much better than my own. By the way, I found out what CBN stands for...its Canadian Border Niagara and I am really glad I didn’t wait there!

Thank you to Aunty Philippa for having me and of course making all those cups of tea for me! I had a lovely time and hopefully will see you for Christmas!

To Toronto and beyond!

We have become Public Transport Queens.... a 3 hour bus ride, the subway to the Train Station and a 5 hour train ride later and we were met at the Toronto Train Station by a family friend Bill Kennedy. Bill and Chris are friends of my parents who came to visit us in Cairns back in May and offered for us to come and stay with them in Toronto and take us to their lake cottage up in Algonquin National Park as it was time for the leaves to start changing colour for ‘Fall’ (autumn) time.

So packing up our walking attire, a bunch of food and lots of warm clothing we headed 3 hours north to Pickering, for the Kennedy cottage, stopping in at little fruit and veggie stands along the way. The harvest displays were out in full force with amazingly huge pumpkin displays dotted everywhere across homes and shops.

The Kennedy cottage was just gorgeous located right on the lake. Chris cooked us beautiful home cooked meals and even made a delicious Rhubarb pie from fresh Rhubarb from their garden. The first evening we had a glass of wine whilst watching a spectacular sunset over the lake.


Spot the pumpkin...

Is Heidi part of the permanent displayt?

Sunset at the Lake Cottage

Swapping yarns over a glass of red at Sunset

The Kennedy Cottage


The next morning the rain settled in as we made our way again further north for our day trip to Algonquin National Park to see the changing colours of the leaves, go a few walks and even see if we could spot a bear or a moose. Stopping for a famous ‘Tim Hortons’ lunch along the way we arrived early afternoon. Because of the inclement weather we decided on two of the shorter walks, one through a beautiful forested area and the other through a peat swamp area. We also headed into the Information Centre that was set up so well and talked about the history of the area along with all the animals and wildlife. We even did manage to see a Moose – well in the information centre anyway as they had a stuffed one on display! The trees were just started to change colours so we could see the reds and oranges peaking through all the greenery. It wasn’t until the following week that the park was in full change of colour.

Walking one of the many trails at Algonquin National Park in search of Moose

It was back at the cottage that Serena met her new friend Chip. Chip was a very cute and very brave little chipmunk that lived underneath the patio of the cottage. Chris and Bill had brought up some peanuts with them that Serena fed to him one by one. He even got so confident that he came right up to her and took it from her fingers. We think that chip will be the best stocked chipmunk in the area come the winter season and probably the fattest one around! After several hours of feeding chip and taking several hundred photos, it was time to leave Pickering and the cottage and head back to Toronto.

Serena's new friend Chip the Chipmunk gets confident and fills his 'boots'

And yet another peanut

Chip poses for the camera


During our next few days Serena and I explored Toronto on foot finding such areas as Chinatown and their cheap massage that left us both virtually unable to move for the next 2 days! Once again we become queens of the public transport system assisted greatly by Bill with his pick up and drop offs to the train stations. Bill was our run around man. He took us on a tour of their lovely little area where they live and even into the city to meet up with their daughter Sarah one evening for a meal in the city. He was the perfect guide!

Our evening out with Bill, Chris and their daughter Sarah in Toronto

One of our days we decided to head down to Niagara falls. Bill had decided to drive us down there so off the 3 of us went to see the mighty falls. Niagara falls is actually 2 sets of falls – one on the USA side and the other on the Canadian side. We headed first to the Canadian side, in awe of the thundering water curtain that left such an impression. We decided that we wanted to go behind the falls so suited up in our ‘Behind the Falls’ tour rain ponchos we walked through a tunnel which led to a serious of openings, one behind the curtain of water, one right at the point where the water falls and then finally out to a platform up close to the falls where there was no other choice but to get wet! It was just an amazing experience especially looking down at the boats full of people below being pounded as they did the famous Maid of the Mist tour.

The Maid of the Mist Tour on the Canadian side of Niagara

The full scope of both the USA and Canada side of the falls

Serena and I get wet on the viewing platform 'Behind the Falls'

The curve of the Canadian side

A beautiful sight... and the falls were pretty amazing too!

We decided that we couldn’t come all this way and not go over to the US side. So whipping out our passports, having a bit of an interrogation by the US immigration (‘how long do you intend on being in the US?’ ‘um approximately 1 hr!’) we passed through to the VERY tacky USA side.

The falls on this side are completely different to those on the Canadian side. The US falls are much more tame and rocky however they do have a great attraction which is the ‘Cave of the Winds’ tour. Entering the opening you are automatically given water shoes (Tevas/reefs) and told to take off your own shoes. You are then given yet another rather attractive yellow rain poncho but for what reason we are unsure as there is NO way you are staying dry on this tour. Heading down an elevator through layers of rock, you emerge at the bottom of the falls and walk along to an ascending wooden stair case that takes you closer and closer and CLOSER to the falls until finally you get to.... the HURRICANE deck. And yes, hurricane describes it perfectly. You are showered with cascade after cascade of water to the point that taking a shower that night is virtually unnecessary! It was so much fun and Serena and I stood underneath for quite some time while Bill took photos although I have a feeling he was just keeping us there to ensure that we were soaked through to our underwear! We got our usual tourist photograph and headed home via the quaint little town of Niagara on the Lake picking up more fresh fruit along the way.

Bill and Heidi 'prepare' for the Cave of the Winds tour in their ponchos

On the Hurricane deck - why did we bother with the ponchos?!

Don't fall in!

Serena takes in the view up to the American side


We felt quite spoilt at the Kennedy house as we had a room to ourselves each and they made us feel right at home by living up to the saying Mi casa es su casa. Their home was just a beautiful place, designed by Bill and Chris 20 years prior and had a real family home feel to it. The garden was enormous with it’s own herb patch and squirrels running riot (usually being chased by one of their 3 cats). Their son Andrew also stayed at the house so we got to spend some time with him talking travels many evenings. We even sat around the kitchen in the mornings with Bill’s lovely Mum, Kay who lived in the house in her own little ‘granny flat’.

We felt so at home that we decided, travelling or not, we needed to maintain our stunning looks and get rid of the tacky ‘regrowth’ look and dye our hair. Well, Serena’s was warranted however I decided I didn’t want to be left out so why not just get a dye to add a few highlights? Big mistake.... Serena and I spent the afternoon in ‘our’ bathroom mixing solution and dousing our hair in chemicals. Serena did get a bit colour happy though and instead of adding a streak here and there in my hair she decided to just do the whole area.... I think she was one of those children that could never colour within the lines! An hour later, colour washed out and hair drying in process, ‘Uh ohhhhh’ could be heard from the bathroom. I opened up the door to show Serena and we both burst out laughing. We had gone a bit overboard with the blonde! Nothing another colour treatment couldn’t fix... however seeing as though we were leaving that afternoon and it might be a couple of days before I could get around to doing it, I resorted to not looking in the mirror. Might I add that Serena’s turned out perfectly! I even cut her hair to perfection – maybe I have found a hidden talent! So it was up to my dear dear friend Megan in Kenora to help return me to a non laughable colour when I arrived!

It was a very relaxed week with the Kennedys and we grew to love Toronto city with it’s vibrancy and feeling of youth. It is a definite place that we will one day return to.
So the time had come... the dynamic duo had to surgically remove our Siamese twin selves as we were spending a week apart. Tears forbidden, we dropped Serena off at the train station to head north to visit her Aunt and Bill drove me south to the airport to make my way to Winnipeg, Manitoba and onto Kenora, Ontario.......

H and S