AnnitaB from Torquay Oz

Hi A N N I T A B
Congratulation to have your own page.As Iam the First who visit You please accept my very beautiful flowers hope You enjoy it.
You are to Your own page.
You are to my own page.
You are to visit my 'Egyptian Guest House and enjoy my photos and Arabic Tube any and every time You Wish.

Thank you for your welcome Wagdy, your country is very beautiful, I hope one day I get a chance to visit

Hello AnnitaB - to your own page. You didn't waste any time in decorating your page, good to see. some flowers to add to your decorations and a bottle of our local Goundry Unwooded Chardonnay for you to enjoy.
Cheers

Thanks Anne
I'll enjoy your gifts immensely!

Hi Annita. Welcome to your own page! I have a tradition of leaving a double chocolate fudge Beavertail pastry from Ottawa as a page warming gift, so I hope you like rich pastry. An interesting picture on your page. Thanks for posting it, and drop into my page when you have time! Cheers!

AnnitaB, to Sudokuland! Love the picture! I'll just put this big pot of Maryland Cream of Crab soup on the table. I hope you and your guests enjoy it! Please drop by my place anytime for a snack and a chat, door's always open!

Annita, omg, I love your youtube. I feel so ignorant (and old)but who is that? so clever! have some bluebell chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream from that little creamery in Brenham, TX (moo).

Annita,oops sorry for the double posting but I wanted to say I love your avatar, too. How did you get that. I can't find any good ones that will fit.

Thanks for your warm welcome guys, I feel so loved all of a sudden
The youtube video is a band called OK GO. Their website is www.okgo.net check it out it's very funny. They have the most incredible coordination I've ever seen.
The avatar was borrowed from a wallpaper sample image, I just resized it. It took a couple of goes to make it work.

AnnitaB! Loved the lamingtons!
Leave it to the Aussies to come up with something that yummy I actually found a recipe and will give it a try

Annita, thanks for the info re:the band and the avatar. I will have to work on my photo editing skills...a lot. AND thanks for the great cheese and the compliment on my little sweetie!

AnnitaB,
just dropping in to enjoy your photo - I love pictures with a path to take me somewhere - I want to travel down and explore that area. Thanks also for the wonderful you tube - I saw the treadmill video before and it's a hoot. That reminds me - I should do my treadmill walking this morning - I think I will stay forward but I have walked sidestep on it before. Take care and enjoy the day, Mary

Have a great time AnnitaB. Cya when you get home.

Wow - looks like the ideal dive resort. I'm going on a live-aboard - the best choice when I'm travelling solo. I dove in the Red Sea 15 years ago; otherwise my only tropical diving has been Caribbean. I'm looking forward to seeing new critters. Have a wonderful time!

I'm getting excited for you. And for me - everything is now booked for my trip at Christmas. Takes forever to get there - I have to fly to New York (JFK), Dubai, Male. Coming back, it's just Dubai, Toronto - new flight added to the schedule yesterday. Perfect timing. I hope you take lots of pictures.

Wow Jane, I was just excited for me, congratulations! Now I'm excited for you too! Where are you staying? Thats a lot of traveling, we only have about 13 hours flying with a 4 hour stopover in Singapore, (hey we're Aussies, it takes ages to get anywhere from here, we're used to it.)
I will be taking soooooo many pictures, don't worry!

Hi AnnitaB, welcome to sukudo. We used to spend our Christmas holidays at Torquay and then we moved down the road a bit to Anglesea in later years. I have some photos of Anglesea buried somewhere in my photos on flickr if you are interested.

Hi Ian, pleased to meet you.
Anglesea is a lovely spot, not yet the ritzy resort town that Torquay is becoming. The surf/tourist industry has brought a lot of new development to the area. Lots of seachangers too. It's become fashionable to have a beach house and a coastal retirement plan. Pretty soon it will be time for the locals to sell up and find another quiet corner of the coast.
You can't stop progress, can you.
I'd love to see your photos, I'll just grab a coffee.......

Hi AnnitaB, I've just done a bit of a search and the photos are on page 11. But please feel free to browse through my other photos if you wish.

Yes, you can't stop progress. Even sleepy old Anglesea is now a place for upmarket holiday shacks and trendy coffee houses. But it still retains its natural beauty.

Hi Annita. I'm going on the Baani Explorer liveaboard (www.maldivesliveaboard.com). My travel agent, an old friend, specializes in scuba trips and he recommended it. Some island visits are included which is good - it would be silly to travel all that way & not see any of the above-water life. So far, it looks like I have a cabin to myself but if they get another single female, I'll be sharing. I've always been lucky - either had a good cabin-mate or got the cabin to myself. (Shared with an Aussie once.) Anyway, the cabin is only used for sleeping & changing bathing suits Hope we both see a whale-shark - that would be a first for me.

Gday AnnitaB, you must be getting excited about it now. Packing organised, tickets, passports...PASSPORTS! Where's the passports? Phew, there they are! I brought alnog a plate of nibblies and a bottle of bubbly to toast you- Bon Voyage. Have a great time. Post plenty of photos when you get home.

Enjoy the Phantom Annita. The same show/cast starts here in Ottawa on August 15th. Fighting for tickets as it is sold out over several performances right now.

I'm probably too late with this comment, but I do hope you have easy flights & a wonderful time. (Or, I do hope you HAD easy flights & a wonderful time if you don't see this until your return). I am really looking forward to the preview.

AnitaB, just thought I would visit and say Hi! Hope you enjoyed your vacation. The picture of the huts on the water is very cool! Looking forward to seeing pics when you get back. Have a great day! Here are some flowers to brighten it! Visit my page anytime! If you ever want to chat, you can visit the SA2 page (under Clips conversations). There's usually a friendly ear there. Take care.

Oh AnnitaB, I really feel for you, you must have had a terrible time there with those crystal clear waters and abundant sealife!!!!
I love dolphins. Once when my hubby and I went across from Queenscliffe to Sorrento on the ferry, we were escorted by a small group of dolphins the whole way. Fantastic.

Yes Gail, I cried my eyes out the whole time!

We had an amazing trip, if anyone ever gets the chance to go to the Maldives don't miss it. we were the only Australians on the island, it's mostly Europeans. (although I know many of my surfer friends have been, different area though).
We dived and snorkelled till we could no more! A day's sailing on the 'Britt' had us surrounded by dolphins and later snorkelling with Manta Rays. A truly surreal experience. I'm having trouble settling back into work and normal life this week.

Hello AnitaB, and welcome home!! Sure looks like you had a wonderful time, and the water is so blue and clear, and the sand so white. The worst part about a holiday is always the settling in again, but, believe me, after a week.....Oh well!! Leaving you some bubbly to share with all your guests. Enjoy!!

Welcome home! The pictures are terrific & I'm so glad that the trip lived up to expectations. I've never been in the water with mantas - hope they're still around in December. How were the local people? Do they appear happy to have tourists, or disapproving of women showing bare skin? Can't wait to see more pics.

The locals are a very beautiful people, as far as dress code goes, nudity is a no-no, punishable by a hefty fine. In the areas of the general populus such as the airport and Male, the capital city, and if you visit a populated island, cover up thighs and shoulders, no strappy tops or short shorts. But on the resort islands, and I'm sure the liveaboards are the same, bikinis and speedos are quite commonplace. (So you can work on the tan) Dining areas and bars require coverup though, something a few people didn't respect unfortunately.

Word of warning, although tourism operators cater well to the alcoholic demands of westerners on vacation, transporting alchohol into and within the Maldives is illegal.

There seems to be quite a few people (men only) from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh who work in hospitality. The industry has taken a dive for them in their home countries, so they must travel for work, many only see wives and children every 6 months or so.

Overall, you'd be hard pressed to find a more gentle, friendly and proud group of people. (And very efficient at their jobs!)

I have video of the Mantas, when I get it on Youtube I'll let you know.

Thank you for the info - it has relieved some of my concerns. I'm arriving the day before I get on the boat and I'm travelling on my own, so I'm a little anxious about the kind of service I'll get on that first day in Male. When I was in Jordan, with a group, waiters generally ignored me - they expected one of the men to order for me. But after 24 hours of travel & a 10-hour time difference, I'll probably be too sleepy to care!
I'm looking forward to seeing the manta video.

Hi Anita. Sounds like you had a wonderful trip. I would love to swim with dolphins. Great picture of that little hermit crab! Cheers!

G'day Anita. It was very kind of you to respond personally to my pathetic post earlier today. I had a very bad night's sleep and I think everything just overwhelmed me this morning, including too much self-pity. It will all take time I know. We were together for 40 years and it was never dull.

Gday AnnitaB, haven't seen you around for a while so I thought I'd drop in to see how you're doing.
I hope this note finds you and yours well.
Pop into the easy puzzle page sometime and say gday.

I thought I'd better drop in and apologize...just in case! My daughter is in Torquay for schoolies week. She sent a message today saying she is having the best time ever! I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not!
Good luck and take care,
Gail

Hi Gail
Sorry I took so long to respond. Thanks for thinking of me. We have had a bad couple of months with two deaths in our family. Trying to catch up on work has left me little time. I've grabbed a puzzle every now and then but it's usually on the run and I don't have time to socialize.
As far as the schoolies go, so far they've been well behaved. I was in Lorne yesterday and it is pretty packed as is Torquay. I hope they all (especially your daughter) have a wonderful, safe and memorable time. The weather is warm but a little stormy so that probably fits teenagers to a tee!
Have a great week
Regards Annita

Annita, Wishing you and your family, health, peace, love, and happiness during this Christmas Season and throughout the New Year! Merry Christmas! Stella & family

Hi Annita. Just stopped by to say that I hope you and all you care for enjoy happiness and peace during this festive season and in all days to come! Best wishes for a Merry Christmas!

Hi Annita. Wishing you a wonderful Christmas season and all the best for 2008. I leave in 48 hours for the Maldives - I hope I come back with a picture as good as yours of the dolphin family!

Stopped by to wish you good cheer
Brought a little bubblie here
May your toast be great
For two thousand eight
May you have a very

Hope your Christmas was blest.
No resolutions to obsess
It is not too late
For to celebrate
Our Lord Saviour’s Righteousness

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas



and a