So this is going to be the shortest post, because we spent the entire day on the bus and the majority of it was spent sleeping.
But we arrived to go down to Downtown Disney for an introduction to DisneyLand.
Good times all around.
Casey
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Vegas to Arizona (Okay so the Grand Canyon).
We took the bus trip, which mainly consisted of sleeping up to the Grand Canyon, we stopped at two different places for photos and sight seeing options. Such amazing views and many fun photos. We headed back to the Hotel to check in and then those that wanted to go back to the Canyon did so and others had some time to relax, there isn't really all that much to do in the middle of Arizona, so it was relax time. :) Spa, Spa and Pool time. A Great night.
People went to different places for dinner, some enjoyed the buffet at the hotel and others went to different restaurants. Good times all around.
The evening consisted of attempting to find live music in the middle of the desert, FAIL and then heading back into the spa to sing to some Austrian people, I think someone also attempted to throw ice at us. Eeeek.
Then some laughs back in peoples rooms and then bed. Good times all around.
Early morning check out for us.
People went to different places for dinner, some enjoyed the buffet at the hotel and others went to different restaurants. Good times all around.
The evening consisted of attempting to find live music in the middle of the desert, FAIL and then heading back into the spa to sing to some Austrian people, I think someone also attempted to throw ice at us. Eeeek.
Then some laughs back in peoples rooms and then bed. Good times all around.
Early morning check out for us.
LAS VEGAS 2 - Independence Day
This morning involved heading out to the Hoover Dam for a performance and a tour. Because we had no musical equipment the group had to perform unacommpainied, they did a super job, and we kept the show a little shorter than normal, which wasn't bad because we were performing outside and it started raining, plus it was really hot. We then toured the Dam and marveled at the sights, Oli in particular being an engineering student took amazement to the Dam, it was a super cool experience. Ask someone on the tour about the inspirational video we got just before we went underground, Trollolololol.
From here we headed back to Vegas and drove down the strip to finally see all the Hotels, we got off at different points to do different things. One group managed to walk the entire strip and go into basically all the hotels, some stayed at the Stratosphere tower and took these rides where they were flug over the edge of the building and just hung there, I personally decided that I would jump off the building in the world's highest sky jump, jumping 588ft. So cool. The day was pretty much unstructured and people were free to do as they pleased. The entire group went to see Cirque Du Soliel that night and it was so impressive. Much popcorn was spilt all over the place. Then some headed back to the hotel for an earlyish night and others ordered a Limo and got driven up and down the strip. A great night for all involved. Then Bed. Yay!
From here we headed back to Vegas and drove down the strip to finally see all the Hotels, we got off at different points to do different things. One group managed to walk the entire strip and go into basically all the hotels, some stayed at the Stratosphere tower and took these rides where they were flug over the edge of the building and just hung there, I personally decided that I would jump off the building in the world's highest sky jump, jumping 588ft. So cool. The day was pretty much unstructured and people were free to do as they pleased. The entire group went to see Cirque Du Soliel that night and it was so impressive. Much popcorn was spilt all over the place. Then some headed back to the hotel for an earlyish night and others ordered a Limo and got driven up and down the strip. A great night for all involved. Then Bed. Yay!
LAS VEGAS 1 (Sorry for the Late Post).
LAS VEGAS - Sorry for the late blog.
So, we made it to Vegas. Ahhh, finally! We were able to spend the morning doing anything that pleased our little hearts. Some went to peer 39 for some shopping others went into Castro, Bree went down to the Guitar Centre to buy some cool pedals and effects units. For all it was a great way to spend the morning being able to relax. From here we transferred to the airport SFO for our flight to Las Vegas, from here we encountered a series of problems. We were told that we would be able to check in our musical equipment, but upon arrival United Airlines told us that the would not accept Cargo above 99pound, the keyboard alone was 167 pounds, so after stressful phone calls and much effort we had to leave all of our musical equipment in San Francisco! Grr.
We had to store it at the airport and during the move of the cargo to upstairs in the airport I decided to ride the keyboard case along the tiled floor, not a good idea, it fell over and made an almighty bang in the airport, a security guard came over near us. We were all so tired that we just had a major laugh at it and check in our cargo.
We got down to the gate and then our flight was delayed. Yay, so we spent a little time in the airport once we finally got to LAS Vegas we spent about 2 hours waiting for our bus to arrive to pick us up, by the time we finally got to the hotel it was about midnight. So tired, the adventurous foes decided to get food an do some discovered that particular roads in Vegas don't have pedestrian lights, so to cross the road you had to walk into raging traffic. I nearly died. Then In 'n' out Burger kicked us out because they were shut, then Dennys was closed, and so was McDonalds, so we found some clapped up Mexican joint, which I thought the food would nearly kill us, we went in but then we left, I was correct, fowl place.
Back to the hotel with no food. Classic night in Vegas.
Casey
So, we made it to Vegas. Ahhh, finally! We were able to spend the morning doing anything that pleased our little hearts. Some went to peer 39 for some shopping others went into Castro, Bree went down to the Guitar Centre to buy some cool pedals and effects units. For all it was a great way to spend the morning being able to relax. From here we transferred to the airport SFO for our flight to Las Vegas, from here we encountered a series of problems. We were told that we would be able to check in our musical equipment, but upon arrival United Airlines told us that the would not accept Cargo above 99pound, the keyboard alone was 167 pounds, so after stressful phone calls and much effort we had to leave all of our musical equipment in San Francisco! Grr.
We had to store it at the airport and during the move of the cargo to upstairs in the airport I decided to ride the keyboard case along the tiled floor, not a good idea, it fell over and made an almighty bang in the airport, a security guard came over near us. We were all so tired that we just had a major laugh at it and check in our cargo.
We got down to the gate and then our flight was delayed. Yay, so we spent a little time in the airport once we finally got to LAS Vegas we spent about 2 hours waiting for our bus to arrive to pick us up, by the time we finally got to the hotel it was about midnight. So tired, the adventurous foes decided to get food an do some discovered that particular roads in Vegas don't have pedestrian lights, so to cross the road you had to walk into raging traffic. I nearly died. Then In 'n' out Burger kicked us out because they were shut, then Dennys was closed, and so was McDonalds, so we found some clapped up Mexican joint, which I thought the food would nearly kill us, we went in but then we left, I was correct, fowl place.
Back to the hotel with no food. Classic night in Vegas.
Casey
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Sky Rockets in Flight, San Francisco Delight
WOW! What an amazing day. Breakfast for a team of amazing people, I feel this is the best group that I have ever had the chance to work with. A few people were feeling a tad sick, a few people have gotten sore throats, so we were battlin the illness. We had the morning to go to the California Academy of Sciences. This was awesome, we got to see sting rays, and hundreds of varieties of fishes! I found Dori, from Finding Nemo. I've also decided that there are some damn ugly fish in the world, but I finally got to see and electiric eel, and these awesome fish that have little bits that glow in the dark. Mega Cool!
We got to go into a Rainforest and for me I got the massive priveledge of having a butterfly land on my jumper, I think this by far is one of my favourite moments on tour. We got to see an Natural History Museum, the Steinhart Aquarium, A Planetarium, and a cool site full of Lizards and Snakes. It was a wonderful start to the day.
I got to have an egg salad sang a for lunch. I feel that this has been the height of my food experiences here, because the BREAD WASN'T SWEET!
From here we performed in the Golden Gate Park Band Shell. This was by far our best performance yet. We had a huge audience for this outside venue; it had a massive shelter of 1800s design, with a massive stage and beautiful columns lining the sides, such an awesome venue! We started our performance with much, much gusto, and it only got better from here. The choir went from strength to strength, with some 'special' Jazz Harmony coming through. I have the biggest smile from the work the team did and the Audience loved it all sooooooo much. We had screaming and yelling cheering, and lucky Oli got a bit of a fan club, classic Oli! Grant also shared a beautiful interjection when trying to say what song we were doing next, across the entire shell we heard this "WHAT??" Classic Grant. This performance was by far the best that the Choir has done.
We all got the afternoon to ourselves to enjoy, some off to the Rose Gardens and the Japanese Tea Gardens. I personally went to the Japanese one. This was really cool, and so tranquil, because we are australian we spent a good while at the Zen Garden emptying out wallets from all the American Coins that we have no idea what to do with. Marg had a bit of a streak of getting them in the pond, it all went down here from there. Jema and I climbed a massive bridge, and then we continued down a massively steep stair case, Vicki thought she would attempt to catch us at the bottom..... LOL!
Back to the bus, Vicki had a squirrel run across her foot, and gave a squeal and a bit of a jump. We couldn't find Alexia and Oli, so Vicki got off to have a look up the street, during this time they turned up and we couldn't get Vicki's attention so we had to toot the bus horn, poor vicki nearly fell onto the floor. oh the laughter from the bus. Upon her return she was trying to explain something about luggage, and decided to call it 'Buggage'. It's been quite a day for the LOL's.
The afternoon was free to do what ever you wanted, a group headed off to Westfield, I bought some fake Mo's from the toy shop. I, Bre, Ash, Maddie and Jema wore them around the shopping centre, we had some interesting comments, and some fun looks. We then took Trolley ride up the hill and went to China town, for some dinner, others had different plans. We went to a wonderful eating palace. Quite a few jokes were shared on the way. On our way back we were trying to flag taxi's and Maddie managed to flag a limo. So we ran to the other side of the street. It was quite the trip over the road.
Back to the hotel for a charge down and some sleeps.
Off to Vegas tomorrow.
Casey
We got to go into a Rainforest and for me I got the massive priveledge of having a butterfly land on my jumper, I think this by far is one of my favourite moments on tour. We got to see an Natural History Museum, the Steinhart Aquarium, A Planetarium, and a cool site full of Lizards and Snakes. It was a wonderful start to the day.
I got to have an egg salad sang a for lunch. I feel that this has been the height of my food experiences here, because the BREAD WASN'T SWEET!
From here we performed in the Golden Gate Park Band Shell. This was by far our best performance yet. We had a huge audience for this outside venue; it had a massive shelter of 1800s design, with a massive stage and beautiful columns lining the sides, such an awesome venue! We started our performance with much, much gusto, and it only got better from here. The choir went from strength to strength, with some 'special' Jazz Harmony coming through. I have the biggest smile from the work the team did and the Audience loved it all sooooooo much. We had screaming and yelling cheering, and lucky Oli got a bit of a fan club, classic Oli! Grant also shared a beautiful interjection when trying to say what song we were doing next, across the entire shell we heard this "WHAT??" Classic Grant. This performance was by far the best that the Choir has done.
We all got the afternoon to ourselves to enjoy, some off to the Rose Gardens and the Japanese Tea Gardens. I personally went to the Japanese one. This was really cool, and so tranquil, because we are australian we spent a good while at the Zen Garden emptying out wallets from all the American Coins that we have no idea what to do with. Marg had a bit of a streak of getting them in the pond, it all went down here from there. Jema and I climbed a massive bridge, and then we continued down a massively steep stair case, Vicki thought she would attempt to catch us at the bottom..... LOL!
Back to the bus, Vicki had a squirrel run across her foot, and gave a squeal and a bit of a jump. We couldn't find Alexia and Oli, so Vicki got off to have a look up the street, during this time they turned up and we couldn't get Vicki's attention so we had to toot the bus horn, poor vicki nearly fell onto the floor. oh the laughter from the bus. Upon her return she was trying to explain something about luggage, and decided to call it 'Buggage'. It's been quite a day for the LOL's.
The afternoon was free to do what ever you wanted, a group headed off to Westfield, I bought some fake Mo's from the toy shop. I, Bre, Ash, Maddie and Jema wore them around the shopping centre, we had some interesting comments, and some fun looks. We then took Trolley ride up the hill and went to China town, for some dinner, others had different plans. We went to a wonderful eating palace. Quite a few jokes were shared on the way. On our way back we were trying to flag taxi's and Maddie managed to flag a limo. So we ran to the other side of the street. It was quite the trip over the road.
Back to the hotel for a charge down and some sleeps.
Off to Vegas tomorrow.
Casey
Friday, 1 July 2011
I Left My Heart in San Francisco
Ah, what an amazing day. Our morning was early, in fact we had to leave at 7:50. It hurt, I feel most people wanted to sleep a little more. We headed off for Alcatraz, firstly I had a slight issue with the parks and wildlife people, because they told me that we were not booked in. After a fair amount of her searching, and a few um's and ah's she found the tickets, by this time I had finished my entire apple, and had gotten the seed out of my tooth. Boarding the boat we did. Then Tim wasn't at all visible, he went to get some water. So we continued on, and we got some mega cool photo's because of sitting on the top deck. Postgrad Sally shared some witty banter along the trip, much to many peoples amusement.... I've decided to turn the song Mustang Sally into Postgrad Sally; Pure Brilliance.
We arrived at Alcatraz and were told that we would have to climb 13 stories to get to our audio tour, many of us tried to find ways to be able to use the disability cart, we gave Marg a few different options, but in the end we all trudged up the hills. We arrived, and started our audio tours. This was amazing, the audio tour was given by past prison wardens and inmates. We had a very personal and sometimes confronting discovery of prison life. We were able to enter certain cells and the solitary confinement cells as well, these were fairly intense experiences for all. The tour ended with a horrific story of some inmates that stole knives from the kitchen and killed some inmates, and a horrific stabbing sound came across the headsets. Everyone said that it was one of the best Audio Tours they have ever done.
We headed off to Justin Herman Plaza for our performance, this was a particularly difficult performance because of where the power was located and the fact that we were in direct sun, the choir still did a great job, and we had some wonderful comments from people passing by. In the background we had to compete with a busy road, a bustling market, a Zip line up above and just general fatigue. They did a great job.
We packed up, and continued on to Union Square for some lunch and other things, a few of us went to Chinatown, and had super awesome Chinese food for lunch. Lots of fun. Then we had a sight seeing tour. We went out to Twin Peaks, and Japan Town, and then the Golden Gate Bridge and the little park on the other side, where we took some great group photos and had quite a few laughs, in particular Oli had the idea that he and I should Plank, LEGENDARY IDEA!!!
From here bit more sight seeing, and then off to Safeway, for the supermarket experience of our lives. I got cream puffs, such a good day.
Back to the hotel where we are currently having some cheese and chips and just having a really nice relax with the group.
We arrived at Alcatraz and were told that we would have to climb 13 stories to get to our audio tour, many of us tried to find ways to be able to use the disability cart, we gave Marg a few different options, but in the end we all trudged up the hills. We arrived, and started our audio tours. This was amazing, the audio tour was given by past prison wardens and inmates. We had a very personal and sometimes confronting discovery of prison life. We were able to enter certain cells and the solitary confinement cells as well, these were fairly intense experiences for all. The tour ended with a horrific story of some inmates that stole knives from the kitchen and killed some inmates, and a horrific stabbing sound came across the headsets. Everyone said that it was one of the best Audio Tours they have ever done.
We headed off to Justin Herman Plaza for our performance, this was a particularly difficult performance because of where the power was located and the fact that we were in direct sun, the choir still did a great job, and we had some wonderful comments from people passing by. In the background we had to compete with a busy road, a bustling market, a Zip line up above and just general fatigue. They did a great job.
We packed up, and continued on to Union Square for some lunch and other things, a few of us went to Chinatown, and had super awesome Chinese food for lunch. Lots of fun. Then we had a sight seeing tour. We went out to Twin Peaks, and Japan Town, and then the Golden Gate Bridge and the little park on the other side, where we took some great group photos and had quite a few laughs, in particular Oli had the idea that he and I should Plank, LEGENDARY IDEA!!!
From here bit more sight seeing, and then off to Safeway, for the supermarket experience of our lives. I got cream puffs, such a good day.
Back to the hotel where we are currently having some cheese and chips and just having a really nice relax with the group.
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