As if Lewis Carroll’s tale of Alice in Wonderland were not colourful enough, Tim Burton comes along and recreates the story with his usual fabulous flair.

In this version of the story that has been told by so many, you’ll enjoy a mix of colourful costuming, reinvented characters and great animation. Top it all off with the ever-popular 3D phenomenon that is hitting cinemas these days and you won’t want to take your eyes from the screen.

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp make a stella combination in modern film-making, and add into the mix Helena Bonham-Carter’s quirky character and you’re bound to have a story well-told. Mia Wasikowska makes for a very enchanting Alice, bringing to the screen a sense of innocence and naivety. Her beautiful gowns throughout the film are bound to make every little girl green with envy.

Alice in Wonderland contains the perfect mix of drama, humour, suspense and adventure – not to mention the dark spin on the story as is Burton’s usual style – with a grand battle to complete the adventure, where Alice could be likened to Joan of Arc in her shining armour and angelic features.

My only complaint after seeing this film was with Anne Hathaway being cast as the White Queen. Don’t get me wrong, in my opinion, Hathaway is gorgeous and holds her own in the acting world, but I think her dark features (only exaggerated by make-up) contrast a little too much with the ashen complexion and aura of this character. I’m sure this was the intention of the film-makers but something about the aesthetics just didn’t quite work.

All in all, this was a magical tale that I would definately pay to see again, and again…..and probably again.

Checkout Alice in Wonderland on IMDB.

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Supermarkets and green grocers advertise “Fresh Produce”….I’m sorry but it’s been many years since I’ve seen “fresh produce” in our local stores…..I remember when I was a wee tacker and I used to go grocery shopping with Mum, the fruit and vegies we’d buy would last in the fridge for anywhere from 2 – 6 weeks.  The only thing I can buy that would last that long now is onions.  Everything else I buy, I’m lucky if it keeps for 1-2 weeks.  It’s been a thorn in my side for years, but what can I do about it?  I’ve tried boycotting certain stores that refuse to sell fresh foods, but that doesn’t work, because we need a great volume of people in the community to do the same to make any sort of difference.

I think I’m going to have to drag my butt out of bed early on Saturday mornings and try out the Saturday Fresh Market at Brisbane Marketplace….hopefully the produce will be fresher, cheaper and more of the profits will go directly to the farmers….

Click here for map

• When travelling to Europe in Summer, understand that their summer can be as hot and humid (sometimes moreso) as a Queensland summer – Recommend taking shorts and singlets (obviously Kristy didn’t do this which is why she’s included this tip – she underestimated the power of summer in Europe)
• Book ahead – Don’t just show up in some city hoping to find accomodation on the spot, especially when travelling in peak season, or you could end up paying top dollar for very dodgy accommodation.  You’ll also end up wandering around in a foreign city, where you may not speak the language, hot and tired and stressing over how much further you need to walk to find something suitable.  Recommend using an internet cafe and booking your accomodation at least a couple of days in advance.  A good site Kristy & Pete used was www.booking.com, where it allows you to search in many different languages for hotels, hostels, apartments, resorts etc all over the world.
• Get yourself a good backpack designed for backpacking / hiking - Kristy would recommend visiting somewhere like Kathmandu - they usually have a great 50% sale at Easter time, so plan ahead.  These backpacks are expensive (which is why she tells you about the sale) but worth every penny.  Pete had one of these where as Kristy used a Qantas bag that could be converted from a backpack to a wheelie bag to a shoulder bag.  She thought this was a good idea at the time, but Europe and the UK have a lot of stairs and cobblestone type footpaths and roads, so the wheelie bags are not always the most practical option.  And when converted to a packpack, her bag did not have the same support that Pete’s provided.

• Travel as light as possible – just because the airline’s luggage limit is 20kgs, don’t keep packing until you get near the limit.  In summer, the most you probably need is one warm jumper / cardigan / jacket and 1 pair of jeans or long pants.  The rest of your clothes should be light, cool shirts and shorts.  For the females, pack minimal make up, jewellery, cosmetics etc….honestly you really don’t need them.  And as for shoes, 1 pair of comfortable sneakers as you’ll be doing a lot of walking, 1 pair of thongs (that’s flip flops or sandals for the foreigners) for showering and wandering around in dodgy-looking hotels / hostels, and if necessary, 1 pair of flat comfortable dressy shoes (if you think you can go without these then all the better).  FYI – If you’re visiting Paris and plan on going to the Moulin Rouge, they say the dresscode is dressy, but smart casual really is sufficient, and it’s suspected that many other places around the world would accept similar dress.
• Take a first aid kit – this may seem like a typical travellers tip, but honestly whilst Kristy & Pete didn’t have need for many things in their first aid kit, there were a few things they used semi-regularly, like the scissors, bandaids, safety pins and tweezers.  Add to the first aid kit, something for indigestion / heart burn (Kristy prefers Rennies), antiseptic cream (if not already included in the kit), and something for gastroenteritis (Gastrolyte is good for refueling your body when the poos and spews hit, and Bispectin is good for fixing the problem). Neither Pete nor Kristy had any problems in this area but everyone is different, and some may be affected by the local water, food or anything.  Also, keep in mind that if you don’t want to carry these things over there with you, you can always buy them from a pharmacy / chemist when you arrive.  In Italy and France at least, pharmacies are well marked and easy to find by a large green cross, protruding from the side of the building, as seen here

• No need for bedding - if you’re planning to stay in hotels / apartments / resorts, there is no need to take sleeping bags and pillows etc.  Even most hostels provide linen either as part of the cost or for a small additional fee.  Kristy’s recommendation, though, would be to carry your own pillow case, this way you can dress the pillow each place you go and not have to worry about where your pillow may have been.
• Get yourself a Lonely Planet guide (or equivalent) specific to the areas/countries you plan on visiting.  These guides provide much useful information, like recommended places for accommodation, sites to see or sites to skip, places to eat, maps, approximate costs of food, accomodation, tourist attractions etc, and basic language translations to get you by.  But whatever you do, don’t take the guide as gospel.  You may have different interests and standards to those who have contributed to the writing of the guide, for example you may enjoy something the guide has suggested is dull or you may miss something fantastic that the guide has not mentioned.

• Luggage Security – everyone is paranoid these days about luggage security, and knowing that most bags these days have about a hundred pockets and a 2-pack of luggage padlocks costs around $20-$30 for a combination, or around $10-$20 for a 2-pack of key locks.  A cheaper alternative is to grab a packet of small zip ties / cable ties and use these to lock each pocket instead.  They can be cut off at each end of your journey using the scissors from your first aid kit, but are deterrent enough for people trying to get into your bag.  Cable ties cost around $2 for a pack of 100, and the leftovers can be used around the home when you’re done travelling.

Combination / Key Lock or Cable / Zip Ties are a good idea to protect your luggage.

• Pocket Coins - When wandering around in foreign cities, always carry some local currency coins in your pocket.  These come in handy when gypsies, hawkers, canvassers stop you and trap you into buying their wares.  Don’t dismiss the idea, these people are very good at what they do and are especially attuned to catching tourists.  In Milan Pete and Kristy got done coming out of the Metro station, where a couple of Sudanese (at least I think they were Sudanese) guys tried to sell the travellers hand woven wrist bands.  They were both adamant in saying no thank you, but before they knew it they each had a wrist band tied onto their wrist….they are very quick and sneaky.  Then they expect you to give them money because they’ve just given you something, despite the fact that it was against your will.  In a situation like this, you don’t want to be pulling out your wallet with large notes in it where they can swiftly swoop in and take what they want (this happened to a friend on a recent trip to Europe, where the hawker dove into his wallet and took a 50 Euro note for the same type of wristband Kristy & Pete had).  If you find yourself in this sort of situation you can grab a couple of coins out of your pocket and quickly move on.

There are plenty more tips that could be shared, but these are the main tips that Kristy thought she and others would benefit from in the future.

For anyone who hasn’t tried it, Kristy highly recommends grabbing a friend…obviously one who is open to being a clown, and attempting it….

So, despite the fact that she doesn’t really have anything to say of any value, here is a blog post essentially about nothing, and only written for the sake of testing the waters with writing in third person.

• The velvet paintings in your house were bought from an art dealer on the side of the highway
• You’ve ever changed your baby on the hood of a car
• Your favourite topless bar is the one where your daughters work
• Your primary income involves pigs or manure
• You think “Chablis” is the name of last month’s Playboy centrefold
• Your dogs are still chasing your car a mile down the road
• You own all the components of a soap-on-a-rope except the soap
• You can tell your car is low on oil by looking at the garage floor
• The only vegetable in your diet is the pickle on a Big Mac
• You’ve ever shot at a NO HUNTING sign
• The passengers enter your vehicle through the driver’s-side door
• All of your cousins are kissing cousins
• The receipt for your car’s tune-up is more than two pages long
• Your handkerchief doubles as your shirt sleeve
• All of your golf balls come in an egg carton
• You’ve ever laid rubber while traveling in a funeral procession
• Your living room curtains are beach towels (or sheets)
• You were born with a plastic spoon in your mouth
• You taught your children how to play “Pull My Finger”
• Your best coon hound gets a birthday present and your wife doesn’t
• You cut your toenails in front of company
• Your car is permanently covered in paw prints
• You have Mason jars with stuff the FBI can’t identify
• You list “staring” as one of your hobbies
• You dated your daddy’s current wife in high school
• You have no hubcaps on your car because you’re using them to feed your hunting dogs
• You’ve ever ordered a bucket of skin from KFC

Check out Richard Hammond driving a Bugatti Veyron in a one mile race against a Eurofighter Typhoon jet.

Awesome huh?!

I know this drunk driver clip has been round the traps a few times but it’s great.  Check out this dude’s dexterity…amazing for someone so intoxicated.

I don’t know if I can dance this well after a few drinks, but I would hope to god that my choreography is a lot better.