b’s blog

So, Australia, here I come again! This time I’m going to see Darwin as well as the fam in Adelaide and friends in Sydney. Yay!

Angela and Dustin are still on the books for August/September unless Ange finds a job after graduating this April.

Did you know that if your passport is within 6 months of expiring that you could get denied from entering a country? That’s the story I get told from numerous sources but if you look it up on the Government of Canada website you get a vague answer (”It depends”). I tried the link associated to see what the requirements are for Australia and the website doesn’t function properly. It takes you to the main page of the Foreign Representatives page but you don’t know where to navigate to get your question answered. *sigh* Shouldn’t a passport expire in 5 1/2 years instead of 5 if they want you to renew with 6 months left on your passport? Better yet, just make a 10 year passport like in the US. You have the option of choosing a 5 or 10 year passport.

I got my passport renewed today and it took 45 minutes of waiting in line, $87.00 plus another 2.5 weeks before I can receive my new one in the mail. I guess that’s good considering last week when I went to check out the line, it was a 2.5 hour wait… Yikes!

Dave and Winnie invited me along to Anne of Green Gables at the Sherwood Park Festival Place Theatre this weekend. The small theatre production was really fun and I enjoyed it very much. It was in keeping with the CBC television movie based on the Lucy Maud Montgomery books.

Getting to the theatre is a little tricky. Google maps tells you to head down a one way street. Then when you figure out the correct road to take, it looks like your driving into a condo parking lot. A couple of trips around a roundabout later, we made it to the theatre with a bit of time to spare.

I also found out that driving from Sherwood Park back to Edmonton is a little tricky on the Anthony Henday because it’s not labelled. I completely missed my turnoff. Why is the Henday called the Henday when heading east but when heading west from the eastern part of the city it’s called Hwy 216? And how is anyone supposed to know that 216 is the same as Henday? WHY?!

I think I've nailed down the itineary for my trip to Australia again this year. It'll be very short, just 2.5 weeks. I want to see some friends, my new cousin, and Darwin. I thought I could squeeze in Western ... [Continue reading this entry]

Winnie invited me to volunteer with her at the Salvation Army to sort food. Their church group volunteers once a month for various causes. I think that's a good idea. Yay, thanks for letting me come along. Dave and Winnie were ... [Continue reading this entry]