Thursday Dec 20/07 - Bangkok

At the temples in Chiang Mai

Nicola showing off her dishes at Cooking Class

Snackin' on Crickets at a local market....yummy

Temples at the Grand Palace

More pictures of the Grand Palace

Statues at the Grand Palace

The Giant Recline Buddha

Well this is likely to be the last blog for our trip across Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Thailand. A bitter-sweet moment for sure. We have been having an absolute blast on this trip and have learned and seen so much. On the other hand it's been months since we've seen most of our friends and our families and it will be great to come home, especially just in time for Christmas.

Since the last post we've spent 5 days in Thailand's Northern region in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is certainly a different place than the rest of Thailand, originally it was quite separated from the rest of the country, having it's own language and other characteristics. Today it is very much a part of Thailand, but retains it's own unique feel. The air was a little cleaner and the people were quite a bit more relaxed in Chiang Mai, enjoying the beautiful jungles and mountains as backdrops to the city. While in Chiang Mai we went on a city tour and a tour of the many famous temples. There are literally hundreds of Temples in Chiang Mai, but we went to see the most popular ones, and one high up in the mountain over looking the city. We also took in a cooking class at one of the local cooking schools. Our small group of 5 got to pick out 4 dishes from a cookbook and then we hit the local markets to buy all the fresh ingredients. After heading back to the school we prepared all the ingredients and then cooked each dish, ending the evening with a big feast of our creations. The cooking class was a lot of fun and I hope that I'll be able to recreate some of the dishes when I return home, though my history of Kraft Dinner cooking would tend to disagree.

After returning to Bangkok Nicola and I spent a whole day touring the Grand Palace, a group of extravagant Temples in the heart of Bangkok. We also visited the giant reclining Buddha, this thing is absolutely enormous, almost too big to fit in one picture. The level of detail in the temples here in Thailand is indescribable and unfortunately the pictures do no justice to the millions of little jewels and details carved into every square inch of these massive buildings. Besides that, Nicola and I will spend the last day here taking in some last massages and last minute shopping before heading to Singapore tomorrow and then home the next day. Thanks to everyone for following along and Merry Christmas!

Friday, Dec 14/07 - Chiang Mai, Thailand

"The Beach" from the Movie, actually called Maya Bay

Another shot of the beach...so many tourists :(

Long boat in Maya Bay

Nicola feeding the monkeys at Monkey Beach

Tropical fish pecking the bread right out of your hand

Nicola getting swarmed by hungry fish

Muay Thai Boxing match at Patong Stadium

Well it's been a little while since our last post on the blog. To be perfectly honest we really haven't been doing that much different everyday. A typical day for us in Patong Beach has been sleeping in, throwing on our bathing suits, heading down the beach, reading, tanning and swimming for the whole day, relaxing or going out in the evenings and then doing it all over again the next day. We literally did that every day for about 10 days. One of the nights we took in a Muay Thai fight at the local stadium which was really entertaining, better than the fights we saw in Bangkok. There were a lot of international fighters on the card and all the fights were very aggressive.

We also did a day tour out to the Koh Phi Phi islands. These are regarded as some of the most beautiful places in the world, and certainly in Thailand. As I mentioned in a previous post, the movie "The Beach" was set on the islands off Koh Samui but was actually filmed on a beach on one of the Phi Phi islands. We went to this beach, called Maya Bay, and were awestruck with just how perfect it was. Nestled in a very protected bay, surrounded by towering cliffs, a perfectly white sandy beach sits in the back of bay filled with crystal clear water thriving with tropical fish. The only downside to the area is that everyday thousands of tourists make the trip out there and the place has been perpetually busy since the 1999 release of the film displaying it's beauty. However, if you are able to look past all the boats and all the tourists it's easy to see this is one of the world's 'not so hidden' gems. After visiting that beach our tour boat took us around to many other places around the islands and for a buffet lunch on another very nice beach in a quieter area. We also visited an almost equally busy 'Monkey Beach' where the beach and surrounding trees are full of Monkeys ready and willing to accept bananas from the tourists in exchange for being photographed more than Paris Hilton or Britney Spears.

Our time in Patong beach was great, though we may not think of it like this we really converted from travelers to tourists for a week and a half but we definitely enjoyed the relaxation. I will certainly never argue with $6 for an hour long massage or $1 for three giant spring rolls delivered right to my beach chair while reading a book. Now that our time is up there, Nik has flown back to Bangkok to return home today and Nicola and I have flown to Chiang Mai, a city of about 200,000 in Northern Thailand. We will spend probably 5 nights up here, exploring the city and some of its many temples before returning to Bangkok for a few nights and then home for us too. Our itinerary includes one afternoon and night in Singapore on the way home so we'll get to explore that city a little bit more this time.

Monday - Dec 3/07 - Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand

Thailand Moped Gang Members

That takes guts

The snake hissed and snapped at him over and over

This guy was huge but basically harmless

Lots of time spent here by the pool at the Mermaid Bungalows

Our Speedboat for the Ang Thong day trip

Nicola and I on the beach at our first stop

The fisherman's village

Nicola chillin' at Patong beach

Patong Beach, where we will spend many afternoons

As I sit here and write this blog it's at least 30 degrees outside and the sun has been cooking us all day long, yet when I check the weather at home it's -5 and there's at least a foot of snow on the ground! Oh yeah?!!? It's December! It's hard to believe that it's already December and that soon we will be returning home to what is supposed to be a very chilly Canadian winter. That being said, I'm actually pretty jealous of everyone at home with all their snow and wish I could be playing around in it right now, despite the great weather here. Nicola is quite the opposite, she hates the snow with a passion and does not look forward to seeing any of it.


Since the last post we've gone from Koh Phan Ngan to Koh Samui, and have now moved on to Phuket where we are staying at Patong Beach. Koh Samui was a fun island to stay on. It was about a 45 minute ferry ride from Koh Phan Ngan and we stayed at some bungalows on the outside of the town of Chewang. Certainly more established and definitely more touristy this island was still a cheap place to stay where we got to soak up the sun and relax for a week. We spent a good amount of our time by the pool, relaxing and reading. Once again we rented some mopeds which allowed us to boogie around the island and into town when needed to pick up a new book or some frozen yogurt. Getting lost on the island's crazy and confusing, yet limited road system is always a good way to spend an afternoon. One afternoon we took in a crocodile and snake show at the local crocodile farm where we saw some stuff I never thought was possible. Some very daring Thai guys working extremely hard for their tips got dangerously close to being bit by King Cobras and Crocodiles.


Another one of our days on Koh Samui was spent doing a day trip to Ang Thong National Marine Park. For those who have seen the movie 'The Beach' with Leonardo DiCaprio, this is where the film was based. The weather for the day was unfortunately a little bit overcast, but we still had a great time. We went on a nice new speed boat with triple 225 horse Honda outboards out to the park, then used a three man kayak (which we capsized) to get to our lunch destination. The kayaks would take us to a secluded fisherman's village in the middle of nowhere. Here we had a traditional Thai lunch with our group and hopped back in the speed boat. From lunch we set out in open waters to our next stop to do some snorkeling, however the seas had gotten quite rough at this point. Facing nearly 6 foot swells we had a very rocky ride that got most on the boat very wet. After a stop to do some snorkeling we faced the ride back home, which was supposed to be 35 minutes long.....An hour and 45 minutes later we had finally made it back to Koh Samui. The seas had gotten extremely rough but we had no choice but to push through the large waves using the power of the outboards to their full extent. In the open front section of the boat one man hit his head on his knee after the boat came down hard from a large wave. Unfortunately he also jammed his back in the process and would have to be carried to the back of the boat to lie down. This also happened to be where I was sitting, Nicola was midship where she would stay relatively dry. I moved to the very front where Nik and a few other of the young passengers were. The ride back was extremely rough and we even took on water (and a fish) from the bow of the boat on a few occasions. Meanwhile in the back section of the boat, fear and nausea had taken over the group. The front group enjoyed the thrill ride back with no problems but when we arrived Nicola informed us that half a dozen of the folks in the back had thrown up (some out in the open) and many of the others were in tears. Needless to say some enjoyed the day more than others.

As I mentioned earlier, we just recently took the bus and boat from Koh Samui to Phuket where we've found a great hotel near Patong Beach. The area is very touristy but also very nice and there is a lot to do around here (besides the beach which is reason enough to spend a couple weeks here). With tourism come the Lady-Boys and sexy massage ladies, in true Thailand fashion. Walking down certain streets, like the one we have to walk to get from the hotel to the beach, means that lone men will literally be draped with ladies and lady-boys stroking them and attempting to lure them into their massage parlours. Without exaggeration you literally need to push them away from you. Thankfully I have Nicola on my arm most of the time so they stay away from me, but 6'5" Nik is a prime target in this area, "Sexy man! you very tall! you come here I give you massage!" Tonight we will sort out some of our plans for the next little while which should hopefully include some fishing, snorkeling and trips out to Koh Phi Phi, an island renowned for its beauty off the coast of Phuket.

Saturday, Nov 24/07 - Koh Phan Ngan, Thailand

Khao San Road, Bangkok

Nice wiring job eh?

Tuk Tuk

The view from our room on Koh Phan Ngan

Our place is on the right

Swimming at the waterfalls with our Safari group

Elephant Trekking

Nicola holding a baby Lemur

As we expected, Thailand is a completely different world. Arriving into Bangkok we were floored at how completely different everything is here. Very few people speak English here and the ones that do are very difficult to understand. The ideas of anything regarding safety, regulations, licences, taxes, or any of the first world ideals we are so used to simply don't exist here. Walking down Khao San Road you will be asked by literally dozens of people if you want a taxi, a tuk tuk, a new suit, some food, or as the case is in the evenings anything to do with 'ladies', I think we all get the picture here. It is so busy literally everywhere you go, escaping back to your hotel room is your only chance to really catch your breath and stop for a moment. We spent most of our time in Bangkok just walking around and soaking in the completely different way of life here. On our way back through Bangkok we will spend more time checking out the temples. Nik and I did go to a Muay Thai kickboxing match one evening, where we had front row, ringside seats and were treated like kings. Despite where you go and how much money you spend it is painfully obvious that you are in a very poor country, everywhere you go. There is a certain 'every man for himself' mentality which runs across all elements of society. Also as I mentioned before a total lack of regulation means that things flow quickly with a certain lack of bureaucracy but also with a total lack of safety or assurance in anything you do. A few examples; we are driving ATV's down the main roads with no drivers licence required, when I asked for a helmet the guy just laughed, when I asked if we needed a licence to fish, or insurance for our mopeds I heard that same laugh, our hotel is playing movies on the movie channel which have clearly been videotaped in a movie theatre, any legal concerns? only the tourist police will even talk to you however they've all been paid off by someone anyways. I'm sure returning to Canada will be a bit of a shock for all us. Maybe we'll all get strange looks when we are caught bartering the price of a donut at Tim Hortons. "80 cent!? no no, 40 cent 40 cent"

We are currently on the island of Koh Phan Ngan and we are absolutely loving it here. We took the most expensive (assuming it was the safest) option of getting here. We had a 6.5 hour bus ride on a nice newer bus followed by a 4 hour ride on a high speed catamaran similar to the Harbour Lynx, it cost us $21 each. The small island has about 12,000 permanent residents but is swarmed by hundreds of thousands over the year to come to the world famous 'Full Moon Party'. Started in the late 1980's this party can attract well in excess of 10,000 partying backpackers onto one beach in Haad Rin on the island. The beach is lined with DJs playing different music and lots of bars. The party does not stop until well into the morning. The full moon is tonight so we will be down at the beach partying with the rest of them. However, I'm sure we will be quite cautious and even sober compared to some of the people we've met and seen around this island. We've been enjoying the beaches and scenery as well as the amazing food as compared to getting blackout drunk every single night as it seems most young English travellers here are doing. We rented some mopeds to get us around the island for the first few days, doing some exploring of our own and driving down to Haad Rin and Thong Sala, the two main towns. We are staying at a beach called Ban Kai which is about 3km from Haad Rin, other travellers we met in Australia recommended this so we can escape the craziness (and theft) that occurs in the Haad Rin area on the full moon night. We've also rented some sea-doos at the beach and now have rented some ATV's to really explore the extremely rugged inland roads which have also recently been ravaged by floods. Yesterday we went on a Safari tour of the island which included Nicola, Nik and I plus 4 Swedish girls guided by two Thia guys in a Land Rover. They took us around the island showing us many of the beaches and sights to see. We went on a few jungle treks to some waterfalls, went on an elephant trek, and attempted some snorkeling but the water was not clear enough. Monday, after we've recovered from the full moon party we will make our way down to Koh Samui, a larger more commercialized island to the south. We're not really sure how long we'll stay there but we've got a few places in mind of where to stay so we'll just play it by ear.

Friday November 16/07 - Bangkok, Thailand

Just a quick note to say that we made it to Thailand in one piece. Our flight here from Singapore was actually cancelled last night so Singapore Air put us up in a hotel that made us blush after months of cheap hostel accomodation. Today we've made it to Bangkok and are staying at quite a nice hotel on Khoa San Road (the place where all the foreigners go), it is about $25 a night for a very nice room. Tomorrow we will meet Nik at the airport and then the fun will really begin as we head south in search of beaches and good times. We'll put up another blog post once we've taken some pictures and explored around Bangkok some more and know more about our plans for the next 5 weeks.

Wednesday Nov/07 - Sydney

Port Arthur Historic Prison Site

Wineglass Bay

Nicola gettin' smoochy with a Wallaby

Beach at the Bay of Fires

Nice walk through the rain forest at St. Columba Falls

Nicola and I at Cradle Mountain

Mommy Wallaby with her baby in the pouch

Tasmanian traffic jam

Goodbye Sydney!

Well tomorrow we will yet again say goodbye to another country and move on, this time to Thailand. Our last week in Australia was spent in Tasmania, the big rock south of Australia, rarely visited by many backpackers or even Australians. It was very difficult to find out any information on what we should do while in Tasmania as we couldn't find anybody who'd ever been there. I asked every single travel agent we went to and not a single one had ever been, in addition we weren't able to find any other backpackers in the hostels that had been.

We rented a car in Hobart which is the capital city, with a population of about 200,000 and went to a tourist info centre to map out our time on the island. We picked a route which would take us up the east coast visiting the Port Arthur Historic Prison Site, Wineglass Bay, and the Bay of Fires, leading us to Launceston in the north of the island. From here we went to Cradle Mountain National Park and then worked our way down to Hobart again.

The Port Arthur Site was very interesting. Australia and Tasmania were where criminals in Britain were sent in the 1800's. When these criminals misbehaved, as well as really bad criminals from the UK, they were sent to Port Arthur. The prison was seen as an experiment in its time, incorporating mental and physical 'torture', with education and rehabilitation. It was open for approximately 30 years in the mid 1800's and was built entirely by the convicts themselves as part of their work duties. Because of the geography of the site there are no prison walls, it's just a site in the middle of the forest on the water's edge, escape was virtually impossible. We went on a day tour of the entire site, exploring the many buildings whose remnants still stand today, taking in the very rich history of the site. At night we did ghost tour of the site which was pretty creepy. The site is home to many legends and ghostly tales of its horrific and tragic history. Too add to its infamous history of death and despair the site was also home to Australia's worst massacre. In 1996 a local man only 28 years of age went to the cafeteria of the tourist attraction and used semi-automatic guns to commit a hideous act of violence. 35 locals, tourists, and employees of the site died that day as the man shot people at the site and continued his rampage onto a local resort, holding himself up for an eventual police shootout. It was a tragedy of vast proportions that many had trouble even fathoming. Today the massacre is not mentioned on the tours as it simply too fresh in the minds of employees who lost family and friends in the shooting.

After Port Arthur we headed up to Wineglass bay halfway up on the east coast. We did a one hour hike up to a lookout point which gives you a beautiful view of this perfect crescent shaped beach. The scenery is incredible from the lookout point and you feel like staying up there for the whole day and just staring off at the horizon.

From Wineglass Bay we moved up the coast to the Bay of Fires. This area is an incredible set of magnificent white beaches accented with turquoise waters. The beaches are all lined up one after another, so after visiting one you just hop in the car and drive up the road 5 minutes to the next, it was very picturesque. Driving west from the Bay of Fires to Launceston was without doubt the most fun I've ever had in a car. We had a new model rental Toyota Camry which was pretty decent to drive, but the road made the trip so much fun. Tasmanian roads are basically all extremely windy, and this section was no exception. The road begs to be used for a WRC rally course, it winds back and forth through a spectacular rain forest. The curves, dips, hills and bends are relentless and the road is terrifically entertaining to drive. In addition to that, Tasmanian roads are almost all 100 km/h, even though that is virtually impossible on this entire 165 km section of road. I will never forget that afternoon drive through the rain forest, however it had me missing my motorbike the entire time.

We spent two nights in Launceston at a pretty sleezy backpackers place which was basically an old run down motel surrounded by bars and live entertainment venues playing loud music until 4 in the morning. We just used Launceston as a gateway to Cradle Mountain National Park, where we did a 6 km walk around Dove Lake at the base of the Mountain, once again a very beautiful area. We also had a chance to check out St. Columba Falls, the tallest waterfalls in Australia at about 300 feet, this was a really nice stroll through a rain forest.

Now we are in Sydney, Jen left this morning and we take off tomorrow afternoon for Bangkok. We are thoroughly looking forward to some more affordable accommodation and food as Australia has really become an expensive place to be. A very stark room in a backpackers hostel in Sydney is costing $105 a night for 3 people, this should get us over a week in Thailand.

Wednesday Nov 7/07 - Sydney

Nicola and I with the Opera House in the background

Opera House with the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Great view of the city from the Zoo

Baby Koala, called a Joey, at the Zoo

Baby Gorilla hanging on for dear life at feeding time

Starin' right at you

Californian Seal doing a double backflip - very impressive


Okay obviously we had to put a Kangaroo on here

How Rude!

Well Sydney is sure a change of scenery for all of us here. A city of over 4 million people which is absolutely massive. To think of even covering off a fraction of what there is to see and do in Sydney in 4 days is ridiculous. However, we've been spending our time here pounding the pavement of the downtown streets walking everywhere we possibly could. Our hostel is a short 30 minute walk to the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge as well as most of the downtown core. On our first day here the weather was great, the sun was shining and it was nice and warm so we took in the Sunday Market in the "Rocks" district and walked around to see what Sydney was all about. Since then the weather has been going downhill everyday, it has been cloudy and raining on and off for the rest of the time here. Despite the weather we spent an entire day at the Tangora Zoo across the Sydney Harbour and have still managed to spend a lot of time outside.

The Zoo was great, it gave us a chance to actually see some Kangaroos and Koalas, which we obviously couldn't have come to Australia without seeing. They actually had an incredible range of animals, birds, and reptiles at the zoo. At 10 mintues to close we were literally running to see the last of the exhibits that we had missed, Tangora is huge! The Koalas were clearly a favorite with the ladies, while I especially enjoyed the giant turtle and the Komodo dragon.

Besides the zoo we've had a lot of time walking around Sydney seeing the great parks, shops, and buildings. I must say that I've really enjoyed Sydney and I'm pretty impressed with the city. There are really nice public parks where you can get excellent views of the harbour, and the city itself is very clean and feels very safe. The shopping downtown is insane. There are unlimited stores of any kind that you could imagine. Today I got lost in an 8 storey department store looking for a birthday gift for Nicola. It is very easy to wind up in an underground shopping mall and pop up to street level blocks away without the slightest clue where you are. Similar to Auckland in New Zealand it seems like the downtown core is more highly occupied with retail and business space as apposed to actual living space like all the condos in cities like Vancouver.

From here we are flying to Hobart in Tasmania tommorow morning. There is no Greyhound bus service in Tasmania and the guided tours are very expensive so we've opted to rent a car and split the costs. It only takes three days to drive a loop around Tasmania and we have 4 full days and 2 half days so we should be able to take in the major sights. It will probably take the collective effort of all three of us to make sure I'm driving of the 'left' side of the road at all times, I'm sure we'll be alright though. After that we will fly back to Sydney where we will say goodbye to Jen and we will take off to Thailand.

Friday Nov 2/07 - Byron Bay

Fancy Pants Surfer's Paradise

The Funky Abodes at the Arts Factory

Jen and Nicola down at the beach


The beach at Byron Bay, great for surfing


Take it easy buddy.....


Nicola chillin' out in the hammock


Fire show put on by hippies at the Buddha Bar

Well we managed to get out of Brisbane and catch the bus to Surfer's Paradise. Surfer's Paradise sounds like a relaxed village full of young surfers living life one day at a time. However it is actually a very ritzy resort city on the beach. Skyscrapers are everywhere and the place is actually home to the world's tallest residential building at 78 stories, taller than the Trump Towers in New York. The surf is good here, but ironically there are much better places to surf in Australia than Surfer's Paradise. That being said, Surfer's Paradise turned out to be Jen's Paradise. A city with great shopping, flashy stores and malls everywhere, Jen was truly in Heaven. Nicola and I spent one day at the water slide park about 20 minutes out of town while Jen spent the day shopping. We all had a great time but after a few days of expensive accommodation in a sub-par hostel it was time to move on. We're now in Byron Bay staying at a place called the Arts Factory Lodge, this very unique place was started 45 years ago by some Californian draft dodgers. They decided that apposed to going to war they would rather surf, smoke pot, and create music, and that's how it all started. These days it is a great backpacker accommodation loaded with activities and things to do. You can learn to play the didgeridoo, take a massage or yoga class, go on nature walks, sunrise tours and heaps of other things. Though now it is not the pot smoking hippy hang out it once was, you can still get a serious hippy vibe throughout the 5 acre site. Dreadlocks are common here, yet bras are not and everybody is very relaxed. The accommodation ranges from more traditional style dorm rooms to teepees and strange canvas cubes that surround the small lake.

So far in Byron we have just been relaxing and enjoying the friendly atmosphere. The downtown area is small and loaded with great little shops and restaurants. At the hostel we've been going to the "Buddha Bar" for trivia night, live music, and a fire show. On Thursday Jen and I took a day tour to a small village called Nimbin. Nimbin is tiny place tucked into the forest about an hour inland from Byron Bay. It was started during the Vietnam war by draft dodgers who created co-op farms in the hills. Today the town exists as a centre for alternative lifestyles and everything else which runs against the grain of society. Though there are police there Marijuana is de-criminalized, and the town hosts the annual "Mardi-Grass" festival. The bus driver took us to his hippy friend's nature reserve in the middle of the Jungle where we ate as many fresh Macadamia nuts and fresh berries as we liked. The strange hippy living there was originally from Long Island New York but has been living in the Jungle Paradise he calls home for 30 years. Mixed with his Australian accent was still a thick New York accent coming from a man with long hippy hair down to his shoulders, wearing no shoes or shirt even..I assure you it was an entertaining, yet extremely unusual day. From here we will head down to Sydney on tomorrow night's overnight bus. After 4 days in Sydney we will fly to Tasmania for the last leg of our Australia experience.

Friday October 26/07 - Brisbane

Maheno Shipwreck

Our trusty Toyota with the "Pinnacles" cliffs in the background

The beautiful white sands of Lake Mackenzie

Chris going in for a close shot of a Sea Crate

Wild Dingo with a tag on his ear

The Fraser Island Crew (A Team)

We're in Brisbane now after a 5 hour bus ride down the coast from Hervey Bay. Orginally we planned to stay here for 3 nights but we are quickly realizing that there is nothing that interests us here. We've been relaxing in small, completely chilled out places since we arrived in Australia and we would love to keep that going so we are changing our bus passes to get to Surfers Paradise two days earlier. It's an easy choice as we are in dorm room tonight with some disguisting people that are so messy and want to get the hell out of this place ASAP.

Before this we were in Hervey Bay so we could do a three day tour of Fraser Island. Fraser Island is apparantly the worlds largest sand island and sits just off the coast from Hervey Bay. There are a couple of small resorts on the island but besides that it is very remote. Wild dingos and many other forms of wildlife are common. It was a very unique and incredible experience. You gather at the bar of the hostel in the morning and are put in a group of 11 people. In a very short period of time you must make a group decision on what you are going to eat for the next 3 days, everybody throws $20 in the pot and two will go off to buy the neccesary groceries. The rest of the group is taken to a 4WD rental place and we are given a specially outfitted Toyota LandCruiser to use for the 3 days. You need a competent 4WD to get anywhere on the island as it is made entirely of sand and there are no paved roads, just loose sand tracks through the bush. One side of the island is one massive perfectly straight beach which is 75 miles long. Once you are on the beach you can drive 80 km/h and then head inland through the tracks to visit the many lakes and other sites. We camped, cooked, drove, swam, drank, and did everything with the 11 former strangers for the whole time on the island. Cooperation, tolerance, patience, and humour are essential to have an unforgettable time with your new-found friends. We were incredibly fortunate to have been teamed up with 4 Irish girls, a lone traveller from London, and a couple travelling with their friend from South Africa. We all got along exceptionally well and managed to see some incredible stuff on the island. It was both a fun and educational experience that Jen, Nicola and I all thoroughly enjoyed.

With our bus passes now changed to head down to Surfers Paradise tommorow morning we are looking forward to leaving the big city.

Sunday Oct 21/07 - Airlie Beach

Nicola and I at sunset just off Hook Island

Our boat, the Pacific Star, anchored in Tongue Bay

Whitehaven Beach

Another view of Whitehaven Beach

Loads of fish hanging about the reef

The fish are so brightly colored it looks like something in a movie

Table top coral like in the background is where the big fish hide

Nicola and I together on our second dive

Well we are back on solid ground now after three days on the boat. We went out on Wednesday on a 65 foot Catamaran style boat which took us all around the Whitsunday Islands. There were 21 passangers and 4 crew members on board and everything was taken care of, including of all our food. The winds made the water fairly rough for some of the trip and at least half dozen of the passengers were throwing up on the first day. Luckily Nicola, Jen and I were okay and none of us got sick. The boat was specially outfitted for diving with a platform containing all of the gear on the back. Despite having already dived a portion of the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns Nicola and I went for two more dives on this boat. We were exploring areas of the reef which are surrounding the many islands in the area, this is called fringe reef. Diving was a lot of fun, and was quite affordable to do on this boat, however we don't feel like it's something we will take up as a sport back home. It's nice to take advantage of the great sites and the affordable rates while we are here and I will likely do a little bit more in Thailand depending on how things go up there.

Overall the boat trip was incredible. Everyday we would tour around to a few different bays and popular spots around the Whitsunday area. The boat would anchor and we would have the option to Snorkel, Dive, or just relax and suntan or read on the deck. Besides our two dives we Snorkeled every site and really got to see a lot of different kinds of coral and fish. The beauty is that most of the reef is very shallow and you can see everything from just snorkeling. Our first day on the boat took us to Whitehaven Beach. This is a postcard perfect beach, rated one of the top 10 in the world. It's not hard to see why once you get there. The viewpoint above the beach allows you to see the turqoise blue water contrasted against the perfectly white sand. The sand itself is actually 99.8% pure silica (glass). It is so pure you can actually use it to polish your jewellery or exfoliate your skin. From the pictures you can see the flowing shapes on the sand bars create an incredible spiral of white and blue. Everytime the tide comes in the sand is placed in a different way, creating an all new pattern. In fact it is impossible to get the same picture twice, because everyday the pattern of the sand is completely reshaped. On our last night of the tour we anchored at a bay off Hook Island and took a dingy to the island resort. It was so cool because for some reason there was absouletly nobody staying at the resort for two days and so we had the entire bar to ourselves. All the passangers and crew trekked through a mysterious trail in the woods to come across this 'barefoot' bar on a completely secluded and totally tropical island, what a great night. It almost seemed like something out of a movie and most wondered if the whole thing was some kind of a joke, thinking "Why is there a bar here in the middle of nowhere, and how come there is nobody here?"

When we returned to land about half the passangers and crew all met up at bar called Beaches which is where our hostel is. Everyone coming off any of the dozens of different boats touring the Whitsunday Islands comes to Beaches to party when they return to land. The first round of drinks is on the bar and after that one of the German guys on our boat bought everybody drinks for the entire night! It was great, the beer flowed free and all the backpackers let loose on the dancefloor, continuing on to many of the other nightclubs in this small town. It was definitley a fun night out. Unfortunately Nicola had a stomach ache and couldn't partake in the partying, but I was smart enough to check on her many times.

Now tonight we hop on the overnight bus (13.5 hours) to Hervey Bay so we can do our tour of Fraser Island in the coming week. We'll have more to update once we have finished that and continue our way down the coast.

Comic Relief

I saw this comic posted on the wall of a hostel we were staying at. You may need to click it to enlarge it so you can read the text. If this isn't funny, I don't know what is.

See new post of Airlie Beach Below.

Tuesday Oct 16/07 - Airlie Beach, Australia

Nicola and I at the Lagoon in Airlie Beach

Our Tour boat with one of the Reefs in the background

The Lagoon in Cairns, great place to relax

Helicopter view of one of the few thousand individual reefs which make up the Great Barrier Reef

Well it's been almost a week in Australia and we absolutely love it here. It's been a trip down memory lane for Nicola as she takes Jen and I to all the places she used to hang out and a shock for her to see all that has changed. Cairns was amazing, incredibly hot and sunny almost every day and a very relaxed city, light clothing and flip flops are the fashion standard for everyone. There is a great man-made lagoon which proved an excellent swimming hole and tanning place and we enjoyed most of our time just relaxing and soaking up the sun, with plenty of sunscreen lotion on of course. You can burn in a matter of 5 minutes here, the sun is so powerful, walk down the street with no lotion on and you will literally feel your skin burning.

While in Cairns we had to take a day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef, a must for all visitors and it's really not very expensive either. For a full day trip on a big boat out to two separate reefs that were 65kms off-shore including all of your snorkeling equipment, food, and one introductory scuba dive it was only $114 with all the taxes included. The day-trip was amazing, however the one day that we were supposed to go I was not feeling well once we got to the dock so I decided to opt out and go the next day. Jen and Nicola ended up getting a little bit better weather than I did, and we all opted for the upgrade to a Helicopter trip back from the reef to Cairns which took us for a tour of a few different reefs. While out at sea we had about 5 hours to snorkel on the two different reefs which was incredible. They are very shallow so snorkeling is a great way to see everything, usually the coral is just a few feet below you. Nicola and I also opted to try Scuba Diving at one of the reefs which was also fun, it allowed us to see some of the different parts of the reef, and of course go diving which is awesome. I'm definitely hooked on diving now and will likely do some more on Ko Tao in Thailand as it is apparently even cheaper there and the dive sites are supposed to be world class. I bought a cheap underwater camera for the day trip out to the reef but it turned out to be a piece of garbage and none of the pictures really turned out so unfortunately there are no underwater pictures so far. However, I managed to find a pretty good deal on a underwater digital camera that can go down to 50 feet so we should be able to get some pictures on our adventures ahead.

After our time in Cairns was up we hopped on the 'overnight' bus from Cairns to Airlie Beach. Overnight busses are popular with backpackers here as it means you aren't wasting a precious day on the bus, and you save one nights accomodation. It's an 11 hour drive down the coast so we are glad that we were able to sleep through some of it...sort of. Airlie Beach is a fairly small, yet rapidly growing, tourism town which exists as the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. This is a collection of 74 Islands of the coast of Australia which are world renowned for their beauty and white sandy beaches. Tomorrow we are very excited to be going on a 3 day, 3 night tour of these islands on a Catamaran style boat which will have about 16-20 of us with 4 crew members. They will take us around to all the key spots throughout the beautiful area with the opportunity to dive and snorkel our days away. At night we sleep on the boat and all the food is catered so we are really really looking forward to tommorow, hopfully the wind stays calm enough to go ahead with it. Once again, this trip is quite a good value for the money when you consider all that is included in the price so it doesn't totally break the bank, even for us backpackers. When we return from this tour we should hopefully have some great pictures and stories to share.

Nicola back again:

Hi everyone! So Mark basically filled you all in. We are in Airlie Beach awaiting to be pampered over the next few days on a luxury yacht...well it sure seems like that to us backpackers!

Cairns was so awesome. I had a great time there. Jen and I spent many many many hours shopping as Cairns has some of the best shopping in Australia, if not the best. Our day trip out to the reef was amazing aside from the rough waters which caused Jen to get pretty sick. (That was part of the reason we opted for the helicopter ride back instead of another couple of hours on the boat.) The snorkeling was so cool. I managed to swim a few metres above a Reef Shark unbeknown to me until I happened to glance down. Knowing it would freak Jen out I just told her to come back with me to the ship as sharks are not on her list of things to swim with. I thought it was freaky and awesome at the same time. My scuba dive proved to be less freaky and just awesome. There were so many fish at the bottom of the reef and I also got to swim along side a giant sea turtle. Very cool. Our helicopter ride was exciting, full of beautiful sights, we could see tons of sea turtles below and a couple of huge sharks sitting on top. It was moving too fast to get that many good pictures but still something to remember forever.

Airlie Beach is nice and hot. The lagoon is a good place to chill out. Our hostel here is pretty sweet and we leave tomorrow night for the sailing trip. Can't wait!

Thursday - Oct 11/07 - Cairns, Australia

Well just a quick post to say we made it to Australia in one piece. Everything is all good except that our names are now officially Mahk, Nicoler, and when Jen arrives...Jeneefa. It was actually sort of like that in New Zealand too, but it's really clear now. Cairns is awesome, we love it here, 32 degrees, clear skies, more sun than we know what to do with. It's great, everything is a little cheaper here too than New Zealand, but the Aussie dollar costs us more so it's a toss up. Stopped in Didjereedoo store and apparently I'm quite talented so we'll have to consider a purchase. No pics today, we just been relaxing, planning on heading out on the Great Barrier Reef for some snorkeling or diving in the next couple days before we head down the coast, then there will be some amazing pictures to throw up.

Nicola signing on.
Well what can I say?! It is sooooo awesome to be back in Australia. As much as we both enjoyed New Zealand and all the adventure sports, I've been looking forward to being somewhere familiar and hot for a while now. It seems like just yesterday I was here in Cairns. We are staying at the Calypso Backpackers Inn, where in 2004/2005 I spent a few months working here at reception, cleaning and in the kitchen. The place hasn't changed much. Still full of great people, great food and good times. Cairns is one of my favourite places that I have traveled to. It's so nice and hot and sunny and the city itself is just so cool. I dragged Mark to the mall for some Sushi at the best sushi place ever, then to the best Ice Cream place ever as well! Haha. So good to reminisce about the times I've had in Australia and am looking forward to having even more great times with Mark and Jen down the East coast!!!

Monday Oct 8/07 - Christchurch

Well it is bitter sweet as we are almost finished with New Zealand but are thoroughly looking forward to Australia. It's been 5 weeks in this beautiful country and we've seen and done a lot of amazing things so it'll be hard to say goodbye. That being said Australia, and 32 degree temperatures are only a couple days away. We also can't wait to meet up with our friend Jen from back home, who flies into Cairns a couple days after us.

After leaving Dunedin here in New Zealand we headed up the east side of the South Island, stopping in Lake Tekapo and then off to Christchurch. Along the way there are some great sites as you drive along the east side of the Southern Alps and see amazing views of Mount Cook and the turquoise blue waters of the Glacier fed lakes.

We arrived in Christchurch with six days to spare before we have to fly out to Cairns so we decided to head north to Kaikoura, three hours north of Christchurch right on the east coast. This smaller fishing village is unique in that it sits at a point of land that juts directly out into the Pacific Ocean. Because of it's unique geography and deep underwater canyons rich with food for all marine life this place is an ideal location for fishing, whale watching, sea-bird watching, dolphin watching, and what we came for, swimming with the dolphins. Dusky dolphins permanently occupy the area right off the coast and only ever leave if Killer Whales come into the area. This means you have extremely good chances of finding their huge pods playing in the ocean. Today we went out and swam with a pod of 300 Dusky Dolphins, in the winter they can see as many as 1000 at a time. It was truly an incredible sight and was even more amazing to be able to swim with them. A group of us put on wet suits and snorkels and the guide boat found the pod. From there we all slipped into the water from the back of the boat and swam around, 'entertaining' the dolphins. They were swimming right underneath us and directly in front of our faces, enjoying our company. We could try and make sounds through our snorkels to attract them more; as stupid as we sounded to the rest of the group on the boat it worked brilliantly in getting the dolphins to be really playful. Now we are back in Christchurch and will enjoy our last day relaxing around and walking around the city which has some great gardens and parks for the public. We fly out early Wednesday morning to begin the next leg of our trip.

It still blows my mind how blue all the water is

Nicola and I in front of Lake Pukaki with Mount Cook in the background

Moeraki Boulders on the way to Lake Tekapo

Swimming with the dolphins in Kaikoura

Tuesday Oct 2/07 - Dunedin

After leaving Franz Josef we headed to Queenstown, the adventure capital of New Zealand, or some call it the Adventure Capital of the world, and for good reason. This small alpine city is similar to both Whistler and Banff and is a lot of fun. It is surrounded by four ski resorts and sits right next to New Zealand's third largest lake, making for a very picturesque place. It has great downtown streets lined with small shops of all kinds and fantastic restaurants and bars. We spent 4 nights here but I could easily see myself in a place like this for months without being bored. The reason it's called the Adventure Capital is because you can literally do anything here which will thrill you, excite you, or just plain old scare the crap out of you. There are three bungy sites around the town, you can go Sky Diving, Jet Boating, White Water Rafting, River Surfing and Sledging, Hang Gliding and Paragliding, Street Luging, Canyon Swinging, Parasailing, Snowboarding and Skiing, Heli-Skiing, ride in the RedBull stunt Bi-Plane and pull 6 G's, Helicopter Tours, etc. etc. there are many more but not enough time to mention them. Nicola and I had never planned on doing a bungy jump but it is part of this town, literally this is where the first commercial bungy site was created and so many people have done it before. We visited the bridge where it all started and that night I decided that taking the plunge wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Nicola and I did a tandem bungy from the Kawarau Bridge, 143 feet above the river and fell right to the bottom, I even dunked my head in the water. It was a lot of fun, and we are really glad we did it. However I had a bit of a sore neck for a day and Nicola had a couple of small blood vessels in her eye burst, along with some sore ankles. We decided this wasn't a thrill we'd likely repeat, as much fun as it was. The next crazy stunt for us would be a day of Jet Boating and Canyon Swinging, unfortunately though the Jet Boat got cancelled due to high river levels. If the boat had gone through it is supposed to be a blast, driving up the canyon not much wider than the boat itself going break-neck speeds. The Canyon Swing was the funnest and craziest thing either of us had ever done and I have to say it was my favorite day in New Zealand so far. You go to a platform 360 feet above the river below on the edge of a steep canyon wall and jump off. You freefall for 200 feet and then smoothly go into a pendulum swing which takes you down another 100 feet and horizontally whips you across the canyon going 150km/h, after swinging back and forth a few times you get winched back up. All you can think is, "Let's do it again!" and that is exactly what we did, 3 times actually. The beauty is that you can launch a different way every time. Without going on it too much detail I will say that both Nicola and I did fall backward over the edge of the platform while seating in a Lawn Chair, only to plummet backwards and do backward flips just feet from the canyon wall, an amazing rush for sure. You can check it out at http://www.canyonswing.co.nz/

From Queenstown we made a day trip to Milford Sound on the west coast of the South Island. This is one of 14 huge fiords carved out by the last Ice Age. It's difficult to describe the beauty of this place and even photographs do no justice...plus the internet cafe is about to close. When you pull into Milford you go on a cruise that runs up and down either side of the fiord and allows you to enjoy it first hand, it's quite incredible.

After the day in Milford sound we did a day long tour of the Catlins region in the very south of the South Island. This was also an incredible day, despite it being very wet out we saw a lot of incredible scenery in addition to some very rare and interesting wildlife.

The Glacier cut cliffs of Milford Sound, which is actually a Fiord not a Sound

Queenstown with the Mountains in the background

Kawarau Bridge, the one Nicola and I bungy jumped off

Lake Matheson on the way to Queenstown

Nicola doing "The Chair" her first time swinging, look at that face! (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE)



Nicola and I at Nugget Point on the Catlins Tour

Sea Lions sleeping on the beach on the Catlins Tour

Wednesday Sept 26th/07 - Franz Josef

After Lake Taupo we made our way down to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. Wellington is on the very south tip of the North Island and is quite a nice city of around 350,000 people. It reminded Nicola and I of a mix of Victoria with Downtown Vancouver. It's right next to the water and is a great little place but is also very expensive and very trendy. In the two days we were there we walked around the city, took the cable car to the top of the hill and walked down through all the parks and spent a day at the museum. Te Papa is the name of the national museum and it is huge, Nicola and I spent the whole day there, it's also free which is a nice bonus. From Wellington we took the ferry to Picton, on the very north tip of the South Island. From Picton we made our way to Nelson where we stayed two nights and spent a day at Abel Tasman National Park. The park is beautiful, it's absolutely incredible actually. We went a 13km hike along the coastline and then took a water taxi back to the start. Two people from our group were too slow and went missing but eventually turned up right at the end of the day, however they missed the bus and had to get a ride back from one of the tour operators.

After leaving Nelson we made our way down the west coast of the South Island. This is an awesome coastline, spotted with gorgeous beaches and other natural wonders. The one main attraction is the pancake rocks. They are limestone rock pillars along the coast that get battered by huge waves all day long. They appear to be stacked, just like a stack of pancakes which is where they got their name. After the pancake rocks our bus took us to Greymouth where we stayed the night and did a Brewery Tour followed by an all you can eat BBQ at a local pub. From Greymouth we continued south to the Franz Josef Glacier where we are staying another night. The Franz Josef Glacier and the Fox Glacier are quite close together. They are the only two glaciers in the world right now that are actually getting bigger. They are also unique in that they are so close to the ocean, just 5 km and they end only 250m above sea level. Because they end so far down the mountain they are very accessible to study and climb on. Tomorrow we are headed to Queenstown where we will stay for 5 nights. This is supposed to be a really awesome little town on the lakes edge. There are great bars, pubs and restaurants everywhere and the whole town is supported by adventure tourism and eco tourism industries. This is where you can literally do anything crazy and Nicola and I plan to go on the Canyon Swing and go up the river on a jet boat.

The view at Pancake Rocks

Truman Beach on the west coast

Pancake Rocks

Pourin' a brewski at Monteith's Brewery Tour

Beach in Abel Tasman Park

The beautiful turquoise waters at Abel Tasman



Beach at Abel Tasman National Park


Split Apple Rock seen from the water Taxi


Another Beach at Abel Tasman Park

The city of Wellington seen from the top of the hill

Thursday Sept 20/07 - Lake Taupo

Yesterday Nicola and I went ahead and did the Tongariro Crossing. Regarded as one of the best one day hikes in the world we decided to throw our concerns out the window and go for it. The hike takes you to the top of Tongariro Mountain, 1900 Meters, over 6000 feet above sea level. At that point the weather can change very quickly and conditions can become quite dangerous. A Canadian couple we met on the bus had just done it 3 weeks prior and became stuck in a blizzard, complete white-out conditions. Their guides had to take them back the way they came for safety reasons. The hike itself is 18.5 km long and takes a full 8 hours to do, it was easily the most physically challenging day of our lives. While quite a bit of the hike is relatively level ground there are two main climbs, about 45 minutes each, the first being the devil's staircase which takes you up to the saddle between Tongariro Mountain and Mount Dune, seen on the right in the pictures. It is an extremely exhausting section. You climb straight up a lava flow and cannot stop, because if you do it becomes too painful to move on. The guides push you to just keep moving. At the top you are completely drained and panting extremely hard. After that you walk across an ice field on your way to the next major climb of the day. It's also about 30 to 45 minutes and straight up the side of the mountain, except the ground is loose and slides beneath your boots. A short climb after this and you are at the summit of the Red Crater. It's an incredible site, a massive crater, bright red from the iron in the earth. It is freezing cold at the summit and the wind blows quite hard but if you take off your gloves you can touch the ground and feel it is quite warm, the area is still an active volcanic site. From the summit you climb down to the Emerald Lakes for a short lunch and then continue on. You see a huge variety of landscapes and terrain as you work your way across and down the mountain side to the parking lot at the end of the journey. At the end of the day everyone was quite tired and sore. The hot tub at our hostel was a welcome site. We are very glad we decided to go ahead and do it, as challenging as it was, especially for us rookies, it was equally rewarding.

Today is our last day in Lake Taupo so I crossed my fingers that we could find a break in the clouds to do some skydiving, and sure enough we got it. I went up at 2 o'clock this afternoon for the third skydive of my life. The two I did in Canada were both from 10,000 feet, and they were both great and a huge rush. However, in New Zealand you can jump higher than anywhere else in the world, a tandem skydive from 15,000 feet. Lake Taupo is actually where tandem skydiving was invented. The beauty of a 15,000 foot jump is a much longer freefall, you fall at over 200km/h for over a full minute, twice what you get in a 10,000 foot jump. It's absolutely incredible and since the time goes by so fast it gives you time to actually appreciate the view and comprehend what you are doing. I'm so glad I decided to go for the jump today as I likely won't be able to go from that high ever again. It's also a lot more affordable to go in New Zealand, a 12,000 foot jump in New Zealand costs half of what it does in Canada, and you can't even compare the price on a 15,000 foot jump. I promised Nicola this will be my last one......for a while anyways. Meanwhile Nicola went for a 2 hour horse back ride at a local farm, she was able to trot and canter and get the horse going a little faster than most tours allow. She really enjoyed herself and as she was going around a farm she got to see baby lambs that were literally just born, within the hour. Tomorrow we are off to Wellington for a few days and then we will make our way to the south island which we are really looking forward too.

Tongariro Mountain is the snow covered one on the left, we climb to the top of that

Nicola and I with the devil's staircase in the background

The summit of Tongariro Mountain

After climbing the devil's staircase you make your across this ice field

At the beginning of Red Crater Ridge (apparently Lord of the Rings fight scene was filmed in the background)
Looking at the summit of Red Crater Ridge

Nicola and I at the summit where it was quite cold but the rocks were warm

Descending down toward Emerald Lakes

The view after a few more hours of hiking on the other side of the mountain

Tuesday Sept 18/07 - Lake Taupo

The last few days has been amazing. We headed south Auckland, first going to the Coromandel Peninsula. We went and saw the beatiful Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach. Hot Water Beach has a super hot water spring running right underneath one part of it. If you go during the right time of day you can dig yourself a little pool in the beach and it will fill from the underneath with boiling hot water, litterally. You can run a trench of cold water from the ocean to cool it to a hot tub temperature or dig just to the side of the spring to get a perfectly hot, totally natural hot tub, it was awesome. Our tour has been stopping at tons of little detours and parks and areas of interest, too many to list, almost to many to remember in fact. After the Coromandel we made our way to Waitomo Caves. It was our first time caving so it was really interesting. They are full of water which mean that we went on tubes in full wet suits and floated through the whole cave system. The most interesting part was definitely the glow warms. Literally thousands of glow warms hang from the ceiling of the cave and glow bright, just like a glow stick, but smaller. It's actually their poo that glows, and it's because of the chemical reaction that creates the glowing poo that we have glow sticks and other toys today. Unfortunately as we were on the tubes and soaking wet we have no pictures of that, but i'm sure we'll remember it forever. From Waitomo we made our way down to Rotorua. There are a lot of springs and hot mud things randomly all over the town. The massive hot sinkholes can be 200 degrees celcius and are spotted all around the town and in a central park. We took in some more crazy Kiwi adventure sports such as Zorbing, which can only be done in Rotorua. You get in a inflated plastic ball with an inner ball suspended by bungee cords and roll down a hill. It's as fun as it sounds, it was so fun we had to go twice. We also went up the gondola and went street luging down, 5 times, definitely a wicked sport. After Rotorua we came to Lake Taupo which is also an adventure city by all means. We were signed up for a 15,000 foot skydive, higher than you can do anywhere in Canada. Unfortunately because of the clouds we had to postpone until a later day. Tommorow we are signed up to do a 8 hour, very challanging hike over the Tongariro Crossing. It is supposed to be one of the best one day hikes on the planet. We will go with two guides and will be equipped to the nine, as about 8 unprepared hikers die each year. On our way to Lake Taupo we couldn't resist a 50 foot freefall swing, it was only $10 and the tour bus was stopping there. There is fun around every corner in this country.

Huka Falls, on the way to Lake Taupo

The Devil's Bath sulfer pool near Rotorua


Taking the plunge at the freefall swing

The view at Cathedral Cove


Nicola and I down at the beach at Cathedral Cove

Everybody making their pools at Hot Water Beach

Street Luging at the top of the gondola in Rotorua

Zorbing down the straight track

Friday Sept 14/07 - Auckland

Well we've just returned from a few days up north exploring what there is to see. We've now covered off everything north of Auckland. Tommorow we will head to Whititanga, then to Waitomo Caves and Rotorua.

The northern trip was incredible, first we drove up to Piahia, stopping at parks and places of interest on the way on our first day with the 'magic' bus tour. We went to see an 2000 year old Kauri tree in a National Forest and checked out Paihia which is in the bay of islands. It's a bay on the east coast of New Zealand with 144 islands scattered throughout it. The town is small and very tourist based, sort of similar to Uclulet or Tofino. The day after we got up there we took another tour up to Cape Reinga which is at the very northern most point in New Zealand. The bus drove us all around, once again stopping at all the points of interest, explaining things and telling stories as we went. He took us to the lighthouse at Cape Reinga, and then down to hte Sand Dunes. The bus is a little higher than an average tour bus and actually drives right through a shallow river to take you to a particular spot on the dunes. Everybody piles out of the bus and grabs these special boogie boards. We walked up the extremely steep dune all the way to the top, then hopped on the boards and slid down, it was so much fun. Everybody was far too tired to walk up again twice, but me and this German guy couldn't resist another shot, so we went again. After the dune boarding the bus drives further down the river and right onto ninety mile beach (actually only 64 miles long), but still very long and straight. We then drive down the entire beach and pull off at the very end to drive into the little town for a snack. We then made it back to Paihia for one more night at the Bay Adventurer Hostel which was really nice. And now we are back in Auckland, getting ready to depart again tommorow.

Our tour guides have told us some great stories so far on the bus, which is a huge advantage of taking a tour as apposed to just a regular bus. For example,

There are a few dozen volcanoes all around Auckland city, the biggest one being Mt. Eden. One April Fools day a bunch of University Students drove to the top of the volcano really early in the morning with a truck load of car tires. They rolled all the tires down into the crater and dumped some gas on them. Then they threw a match in, and quickly took off. They immediately called into the radio stations and alerted them all that the volcano was smoking and was going to blow. 3000 homes were evacuated and the police were too afraid to go investigate it because everybody thought it would blow. It put the entire city into panic mode for a few hours until someone looked at the calander and realized it was april fools day and put all the pieces of the puzzle together. The students were never caught and are now local legends.

Dolphin swims are a popular activity for tourists to New Zealand. As most people know dolphins are very intelligent, and can detect the beat of your heart underwater. They are also very protective and have strong maternal instincts. When a woman is pregnant, the dolphins can actually pick up both heart beats, and will naturally try and protect the expectant mother. On one of the of the tours a young german backpacker went for a dolphin swim and the operator instantly realized that all the dolphins were surrounding the one girl. After the swim the operator told the girl that he's pretty sure she's pregnant and she may want to get a pregnancy test. She refused the idea and was rather shocked at the operators comments. Two days later she returned and told the operator she went to the store and got a pregnancy test, and it was positive.

New Zealand's number one industry is tourism, it is huge here. A large part of that tourism is adventure sports. Literally everywhere you go in New Zealand there are crazy adventure sports that anyone can partake in. There is SkyDiving and bungy jumping all over the country, along with many other insane activities, such as canyon swinging, zorbing (rolling down a hill in a giant bubble - sort of like a hamster ball), sledging (going over rapids and waterfalls on a body board), etc. etc. To encourage this form of tourism the government has made it impossible to sue for any kind of personal liability. This means that not only are the costs kept in check (lower insurance costs), but also people can do whatever they want. The guide told us many stories about how the operators will screw with cocky tourists thinking they can't be frightened by their adventure sports. One cocky American tourist figured that he'd done everything so he went on the Canyon Swing (a freefall followed by a large arc, all over a canyon which gives you 8 G's of brain numbing excitement). To prove this tourist wrong they got him to hold himself from a chinup bar while dangling near the canyon wall, he would have to let go in order to drop. To mess with him further they got a really hot girl working there to come to the edge and tell him he looked so strong and to do some chin ups for her. He proceeded to do as many as possible while dangling from the bar, until his hands started to sweat and he could barely hold on. Just as they knew he was about to let go another operator came behind him and snapped a branch right by his ear. The entire crew then proceeded to scream, "Don't let go, don't let go!, the safety line has snapped!!! whatever you do don't let go!!" Naturally he let go from pure exhaustion and believed he was plummetting to his death. Try that for scary you cocky American Tourist. Our guide advised us never to hide our fear as we will be targets ourselves.

Anyways, that's enough for now, off to bed as we've got an early morning and lots to see and do ahead of us.

Nicola and I infront of a 2000 year old Kauri Tree

Nicola in front of our day trip tour bus

Typical farm land in New Zealand, very hilly

Inside the trunk of a massive carved out Kauri Tree


Nicola on the board walk in Paihia

Our Tour bus on the beach at 90 mile beach


Nicola and I at 90 mile beach

The dune where we discovered Dune Boarding

Getting ready for my second attempt

At the Cape Reinga Lighthouse

Nicola and I at the Cape Reinga Lighthouse

Tuesday Sept 11/07 - Auckland

We went on our tour of the city today and it was amazing. The weather cooperated for the most part which made for some great views and great pictures. Our tour group was awesome and our tour guide, originally from Vancouver, told us a ton of cool stories.

'The City of Sails' 1 in 3 Aucklanders owns a boat

The SkyCity centre, people jump from the observation deck in a harness

Nicola and I at a park outside of the city

Browns Island in the distance, an old volcano, the water is so bright blue

Achiles Point

Ladies Bay, the nude beach right in the rich area of town

Tuesday Sept 11/07 - Auckland

I've got a few more minutes before our city tour so I'll put up a few more pictures.

View of downtown from Kelly Tarlton's

Nicola at the SkyCity observation deck

Stingrays hanging out in their tank

These are the same kind that killed the Crocodile Hunter

440 lb sting ray at Kelly Tarlton's

Sharks in the underwater display

Monday Sept 10/07 - Auckland, New Zealand

We made it to Auckland in one piece, surprisingly so did our bags. It was a long two days of travel but we are here now and after 3 sleeps the jet lag has pretty much sorted itself out. It is certainly colder here than it is at home right now, but things are starting to warm up a bit. We've been spending the last few days enjoying everything that Auckland has to offer, taking in the usual sites and walking around the downtown quite a bit. We went to the revolving restaurant on the top of the Skycity Tower, Auckland's version of the CN Tower. We also went to Kelly Tarlton's which is a underwater world with heaps of penguins, stingrays, and sharks. Today we went to an outlet mall as we realized we will need some slightly warmer clothes, bikinis and board shorts just aren't going to cut it. It's just the beginning of spring in New Zealand right now and the weather from the south to the north can be very different so it's a good idea to have a jacket of some kind. Tommorow we are going to go on a guided city tour which will take us to a few more places we haven't seen yet. Today we finalized plans for the rest of our stay here. We've booked a 'Magic' bus tour which will take us literally everywhere in New Zealand from the very north tip all the way to the south tip and everything in between. In Canada we did the very west to the very east and I guess this will be much of the same. It looks like it's going to be an amazing month and we will meet a ton of great people on the bus, who are all out to do the same thing as us. We are going to stay at backpackers hostels the whole way along, as we have been since we got here. The atmosphere is great and there are a lot of cool people hanging around. We'll update from the road in a little while once we've seen some more stuff, we will spend the next 3 or 4 days exploring north of Auckland, taking in the bay of islands and doing some sandboarding in Cape Reigna.

View from the SkyCity restaurant - Orbit

Penguins at Kelly Tarlton's

View of the orange Ferry Building and downtown from the waterfront

Our 747 Jet that we spent a lot of time on

Overseas

Well now that the Canadian portion of our vacation has come to an end we move overseas. On Tuesday Sept. 4th we are leaving for Vancouver, flying out on the morning of the 5th for Auckland, New Zealand. We will spend 5 weeks in New Zealand and fly out of Christchurch on the South Island. From there we go to Cairns Australia to meet up our friend Jen. We will work our way down the east coast in 4 weeks and then fly to Tasmania for a week. From there we will fly back to Sydney and then straight off to Bangkok, Thailand. We will spend another 5 weeks in Thailand and be home on December 22nd, just in time for Christmas. We are bringing the camera overseas, however we will not bring the laptop. We will still get plenty of pictures and will try to post to the blog with some pictures and stories every once in a while from internet cafes. It certainly won't be every day though, and we will likely be spending a lot more time in each place so we'll really be able to relax. We are thoroughly looking forward to Part II of the vacation and can't wait to see everyone when we get back. Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave your comments so we know you are keeping up with us!

-Mark and Nicola

Day 46 - Nanaimo - WE MADE IT!

We stayed at my brother’s place again last night and headed off to downtown again to pick up our visas. They were completed as promised so we headed for the ferry. It feels like we just took this ferry a few days ago, the time has gone by so fast. Nicola and I recall all the cool stuff we’ve seen and done over the last 6 and half weeks and the end to our road trip is bitter sweet. The trip across Canada was so much fun and we learned so much about our country but it’s great to be back to see all of our friends and family and then take off for Part II of this vacation, overseas.

We are both so glad we decided to do the trip and it truly has been an amazing summer for us. As I’ve just graduated with my business degree the possibility of working anywhere else in Canada is definitely open. The purpose of the trip was not just to have a great time and explore our country but to seek out any other places where we would be happy living. We are pleased to announce that BC truly is the most beautiful place in Canada and we wouldn’t be happier any other place. Though we loved the east coast and many places out there remind us of our coast they simply lack the diversity, economy, and temperate climate we enjoy on the west coast. The variety of landscapes and range of services we enjoy here is unmatched anywhere in the country. There are not many places where you can golf, swim, and hike in the summer, be right next to world class ski resorts for the winter and enjoy all the benefits of living right next to the ocean. Additionally we can chose to live in a medium sized city like Nanaimo, or slightly bigger like Victoria and still be close to Vancouver for concerts, hockey games etc. all while being close to family. We are really lucky to be where we are, and this trip has given us a great appreciation for our beautiful west coast.

After thinking about the trip we put together our top 15 favorite "touristy" things to do in Canada, and in no particular order, here they are:

· Riding the Gondola in Banff
· Touring around Old Quebec City
· Hopewell Rock Park with the high tides
· Playing in the warm ocean at Brackley Beach on PEI
· Gros Morne National Park and all of it’s sights
· Whale Watching in St. John’s
· Splashing in the waves at Black Brook Beach on the Cabot Trail
· Maid of the Mist at Niagra Falls
· The Royal Canadian Mint Tour
· West Edmonton Mall’s waterslides, shopping and the Mindbender
· Going back in time in Barkerville
· Canada’s Wonderland in Toronto with the best rides in the country
· Surfing in Tofino
· Helicoptor Tour of the Glaciers at Three Valley Gap
· Morraine Lake and Lake Louise

The trip by the numbers:

46 days
19,830 Kilometres
124.9 – Most expensive fuel (Radium, BC)
95.9 – Cheapest fuel - Ottawa (Toronto was cheaper but we never filled up there)
1 Speeding ticket
2 Oil Changes
12 Litres of Windshield washer fluid
10 Provinces covered
5 States visited
2 Rock Chips in the windshield
3 Thunder/lightning storms experienced in the tent
3 Moose spotted (that’s it?!?!)
18 nights staying with friends or family
18 nights spent camping
8 nights spent in Motels
1 night spent sleeping in the front seats of the car
2,523 pictures taken….

And of course, countless memories and good times

Day 45 - Vancouver

We made it downtown early this morning after staying up late to watch the lunar eclipse. We had to get some new passport photos taken and then head to the Thailand Embassy to submit our visa applications. Though it says it will take two days on their website the lady working there said they’d be ready tomorrow morning so we’ll be able to make it back home a day early. We have a lot of stuff to sort out before we head back to Vancouver on Tuesday Sept. 4^th to fly to New Zealand so the extra day is much appreciated. The weather was great in Vancouver so we spent the day downtown doing some shopping and looking around. After dinner we went to my Uncle Fred and Aunt Linda’s place in Port Moody for a visit. On the way there we went to the house I grew up in, just a few blocks away from Uncle Fred’s. It looks a lot different now and all the trees my dad had planted when we were young are now quite big and hide the house from the street considerably so it was pretty difficult to even see it. Still it was a great trip down memory lane, and it will always surprise you to see how much smaller things are than you remember them.

Our old house in Port Moody

Uncle Fred, Aunt Linda and I

Day 44 - Vancouver

We left Prince George at 7:30 this morning on our way to Barkerville, another essential BC Tourist Attraction Nicola hadn’t seen. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been there but I remember it being really cool. During its hey-day Barkerville was the biggest city west of Chicago and north of San Francisco, it was even bigger than Victoria. During the Gold Rush today’s equivalent of 1.5 billion dollars worth of gold was pulled form the earth around Barkerville. Today it’s still in very good condition and has been nicely restored for tourists to look around. The town is full of actors dressed in the attire of the day who give you tours and run the businesses. Everything is as it was, you can go the blacksmith and buy metal gifts or walk into the saloon for a drink, it’s a really neat place. We also stayed for a demonstration of their fully working water wheel and Nicola did some gold panning. We had a lot of fun there, another place definitely worth the detour. Tonight we are staying with my brother at his place in Vancouver for the next few days. We have to go apply for our Thailand Visas at the embassy tomorrow morning and they are supposed to be ready in a couple days.

A view down Main Street, that's snow in the background, it was so cold

The local drug store where miners could buy Ether, Cocaine or Opium

Nicola getting schooled in Gold Panning

The actors showing us the Water Wheel

The fully functional Water Wheel

Burning car on the side of the highway, how could I not take a picture?

Day 43 - Prince George

Another well needed sleep in today followed by a big greasy breakfast to cure any hangovers so we can get on with the day. We toured around Prince George and went to a bunch of different stores, generally just hanging out. We went to Connaught Hill where you get a view of all of Prince George and then went to the Movies. We saw Superbad which we’ve wanted to see for a long time. It was hilarious and we all enjoyed it. After that, one last chance to relax in the hot tub before getting a good nights sleep for a long drive tomorrow.

Day 42 - Prince George

It’s so nice to be back in Prince George again hanging out with James and Jess. We got to sleep in, which was great after our 16 hour day yesterday. We enjoyed relaxing in James’s Mom’s pool and hot tub once again. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence but the two homes we’ve stayed the longest at the whole trip both have great pools in the backyard. After a good lunch we checked out a few cool clothing stores in downtown Prince George then cooked up some snacks to the watch the pay-per-view UFC Fight. Or should I say, the girls got to make some snacks while the guys watched the fight. It’s been a little while since we’ve all been able to hang out so we decided to wet our whistles and go out for a night on the town.

Nicola and I lovin' the pool

James sportin' his model pose

Day 41 - Prince George

Today was a long day; we drove from Terrace all the way up to Hyder Alaska, then back to Highway 16 and East to Prince George, 12 hours of driving total. Hyder Alaska was definitely worth the detour. We had never originally planned to go but on our way to Terrace we spotted the sign and started thinking about it, so we fit it into the trip. I had gone to Hyder when I was 10 years old and got a chance to see the glaciers and the chance to say I’d been to Alaska. Hyder is on the very south tip of the Alaskan Pan Handle and is right across the border from Stewart, BC. On our way up there we saw a big black bear in the ditch who was calm enough to let us get some pictures from just a few feet away in the car. This time of year there is a place called Fish Creek that is 10 km past Hyder where you can go and see Grizzly Bears feed on the spawning Chum and Pink Salmon coming up the creek. Your chances are best between 6-10 in the morning and evening, however we showed up right around noon so we didn’t think we’d see anything. Sure enough, half and hour after we showed up a 600 pound male Grizzly came lumbering out of the woods for a snack. Apparently Grizzly Bears can have black hair and ours was one of them. At first he may appear to be a gigantic Black Bear but there are many features, including the large hump on his shoulders, which distinguish the bear as a Grizzly. You view the Grizzlies from a raised boardwalk that runs right beside the creek. This allows you the opportunity to be just 10 feet from the Bears when they come close. He killed about 4 Chum, picking them apart on the shore for a while before going for his prize catch. After about a half hour of messing around he caught a massive Chum Salmon and took off into the woods.

Some who have heard of Hyder Alaska may have heard about getting “Hyderized” a tradition for visitors to the town since 1956. You go to the Glacier Inn, a pub in town that has over $50,000 in signed money on the walls, left by tourists who want to leave their mark. We obviously had to tack a bill on the wall with our names and “Cross Canada Road Trip 2007” written on it. You are officially Hyderized when you take a mystery shot prepared by the Bartender. You are allowed no sniffing or tasting of any kind before doing the shot and we were sternly reminded of this a few times. No exceptions, just shoot and ask questions later…literally. It definitely burned the throat and I guessed that it was some kind of vodka/gin combination but it turns out its Everclear 151 Proof Grain Alcohol. So now we have our official certificates, photo, and souvenir shot glass to prove we’ve been Hyderized. On the way from Stewart back to Highway 16 I got a speeding ticket because I legitimately thought it was a 100 zone, turns out the 100 zone started 2 km up the road and there are only speed signs like every 100km, it’s ridiculous. Oh well, one ticket aint’t bad for the entire trip.

Chum Salmon running up Fish Creek

Nicola feelin' the burn of her Everclear Shot

It's official, we've been Hyderized

The Grizz catching just one of his many fish

Check out the claws on that bad boy

Cool Blue Lagoon on the other side of Fish Creek

Bear Glacier, unfortunately about half the size it was 12 years ago

Big Black Bear just outside of Stewart

Another shot of the Grizzly Bear, hanging out by the Creek

Video of the Grizzly catching a Chum, hopefully this works on your computer

Day 40 - Terrace

Nothing like sleeping in a really comfortable bed after 6 weeks on road. Today is one of relaxation and visiting with more relatives. First we made our way to my cousins new house to see their beautiful baby girl Aurora. After that we went to downtown Terrace to see my Uncle Tom's new expansion to his dental practice which includes flat screen TV's everywhere, literally. In the afternoon we went to the Terrace Hot Springs, which I had visited when I was here 12 years ago. Unfortunately it doesn't appear that much updating, or maintenance for that matter, has taken place in those 12 years and the place is looking a little rough. Nonetheless we had a good time and there wasn't any lines for the slides, not that it's difficult to understand why. We came back home for a great salmon (and chicken for Nicola) BBQ with the family and had the pleasure of watching Aurora try to put some chocolate ice cream in her mouth, though her face and hair seemed much easier accomplishments. Tomorrow we leave early in the morning to drive to Hyder, Alaska and are hoping to see some Grizzly Bears.

I'd say about 10% made it in her mouth, oh well she had fun anyways

Nicola and Beanie are going to be pretty hard to separate tomorrow morning

Aunt Marilynn, Uncle Tom, and Cousin Giebette (probably spelled that wrong, sorry)

Day 39 - Terrace

Today we made our way from Prince George west to Terrace. It's a 6 hour drive but everyone who takes it agrees that it feels much more like 12 hours. It's actually a nice drive for last couple hours and the highway itself is fine, but for some strange reason it just seems to never end, and this is coming from the people who just drove over 18,000 kms in 6 weeks. We pulled into Terrace in the evening and spent the time visiting with my Uncle Tom and Aunt Marilynn. We got to see there three dogs, including the two outdoor Huskies and there very much indoor Chihuahua Beanie. Uncle Tom has all the gadgets so we got to play PlayStation 3 and check out the Home Theater which truly is a Home Theater complete with projector, surround sound, tiered leather seating and massive screen. However don't try and convince Tom that this is good enough as he promises us it will be completely updated with the even more top of the line electronics the next time we visit. Tomorrow we will get to see Uncle Tom's new addition to the dental practice and my cousins new baby and new house.

View of the mountains right outside of Smithers

The Moricetown Canyon is thick with Sockeye fighting their way upstream

Day 38 - Prince George

As we are heading toward Terrace and Prince George is about half way we decided to stay at my best friend James’s place for the night. We will head to Terrace in the morning and come back to PG for the weekend to visit some more. In the meantime it’s still good to see James and his girlfriend Jess again, as we used to live with them in Nanaimo. The drive from Pembina River to Prince George is really nice, taking you through the Rocky Mountains, Jasper, Mt. Robson park and many other great areas. Wildlife was surprisingly scarce; we only saw two groups of Mountain Goats for the entire drive, and no Elk, Moose or anything else. Nicola enjoyed her tour of Prince George as James and Jess took us around to see the town and we went out for a really nice dinner at a great Mediterranean Restaurant downtown. We also got to drive by the house James just bought as well. We couldn’t see the inside because he doesn’t have possession for another few weeks, but it’s exciting to see his new project. Now he’ll be able to work on a house that is actually his as apposed to helping me work on my house all the time. We had a good swim in James’s mom’s pool and enjoyed the huge 15 man hot tub as well. This is a just a preview for us as we will back for a few days on the weekend to really take it in.

The Rockies

Nice and slow guys, the limit is 70 here

More great views through Jasper National Park

Back in BC! Though we can't say it's the best place on earth (yet), we now know it's the best place in Canada

Day 37 - Pembina River Provincial Campground

We woke this morning to three year old Danica running back and forth around the house, playing “quack” with her collection of stuffed animals. We spent the morning playing with the kids and visiting with Tana and Aron. After that we headed back to West Edmonton Mall to do some shopping. Though we didn’t buy day passes to Galaxy Land, West Edmonton’s amusement park, we did want to ride two of the coasters. $37 later Nicola and I had enough tickets to ride the only two extreme coasters in the park, one of the being the Mind Bender which was our favourite roller coaster we’ve ever taken. After I cut Nicola off from a shopping binge we left the mall heading towards my Granny’s house in Drayton Valley. We’ve been looking forward to a home cooked meal and some great dessert from Granny the entire trip, and she didn’t disappoint. Nicola now has the prized recipe for Granny’s Kaluha Torte which is absolutely to die for. After visiting with Granny we headed off to Pembina River campground, crossing our fingers for dry weather.

Nicola and I with Granny in Drayton Valley

The Pembina River GorgeNicola and I in the very front seats of the Mind Bender

Day 36 - Edmonton

Last night it absolutely poured on us…again. The thunderstorm started around 11 at night and was still going strong at 8 in the morning when we woke up. Parts of the campground were flooded, including part of our site. Conveniently this is where we decided to place our tent. When we woke up this morning most of our tent was floating in 3 inch deep miniature Lake. Fortunately it’s proved to be quite waterproof and only a little bit of water seeped in. There’s nothing worse than packing up a soaking wet tent and ground sheet but obviously we had no choice so we packed it up and managed to make to it to Tim Hortons for breakfast sandwiches. We made it into Edmonton earlier than expected so we decided to go to West Edmonton Mall a day early and check out the water park. Because we went in the last 3 hours of the day we got a “discount” on our admission so it was “only” $50 for both of us to go on some waterslides. The pool was closed when we first got in so the lines for the slides were ridiculous, plus a bunch of the slides were closed. Shortly after the pool opened and the lines went down so Nicola went on all of them over and over again. Nicola and I both caught some pretty sick air on this one slide which explains our sore necks and broken backs. Nicola had never been to Hooters so we decided that would be a good idea for dinner. Then we went to my cousin Aron’s house to visit him and his wife Tana and their two girls Danica and Carissa.

The strategic location where we chose to pitch our tent

Nicola and I with baby Carissa and 3 year old Danica

My Cousin Aron with his wife Tana and their girls

Day 35 - Saskatoon

Sleeping in this morning we rushed to catch the only open spots on an English speaking tour of the mint. We called at 9:40 before we’d gotten ready at the motel and the tour happened to start at 10:00. Needless to say, neither of us are wearing deodorant and I’m pretty sure we are wearing the same clothes from the day before. The mint was very cool but unfortunately photos were not allowed and there were RCMP around so I decided to obey the rules. I still managed to get a couple sneak pictures and we got a photo of Nicola and I holding a $350,000.00 bar of gold, which was quite heavy. The tour was great; it took around all of the machines and through the entire manufacturing process. The Winnipeg mint makes all of Canada’s circulated coins while the Ottawa mint makes collector coins. The plant can pump out over 15 million coins everyday. Only 40% of the capacity is used to make Canadian coins while the rest is to make coins for 60 other countries around the world. The Canadian Mint recently created the purest and largest gold coin in the world which will be on display in a week. Unfortunately we missed it because it would be cool to see a $1,000,000.00 coin made of 99.999% pure gold, the purest ever created. After the tour we took the Yellowhead highway, different from the highway we took heading east, which takes us to Saskatoon to camp for the night.

The Royal Canadian Mint

Nicola and I holding a $350,000.00 gold bar, who needs a house when you can have this sweet chunk of gold?

Watch for these collector edition coins in your change

I managed to snap this one right beside the no photography sign, looking into the factory

Wheat fields as far as the eye can see

Day 34 - Winnipeg

Nicola is now definitely sick. She’s got a sore throat, a cough and her voice is starting to sound like a man’s voice. We made our way towards Winnipeg but unfortunately missed the last tour at the mint. As we’ve been looking forward to seeing the mint for a long time we decided to stay at the Travelodge right down the road and take the evening to relax and give Nicola some time to recover. We enjoyed the pool and took in a couple rounds of bowling in the bowling alley underneath the motel. I officially hate 5 pin bowling now and Nicola destroyed me twice. We drove around downtown at night to see what Winnipeg was all about, seems alright but nothing out of the ordinary. I’m sure it looks a lot different in the winter time though.

Relaxing by the pool, pretty nice for a Travelodge

Day 33 - Dryden, Ontario

After looking at the calendar it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out we’ve got a fair amount of miles to cover in a fairly short period of time. Today is one of those driving days. We drove from Kapuskasing until Dryden which means we’ve basically covered all of Ontario in two days, a pretty good pace. We made sure to stop for Eagle Canyon which is the home of Canada’s longest suspension bridge. It’s a scenic 30 minute walk which takes you over a 300 foot suspension bridge and a 600 foot suspension bridge. Just next to Eagle Canyon is Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park where I spotted a big black bear dashing across the road. We went for the nature walk there and checked out that canyon from the view decks, pretty impressive sights. Beyond these two excursions it’s been nothing but driving. Nicola is starting to feel sick so hopefully a bottle of Cold FX and some no-name brand NyQuil will fix her before she gets ‘too sick to drive’….I feel some excuses coming up. However I will give her credit as she has taken the wheel for a couple hours today.

Ouimet Canyon

Nicola and I at Ouimet Canyon lookout point

Eagle Canyon

The longest suspension bridge in Canada (600 feet, 150 feet longer than the Capilano bridge)

View from the canyon floor of the short bridge (300 feet)

Day 32 - Kapuskasing, Ontario

This morning we got a tour of Ottawa from Nicola’s friend Paula who just recently moved there from Nanaimo. We went downtown and saw all the essential tourist sites. First going to Sussex drive where the prime minister lives and the Governor General’s house is. After this we went over to Parliament Hill to see the Parliament buildings and surrounding sites. We are definitely glad we got to see all these things, it’s pretty important to see the capital of the country we are doing a road trip of. After lunch downtown we packed back into the Escape and headed west, getting a taste of rush hour traffic in Ottawa before eventually making it out of town. Paula and Ryan had made the trip from BC to Ottawa in May and recommended taking Highway 11 through northern Ontario. On the way there we took Highway 17 which runs along the Great Lakes and is a more scenic and commonly taken route. However, Highway 11 is a trucker’s route which means it’s a little bit faster, has no police, no scenery, no hills, and cheap motels, so we figured we’d give it a try. There is very little traffic on the road which is nice, however we still haven’t seen a single Moose in Ontario despite all the signs. Kapuskasing is the biggest town on the Highway 11, population 9,500, which means it has a lot of cheap motels. Tonight we settle down at the Advantage Motel for an even $50, though we are struggling to see many of the ‘advantages’ of staying here, it’s exactly what you’d expect for 50 bucks.

Parliament Buildings

This little shanty town is where some crazy cat person takes care of a the stray Parliament Hill cats, it's right beside the Parliament Buildings....weird

The Parliamentary Library

Nicola and I in Ottawa, Quebec in the background

24 Sussex Drive - Stephen Harper's house

Inside the Governor General's house, no photos allowed so this was a little tricky to get

Day 31 - Ottawa

Waking up early this morning we headed off to Balsam Lake Provincial Park. Aunt Linda's friend's Lisa and Chris thought it would be calmer up there so we could take the boat out for the afternoon. A virgin to watersports I was ready to try anything but certainly not experienced at any of it. Nicola was a natural on the water skis and the knee board. I got up on the knee board a couple times but wiped out every time I tried to strap my self in with one hand while holding on with the other. Either way we all had a good time. We also took a whirl on the tubes, which you can go much faster on. Number one rule is hold on, well that's basically the only rule. It was still pretty choppy on the lake, making for some pretty exciting wipe outs. Apparently I am on massage duty for Nicola now as she "claims" to have heard her back crunch on one hard landing, however I'm still convinced it's just a really good excuse. Tonight we headed back east to Ottawa to stay with Nicola's high school friend Paula and her fiance Ryan, who we missed on our first way out east. Tomorrow we will check out Ottawa and head back west again, hoping to make good time towards Winnipeg.

Getting ready for the first knee board of the day, of course the guy who's never done is voted to go first.

Nicola lookin' like a pro, totally showing me up

Day 30 - Simcoe Lake

Well today we pack up in Scarborough and head off to Lake Simcoe to camp with Nicola's Cousins and their friends. A quick (and horrible) haircut at the local mall leaves me with an unusual bald patch at the front of my head, but I guess it really doesn't matter as we are camping anyways. Camping with the kids is fun as they are fascinated by pretty much anything and everything including jiffy pop, smores....and toads. We went swimming in the lake but it was unbelievably windy and was making white cap waves to big to boat in. A great day just to hang out and relax, tomorrow we'll see if we can get some calm waters to head out on the boat for some water sports.

Nicola and I with her cousins Julia and Christopher and their friends Juliana and Madeline

Day 29 - Scarborough

Waking up as early as we could manage we made it to Canada's Wonderland by 9:45am, 15 minutes before they opened. Though there were already some people there, obviously a little more hardcore than we were, we managed to get in right at 10am and went straight for the rides. The weather was perfect in the morning, great sun and really nice out. At about 2 pm the thundershowers kicked in and it poured rain. While everybody ran for cover and the kiosks selling ponchos, we ran for the water rides, we were already soaking wet anyways. After about 3 hours of rain, a lot of people had given up for the day and went home. Meanwhile we were rewarded for sticking out the storm with much shorter lines for the rest of the day. We stayed there all they way until they closed at 10pm and rode every single ride in the park at least once, many twice. It was an excellent day at the park and all the rides were great. I've definitely been converted to a huge roller coaster fan now. 12 hours on your feet riding coasters is a long day for anyone, looking forward to a good night sleep and some camping tomorrow.

Nicola and I with cousins Julia, Christopher and Aunt Linda

We've spent so many hours relaxing out here

Day 28 - Scarborough

Well it’s officially 4 weeks now that we’ve been on our road trip and it feels like we are taking a small mini vacation in the middle of our bigger vacation. We spent at least half the day in the pool in Mario and Linda’s backyard, also enjoying the hot tub and faux waterfall. This afternoon we all drove into Toronto and as Nicola’s relatives took in a dinosaur show, we went around downtown, through Eaton Centre and to the CN Tower. It’s always interesting being in such big cities with so much going on, however Nicola and I have both already seen Toronto and the CN Tower so it’s nothing really new. We got a caricature sketch of the two of us by some guy on the street. It’s pretty funny because it actually does look like us, I can’t wait to put it up on the wall. I got a warm-up for Thailand style bartering, getting the guy down from $95 to $25, still kind of a rip-off but whatever. Besides that the day has pretty much been one of relaxation, tomorrow we head off to Canada’s Wonderland (Canada’s largest amusement park) to take on the biggest roller coasters we can find.

Downtown Toronto (Just a little different from Nanaimo)

Nicola and I at the CN Tower

The office building on the left is where Nicola's Uncle works

Day 27 - Scarborough

Taking off from Utica this morning we made our way west toward Niagra Falls. The weather today was great, couldn’t have asked for a nicer day. We enjoyed driving the I-90 with the rest-stops every 30 miles all featuring restaurants, gas, seating areas, wi-fi and the whole nine. Arriving back in Canada in the afternoon we took in the falls and went on the Maid of the Mist boat tour as well as the Journey Behind the Falls. The Maid of the Mist is the oldest attraction in Canada, operating since 1846, who’d of thought tourism even existed back then? It’s a really fun time as a boat packed with other tourists drives right up to the falls and you are sure to get wet from the massive amounts of mist, even with your ‘souvenir’ rain poncho on.

The Journey Behind the Falls is another attraction which allows you to view the falls from a deck perched right beside the falls and go through a tunnel in the rock behind the falls. You can actually see Niagra Falls from the back side of it through two portals which are carved all the way out of the rock, very cool. We also noticed a poster advertising a fireworks show which happens 3 times a week during the summer, so we decided to stay the whole day and check it out. At night the falls are lit up by 27 lights, each 250 million candlelight power and they all alternate colors, it’s really quite spectacular. After the fireworks show, which was an awesome display, we made our way just past Toronto to Scarborough where Nicola’s Aunt Linda, Uncle Mario and cousins Chris and Julia live. We are staying here until Monday morning when we leave to go camping with Aunt Linda and the kids for one day, then we continue on with our trip.

The Canadian side of the Niagra Falls

Nicola on the Maid of the Mist right in front of the falls

The "American" Falls, not quite as spectacular, and certainly not as popular

The fireworks show at night, you can see the Canadian falls light up just under the fireworks

Without as much mist the American falls look the best at night

Nicola and I at the Journey Behind the Falls, that's Niagra Falls behind us

Day 26 - Utica, New York

Well tonight will be our last night in the States as tommorow we'll be in Toronto, and once again we crash at a Motel. We were planning on camping tonight, however the only campsite we thought we could find, we definitely could not find. Today we made it all the way across Vermont on the rural highways and enjoyed the scenic route. We crossed the bridge across Lake Champlain to New York and Adirondack Park, the huge park where Lake Placid and many other lakes and sights are. We didn't realize that Lake Placid was the host of two winter Olympics, both in 1932 and 1980. Besides that it kind of has the feeling of a really small version of Banff or Whistler. It's pretty touristy there, but there isn't that many shops, nor many restaurants. We definitely preferred Banff when it comes to the touristy mountain towns. There isn't very good access to the lake either, unless you are going to rent a boat, however we made it down there and snapped a couple pictures. Nothing about the whole area is particularly fascinating after being through Lake Louise, Banff and the Canadian Rockies, however we're still glad we came to see it. It's a nice a drive through the park which is full of small lakes and great scenery, as well as a ton of deer. Tomorrow we take the I-90 west towards Buffalo to check out the falls and then off to Nicola's Aunt Linda and Uncle Mario's house for a weekend visit in Scarborough.

The bridge over Lake Champlain to New York

Olympic Ski Jump Venues at Lake Placid

Lake Placid

Nicola lookin' pretty in her sun dress, she's been waiting forever to break that thing out

Day 25 - White River Junction, Vermont

Well today we drove for about 5 hours, from Bangor to White River Junction which is just inside the Vermont border. Once again we settle down at the Econolodge for a comfortable nights stay as the weather has been pretty unpredictable. Today we went from torrential rains to sweltering heat and humidity. South of us in New York there was a freak storm that actually created a tornado that touched down in Brooklyn. The weather is supposed to be a lot better tomorrow so hopefully we can camp somewhere nice. We will be driving through Lake Placid tomorrow and are really looking forward to seeing the nice sights there and getting some good pictures. So far we are enjoying the states though we haven’t really seen that many interesting things. There are State Troopers everywhere and literally almost nobody speeds, it’s nothing like the highways on the Island. Everybody cruises down the interstate with their cruise control set at the speed limit, and driving all day I never saw a single person go any faster than 5 or 10 mph over the limit. The gas is a lot cheaper here, even after the exchange rate it’s about $.75 a litre, compared to $1.10 in Canada. Motels are also a lot cheaper here and they are everywhere so it makes finding a place no problem. We stopped in at a State Liquor Store in New Hampshire today and everything was so cheap in there! We found 60 oz. bottles of Gin or Vodka for $10, though you can’t bring that much back to Canada. It’s nice to have an evening to relax, go for a swim in the pool and watch some TV, will be back on the road tomorrow to put on a few hundred more miles.

The route we've take so far, doesn't look the smartest does it? It's actually the best and fastest way to head east.

Day 24 - Bangor, Maine

Today we made our way from Peggy's cove along the east coast of Nova Scotia down to Yarmouth. We took a few detours to check out some of the beaches, which are supposed to be good surfing beaches however the waves weren't that big. White Point probably had the most promising waves, and there were a few people surfing, but it wasn't as good as long beach. We also went to Crescent Beach and Risser's Beach. We pulled into Yarmouth without a second to spare to get on our Ferry. It's called "The Cat" and is a successful version of BC's completely failed attempt at a fast ferry. it goes from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to Bar Harbour, Maine in under 3 hours and can go up to 55mph, over 90km/h. The boat has almost 40,000 horsepower and throws two HUGE rooster tails behind it, it's pretty awesome just to sit at the back of the boat and watch. On board is very comfortable with massive flat screen TV's, comfy chairs, numerous cafeterias and even a Casino. And yes, of course I gambled a little and thanks to my efforts we are now $8.75 richer. When we pulled into Bar Harbour we drove into the town. It's the busiest and most touristy place we've seen yet, there are American's from all over the states here shopping like crazy and enjoying the National Park. Every motel, hotel, B&B and everything is booked solid, no vacancy anywhere. We drove to Bangor, about 45 miles from Bar Harbour to crash at a Econolodge, on the road toward Lake Placid now (Wednesday) and will be at Niagra Falls on the 10th.

White Point Beach

View from the back of the boat, that's what 40,000 horsepower will get ya

Nicola and I takin' it easy at the back of the Ferry

Distant view of the Cat Fast Ferry from Bar Harbour

Day 23 - Peggy's Cove

Today we made it from Baddeck to just past Peggy's Cove where we camped for the night. It was a nice relaxing day of driving along the east coast of Nova Scotia and taking in all the great views. We stopped in Halifax and explored the waterfront area for a while before continuing on to Peggy's Cove. It was the Natal day celebration in Halifax so when we arrived basically everything had closed but I think we'd missed most of the celebrating so we didn't really stay for very long. Peggy's Cove is one of the most photographed areas in Canada, and it was extremely busy, crawling with other tourists. The lighthouse is what everybody comes to see and take pictures of so we did the same. The little town itself is also something worth seeing, a charming little fishing village nestled on the rocks of the cove featuring a small group of brightly coloured east coast homes. As you drive past Peggy's Cove there are countless other little communities all built up around small rocky coves. Everybody has a nice little house on the water, a private dock, and there were a lot of sail boats anchored in the middle of every cove, it was really quite nice. Also just past the cove is the memorial for SwissAir Flight 111 which crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in 1998, Peggy's Cove was the closest town to the crash site and was used as a rescue center.

Downtown Halifax

The Famous Peggy's Cove Lighthouse

Peggy's Cove as seen from the SwissAir Memorial

The SwissAir Flight 111 Memorial

Lots of little communities along the coast near Peggy's Cove

Day 22 - Baddeck, Nova Scotia

The weather in the morning was completely rotten, so much in fact we just about called off doing the Cabot Trail. However by the time we packed up our tent and got a hot shower everything had started to clear up, our luck with great day-time weather continued. We decided to spend the day driving the Cabot Trial, a 300km long highway which takes you around the Northwest corner of Cape Breton Island. A lot of the highway is right on the coast and the views are absolutely incredible. This is another one of those areas which is difficult to capture in a photograph because the pictures simply do no justice. We enjoyed the drive and stopped off at Black Brook, a great beach in the park. Waves come crashing in, one after another, they are all consistently big and crash onto the beach providing great boogie boarding. Tons of tourists and locals alike all pile out in the water to ride up and down in the waves as if it were some kind of an amusement park. The beach was beautiful and we swam for a couple of hours before getting back into the car to drive to our campsite. Mileage wise we are basically back where we started this morning however we’ve covered over 300km of road and seen a lot of great things. Tomorrow we’re off to Halifax and then down to Yarmouth on the 7^th to catch the ferry to Maine.

Meat Cove as seen from the private campground overlooking the cliff

Black Brook Beach, rollers like that come in constantly all day, lots of fun

Can you imagine having that as your backyard?

Nicola and I at a small cove on the way to Meat Cove

View from the Cabot Trail highway heading south on the east coast section

Day 21 - North Sydney, Nova Scotia

Well today there really isn’t much to say. We woke up at 5:20 am to drive to Argentia through the washed out roads of Placentia en route to the Nova Scotia Ferry. Our ferry was supposed to leave at 8:30 am but did not board until 9:30 am and didn’t even leave until 11:30 am. Long story short is that we arrived in North Sydney at 1:30 am in the face of a massive and ugly thunder storm. Our camping plans for the evening were immediately squashed.

We drove down the highway, with lightning striking in all directions, along with all the other ferry passengers in search of a roof over our heads. After a couple of dead end detours we finally found ourselves about 25 minutes out of town at a KOA campground and the storm seemed to have receded. So I asked the campground attendant if he had any tent sites left for the night. Well he sure did, and in the middle of a lightning storm he pointed me to a great little site, directly under a large tree and right next to the campground’s service propane tank, used to refill everybody else’s propane tanks. Another small little hang up was the little “puddle” which seemed to surround our tent site, which could have easily been mistaken for a moat. Fantastic, we’ll just set up our little $30 pop tent and call it a night. Shortly after our heads hit the pillows the storm seemed to find us, and she came with full fury. The torrential rains hit hard soaking everything, however our sturdy little tent served us well and we remained dry. The lightning and thunder were another issue. I personally am fascinated by thunder storms and took great pleasure in watching the sky light up at least once every 10 seconds for hours on end, not even exaggerating in the slightest and apparently this had been happening since 8 pm. By about 4 am the storm was really getting revved up and the lightning strikes were really hitting close to home, needless to say Nicola was absolutely terrified, however there is no way any human could’ve slept through the thunder. She rolled over and asked me a nervous voice, “When’s it gunna stop??” Immediately after the big one happened, the lightning lit up our tent so light you would’ve sworn it was day, it hurt me eyes to see it, and with absolutely no hesitation the thunder cracked so loud I thought my ears would bleed. I was sure this one hit close, and then suddenly everything stopped, literally all the thunder, the lightning, the rain, it all just stopped. For the first time in the whole night everything went completely silent and I was sure we were just lying there under our big tree right next to our huge propane tank in the crosshairs for the end-it-all strike. The anticipation was killing me, where was it going to strike next? Thirty seconds went by and finally I see it a few miles off in the distance followed a few seconds later by the crack and rumble of the thunder.

Well that’s my dramatic little story for the day, in the end it was an amazing thunder storm, and it didn’t stop. We woke at 9 am to the crack of the thunder every thirty seconds or so, only at about 9:30 did it completely let up.

14 hours of this plus some lightning pretty well sums up the day

Day 20 - St. John's

This is the first time the whole trip we’ve actually stayed in the same place for 2 nights and we really enjoyed not having to pack up the tent as soon as we woke up. We spent the day seeing all the sights to see in St. John’s. Starting off with a trip to Cape Spear, the most easterly point in North America, a must for our official coast to coast road trip. After that we went to the north side of the mouth of the harbour to Signal Hill and Battery Hill. We explored the downtown streets, did some shopping, took in some shows at the Busker Festival and then made our way to the pier for a Whale Watching Tour.

We took off from in the harbour headed towards Cape Spear in search of Humpback Whales, the guide assured us that he’s gone four times a day for the last month and has seen whales every time. He did not disappoint, within 20 minutes we’d found our whales and spent the next hour cruising along side them, getting a great view and a really great experience. After that we took in a little more shopping and then back to our campsite to do some desperately needed laundry and cleaning. We need to be up at 5:30 am to catch the Ferry from Argentia back to North Sydney, it’s 14 hours long so I’m sure there won’t be much to write about tomorrow.

Nicola and I at Cape Spear, the most Easterly point in North America

The end of our Coast to Coast Journey (August 3rd, 2007), though really it's just the beginning of a different journey getting home

A view of St. John's Harbour from Signal Hill

A view of Battery Hill from the tour boat (Iceberg Quest). It's a small fishing village right outside of downtown

View of the colorful downtown area from the tour boat, all the homes are so brightly painted

Nicola bundled up for Whale Watch Tour, I think she feels like it's the Iceberg Tour

The tail of a Humpback Whale, literally right beside our boat

Kind of hard to see but both baby and the mom are in this picture

View of Signal Hill and Cabot Tower from the boat, the site of the first Wireless Transatlantic Signal in 1901

Day 19 - St. John's - WE MADE IT!!!

We woke up at Berry Hill Campground and drove to Rocky Harbour where we had reservations for a boat tour of Bonne Bay. As it turned out, the tour group which was going to fill the rest of the boat cancelled, so our scheduled trip was cancelled as well. As a consolation, they offered to fit us in with a different tour group, which happened to be a seniors group. So amidst a sea of Birkenstocks, wool socks, Tilley Hats and white belts we set out in the Bay for a very educational and interesting tour. They told us all about the park and the bay and what makes it so unique. Because of the shape of the bay and the ocean floor there is water that sits on the bottom, about 750 feet down that almost never circulates and is around -1 degrees Celsius. Because of this phenomenon there are arctic species living at the bottom of the bay which would normally only be found in the arctic. The same can be said of Gros Morne Mountain, the top of it is barren and very cold and is home to some arctic species, while there is a ring of boreal forest around the lower elevations which is home to species more commonly found in Newfoundland. Anyways, that’s my educational blurb for the day, bottom line is it’s very cool and a totally beautiful park, the boat tour was money well spent.

After that we immediately got in the car and made the 7.5 hour drive to St. John’s, we pulled in at around 8 o’clock, set up our tent, and headed downtown for some food. We briefly explored the downtown at night, got a good meal and called it a day.

We’ve been extremely lucky with weather so far and that continues to hold true as we completely missed the tropical storm which just blew through here and though it’s been kind of cold it’s been a mix of sun and cloud the whole time.

The Marine Research Station at Bonne Bay

"Shag Cliff" where you can see the cross section of a tectonic plate forced up on end

On the tour boat cruising around the Bay

Glacial Ice Pack on the surrounding mountains

Don't want to go swimming with this guy

Day 18 - Gros Morne National Park

Today we drove from Port Aux Basques to Gros Morne National Park. It is so nice out here. To say the views are breathtaking would be an understatement. We are camping at Berry Hill, one of the campgrounds within the park. Gros Morne sits on the West Coast of Newfoundland and the sunsets here are amazing.

The mountains here are older the Rockies and the Park has been designated by the UN as a World Heritage Site. Bonne Bay is the saltwater body which the park surrounds and was carved out by glaciers in the last Ice Age. There are parts in the park where you can see the cross section of tectonic plates which have shifted upwards out of the earth. There is a huge diversity of species due to the variety of ecological habitats. In the bay the water can be 22 degrees on the surface and -1 degrees celsius on the ocean floor.

The Park reminds us of the West Coast of Vancouver Island in many ways but is also very unique. On Thursday we will take a boat tour of Bonne Bay for an up close look at all the park has to offer, and then off to St. John’s.

Also, ferry reservations have been made and it’s confirmed that we will travel from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on August 7^th to Bar Harbour, Maine. From there we will take three days to drive through the States, travelling by Lake Placid, coming up through Niagra Falls to arrive in Toronto on the night of the 10^th.

Bonne Bay as seen from a roadside boat launch

Gros Morne Mountain, not that exciting looking considering the Park is named after it, the rest is way cooler

Western Brook Pond

Endless Sunsets

Day 17 - Port Aux Basques

Today was not terribly exciting as we woke early to drive from PEI to North Sydney, Nova Scotia to take the ferry to Newfoundland. We arrived in North Sydney early to catch our 6 hour ferry on time, only to discover that a recent bomb threat had thrown the schedule out of whack. Who or Why anyone would call in a bomb threat on these kind newfies is beyond us. As it turns out our boat was only an hour late so it really wasn’t a big deal. The ferry was actually pretty fun, like a 6 hour ride on a BC Ferry with a bar, live newfie entertainment, TV, Movies, Robin’s Donuts and much more to keep you entertained. Sleeper cabins are available, but at a cost we were not willing to pay, all the chairs are very comfy and recline anyways so we are fine. When we arrived in Newfoundland at about 11:30pm it was extremely foggy and we drove around for a while in circles before we found Cheeseman Provincial Park. Our spot was great, right by the river, however we barely had any time to enjoy it heading straight to bed and leaving first thing in the morning.

Our Ferry from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland

The Beach at Cheeseman Provincial Park

The trusty Ford Escape parked at the beach at Cheeseman

Day 16 - Crystal Beach, PEI

Today we drove back into Charlottetown to get the first oil change on the Escape. After that we headed to a Trail Riding place north of Charlottetown, Nicola has wanted to go Trail Riding the entire trip. For only $16 we went for almost an hour through the woods, along a creek and through some fields. Nicola's horse was great, while my horse was an impatient and rude and was constantly trying to pass the other horses and riding way to close to them with her head up their ass. The lady in front of me was like "Is there a bug on my horse she keeps twitching back there?" and I'm like, "No lady, that's actually my horse shoving its head up your horses butt, sorry, there's really nothing I can do."

After we smelled like manure we decided to go for a swim at Brackley Beach in Prince Edward Island National Park. The air temperature was 23 degrees while the water was 19 degress celcius, it was so warm and so nice. Then we took off for some more immature fun, hitting up the waterslide park which is completely empty so we rode the best two waterslides over and over until it closed. On our way to our campsite we once again could not resist more touristy fun, going go-karting and the batting cages before we pulled up to Frosty's, a sweet roadside ice-cream parlour. To end the day we've pulled up to Crystal Beach where we will camp for the night and leave early in the morning for North Sydney to catch the ferry to Newfoundland, much more to come in the next week....

Nicola and I at the Trail Ride place

5 day old baby Ben having a nap

Brackley Beach, where the water is almost the same temperature as the air

The waterslides, that green one is actually really really fast, you ride a tube down it

More views from the coastal highways all around the island

Nothing to really say here, just another great view

Our campsite tonight, the whole park is almost full and everyone left the waterfront spot?? I hope it's not haunted or something.

Day 15 - Charlottetown, PEI

Today we drove from our campsite at Hopewell Rock Park to Moncton in the morning, hoping to catch high tide at the Petitcodiac River. The east coast of New Brunswick, in the Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world, and where the tide rushes up the inlet to this river, it is the fastest tide in the world. The river will rise 25 feet in just one hour. When the "Tidal Bore" arrives you can actually watch the small tidal wave push upstream and fill the river with water. Though we were hoping for an enormous and violent wave to come crashing through, it actually appears quite subtle. However it's speed and power is pretty incredible, as well as the amount of water which so quickly fills the river. After that we drove back to Hopewell Rock to see the same views as yesterday at high tide.

We are now onto our next Province, PEI. We crossed the huge Confederation bridge, almost 13km long, actually I should say Nicola drove across it..."This is the first real bridge I've ever driven across!!" as she let out a nervous giggle with her concentrated stare and white knuckled grip. This place is so nice though, the entire province is a constant view. You can look in any direction at any time and it's postcard perfect. We visited the small old village of Victoria by the sea and then off to Charlottetown for a lobster dinner, for Mark anyways, for Nicola who doesn't like seafood she has few if any options on the menu. After that we camped at Pine Hills campground just out side Charlottetown for the night, private campgrounds are quite nice here, they all have pools and hot showers, a very nice luxury for us at this point. The swimming has been great so far, and I am actually learning to dive from my swim instructor Nicola. I guess we automatically become plural as soon as you cross the bridge, we are loving the east coast lingo. Hope yous guys are enjoying reading this.

The "Tidal Bore", this wave is actually the tide pushing upstream against the river

Daniel Flats at high tide, doesn't look like much until you compare to yesterday's pictures

Hopewell Rocks at high tide, compare to picture from yesterday

Nicola driving across the bridge, I think she deserves an Oscar for appearing to be calm

Yet another province down, only two more after this one, except for those ones up North, but they don't really count

A view of some harbour, the whole Province is like this full of nice little bays and so much coastline

Mmmmmm, lobster dinner....hope you enjoyed your salad Nicola, at least she's a cheap date

Day 14 - Hopewell Rock

Today we drove from Fredericton at the Canadian Tire parking lot and headed to Fundy Bay National Park. We swam at Wolf Lake and drove the park and along the east coast of New Brunswick, it's truly beautiful out here. The highlight of the day was definitely Hopewell Rock Provincial Park where we spent the afternoon. Tonight we are camping at a private campground just 5 minutes away, right on the water in Fundy Bay. All along the east coast of New Brunswick in Fundy Bay experiences the world's highest tides, averaging a 35 foot change, but seen as high as 42 feet. The Hopewell Rock Park shows a number of rocks that jut out of the beach like pillars when the tide is low, yet appear to be just little islands when the tide is high. We got some amazing pictures today and really enjoying the east coast. Today the low tide was at 6:04 pm and the high will be tomorrow at 12:16pm so the pictures we put on tonight will show the low and hopefully the next time we load up pictures they will have the same view but with a high tide.

The high bluffs found along the Bay of Fundy seen from Fundy Bay National Park

Scenic view from the highway looking east toward the Bay

Once again on the side of the highway looking toward the water, great weather today

Crooked Creek Lookout point, a short detour off the highway

View out the car window as we drive from Fundy Bay Park to Hopewell Park

Just some of the rocks at Hopewell Rock Park. The entire area fills with water and you can kayak around the tops of the pillars which become islands at high tide

A view of Daniel Flats, completely exposed at low tide. It's strange how straight the beach is and how unusual the terrain looks, almost like a different planet

Another view of Daniel Flats looking toward the mainland

Another view of Daniel Flats, definitely the most interesting natural wonder we've seen yet

More of the carved out sandstone cliffs and rocks in the park

Our campsite tonight, right near the water's edge with a great view

Day 13 - Fredericton (maybe)

I write today's blog from the parking lot of a Quality Inn in Edmunston, New Brunswick. The reason we don't know where we'll actually stay tonight is because there is no vacancy in any hotel here and we got caught by the time zone change. We thought that we'd make it to our campsite (about an hour from here) before the closing time, however when you lose an hour it pretty well ruins your schedule. Oh well, we will drive until we are too tired to drive anymore, I figure we should be around Fredericton before we find a cheap little motel.

Today was incredible though, we drove to Quebec City this morning and spent the afternoon there. It is an absolutely amazing place. It's impossible to see everything in depth with just one day, however everything in the old city is within walking distance so a foot tour allows you to see a lot in one day. Just walking around with your tacky tourist sights map is awesome. The shops, cafes, and restaurants are endless, they occupy everyone of the old buildings (except Churches and Museums) that make up the old city. The old city Quebec is completely surrounded by a rock wall which was built hundreds of years ago as a fortress. There is so much history in the area and so much of the old buildings and monuments still exist. Nicola had a great time exploring the city with perfect weather and even did a little shopping. At the end of our visit we went to a traditional French Crepe Cafe for strawberry and ice cream Crepes which were delicious. This city was easily one of the highlights of the trip so far.

**Update - We've hit a new low in our overnight accommodations last night. We made it to Fredericton at quarter to 3 in the morning after taking a half hour detour to the middle of nowhere to a closed campground, luckily Nicola was asleep for that part. We pulled into a Canadian Tire parking lot and slept in the front seats of the car, hoping to get an oil change first thing in the morning as all other service centers are closed on Saturdays here. Despite our valiant efforts to be first in line we are still unable to get an oil change until 1pm, so we will move on to Moncton.

The Parliament Building at Quebec City

At the entrance to the old city, now in the "walled" part of the city
Champlain Street, full of little cafes and shops, like the entire old city

The entire place has so much character and the old buildings are in such good condition

Nicola with our server at the Crepe Cafe

Taken down at the waterfront looking towards the city

View of the harbour down at the waterfront

Finally in New Brunswick

Day 12 - Drummondville (Quebec)

We woke this morning to a fancy looking card on our windsheild. Thinking that I had recieved a very nice welcome to Quebec letter it turned out to be a $42 parking ticket for parking on the one side of the street between the hours of of 0800 and 1200 on Jeudi between Avr and Nov. Great, like I remember a SINGLE thing from Grade 8 French??? I guess it would help if they put a little Anglais on their signs. So I guess we will pay the ticket unless I can convince them that we legitmetly are completely ignorant.

On our tour last night we were driving over one of the many bridges in Montreal and spotted a roller coaster. Nicola and I have been craving an adrenaline rush since we were disappointed by two waterslide places closing in the interior of BC due to new condo development. It turns out that Carly's boyfriend (born and raised in Montreal) is afraid of rollercoasters and she had never been to La Ronde Montreal Six Flags. So the three of us spent the day at La Ronde, a park built for Expo '67 on a man-made island created from the dirt that was removed to make way for the subway system (or Metro if you are francois). We rode all of the most extreme roller coasters and had a blast, though the heat was too much for the ladies and I was sweating like un cochon. Tonight we are half-way between Montreal and Quebec city in Drumondville at a Best Western, it's Nicola's very nice birthday present to me. We are celebrating with a nice wine and cheese party (Really cheap knock-off champagne and no-name brand cheese strings).

Plans to ferry from Nova Scotia to Maine and drive to Toronto through the States are now on our minds, more to follow in the coming week....

Our Tour Guides, Nicola's friend Carly and her boyfriend Fred at a bar in downtown Montreal

The "Goliath" it is easy to see how it got it's name, this ride is HUGE

"La Boomerang" at La Ronde, we are sitting three rows from the back

Right after the Goliath ride, Nicola looks a little dizzy?

Day 11 - Montreal

Today we woke up in North Bay and spent the first part of the day with Nicola's dad's cousin Cathy and her two kids Bianca and Noah. I know it's starting to sound like Mark has no family or friends anywhere and Nicola is Ms. Popular everywhere we go....just wait until Prince George baby, just you wait. We spent the morning at Cathy's family cottage on Lake Trout where their family collectively has 200 Acres on the lake and it's absolutely beautiful. We took a tour of the lake via Sea-doo and after a quick swim we dried off, went to lunch and headed East.

Next we drove to "Munch-ree-all" as we say it, or "Mon-ree-awwl" as the fancy french folk say it. How come everyone is honking at us every time we drive by one of these red "Arret" signs?....weird, haha just kidding. But seriously this is a very cool city. We met up with Nicola's friend, who she met randomly while in Mexico in 2003, who put us up for the night. Carly, and her boyfriend (or should I say friend a la garcon) Fred showed us all around the city and downtown at night. The weather is perfect (very hot, and quite humid) and we got to see all the neat little bars, cafes, and more stripclubs than you can shake a stick at (Unfortunately I was the only one interested so I was outvoted, damn democracy). After our personalized tour of the city we crashed for the night at their place in the "La Salle" district and will see more of the city tomorrow.

View of Trout Lake from the Cottage

Nicola and I that night at the "Francofolies" Festival, direct translation is "Crazy French Festival"....we agree

The Montreal Expo building. The entire building was destroyed in a fire but the steel structure still remains.

Day 10 - North Bay

Today we drove from Rabbit Blanket Lake to Callander, just south of North Bay Ontario. We met up with Nicola's relatives Sheila and Bob for dinner and stayed at their town-home on the Lake, another very comfortable stay. We finally managed to do some desperately needed laundry as well! Although the three pack of air fresheners we purchased from Canadian Tire and completely removed from the packaging were doing a decent job of masking the smell. Once again a very nice drive along the lake with many great views. There are tons of small lakes and bogs that you drive through on the highway. Lake Superior is so huge you would swear it's the ocean if you didn't know better. The hospitality is great out here but we are looking forward to seeing the east coast soon.

Nic and I hanging out by the river on a really nice sunny day

Nice scenery the whole day of driving

Nicola and I with her Great Aunt Sheila and Great Uncle Bob

View from the deck at their lake-front townhome in Callander, just south of North Bay

Day 9 - Rabbit Blanket Lake

Today we thought we would drive all the way to Sault St. Marie but stopped in Lake Superior Provincial Park at Rabbit Blanket Lake to camp instead. It's about 2 hours before Sault St. Marie and allowed us to set up camp at a reasonable time and finally enjoy some hotdogs cooked on the campfire. We rented a canoe at the campground and went out on the lake as well. The drive along Lake Superior is actually really nice and you get a lot of nice views. Right before we got to our campground we were passed by a bunch of young guys honking and waving in a Toyota Van and realized they were part of a 3 van convoy, they all had BC plates. We pulled into the next beach and talked with them for a while, turns out they are all from Vancouver doing the exact same thing we are, they even started by Surfing in Tofino.

A fox in Lake Superior Provincial Park
Vancouver hippies doing the Canadian Road Trip

Rabbit Blanket Lake

Day 8 - Kakabeka Falls (ThunderBay)

Today we took a shorter day of driving from Vermillion Bay to Thunder Bay and camped about 30km west at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park. It's a really nice park and the falls are the highest in Northern Ontario. We definitely enjoyed the break of a more leisurely day and managed to make it into town to pick up some groceries. It was a lucky birthday for me as the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) pulled me over and I thought I had a speeding ticket for sure. The officer took my license and went to go write my ticket when he got to the birthdate section on the form. When he realized it was my birthday he just stopped filling it out, wrote Happy Birthday on my ticket and handed it back to me with a smile, what a nice guy!

It's extremely hot and muggy here right now and Nicola and I are sitting in a Best Western Parking Lot, stealing there internet, so we better hit the road, bound for Sault St. Marie.

Nicola and I in front of the Falls

View over the falls from the bridge

The money shot

Day 7 - Blue Lake (Vermillion Bay)

Well another good day of driving saw us get through all of Manitoba and about an hour and half into Ontario where we camped at Blue Lake Provincial Park. When we woke up in Regina it was windy and dry, 5 minutes into our very classy continental breakfast at the Budget Inn there was a wicked thunder and lightning storm combined with torrential rain and big pieces of hail. The parking lot was instantly flooded and you could barely see across the street. Twenty minutes later the storm cleared and we hit the road. We stopped nowhere except for gas and bypassed Winnipeg altogether as we will visit that city on the way back. The campground was really nice in Blue Lake and we are definitely enjoying the change of scenery that all the lakes and trees have to offer, it almost feels like back home.

Ms. Manitoba introduces us to our next Province

I spy with my little eye, something that is RED! This was the only non-green thing we saw for 2 days

Really nice sunset, just past the Ontario border

Day 6 - Regina

This morning we took off from Banff and headed for Calgary. We drove around Calgary for a couple hours and checked it out when we realized that we better quit slackin' if we are going to make it to the East Coast with plenty of time to enjoy it. So we left the Rockies behind us and started a very flat journey towards Drumheller. We checked out the Tyrell Dinasoaur Museum which was pretty interesting and went in the giant T-Rex at the Tourist Centre. Beyond that we really didn't have much desire to stay so we just started driving. It didn't take us long to come to the consensus that the prairies are boring and kinda smelly so we didn't stop until 2am when we pulled into Regina. We'll crash here at a Motel for the night and take off for another long day of driving tomorrow, hopefully tackling most of the prairie drive, maybe we can take 2 or 3 corners in the next 10 hours of driving to provide some excitement. We enjoyed the scenery for a while but quickly realized that you shouldn't live in the prairies unless you really really really really like wheat and nothing else. We look forward to a good nights sleep and soon to see some trees again.

They claim it's the world's biggest fake T-Rex

Doing the tacky tourist thing, inside the mouth of the big T-Rex

The Burgess Shale Exhibit at the Dinasoaur Museum, surprisingly interesting for a Museum

Well I think this one is pretty much self explanatory

(This X 8 Hours) + Lots of Bugs = Saskatchewan

Day 5 - Banff

After yesterday's adventure with the memory card we decided to head back to Lake Louise this morning and see if we could replace any of our pictures. Unfortunately the weather wasn't so nice so the pictures weren't so great, however it got sunnier as the day progressed. We headed toward Banff to meet up with Nicola's friend Mary who works at the Fairmont - Banff Springs. On our way Nicola and I both decided that our unshowered, hippy stench was getting to be too much to handle, so we made a detour to Radium Hot Springs (back in BC) for a nice dip and a desperately needed shower. After that we made it to Banff where we rode up the gondola for some awesome views of the Rockies. Heading back into town we got a tour of Banff and a personal tour on golf carts of the Banff Springs golf course (fancy shmancy - $200 a round). It was a great day and we saw a lot of incredible things, including some neat wildlife. There were Elk all over the golf course, they just hang out there and don't seem to be alarmed at all the golf balls flying right at them.

View from atop Sulpher Mountain via Gondola

Lake Louise on a rainy morning

Black Bear on the way to Radium Hot Springs

Radium Hot Springs - Unfiltered 40 degree water - so nice

View from the Gondola on the way down

View of the Fairmont - Banff Springs Hotel, looks like a Castle in the middle of the Forest

Day 4 - Lake Louise

Well today was an awesome day. Starting from Kakuli Bay we headed north on our way to Lake Louise. We stopped at the Crazy Creek Suspension Bridge and waterfalls and got some great pictures. After that we stopped at the Chateau at Three Valley Gap, a big hotel powered entirely by a privately owned hydro dam. From there we took a half hour helicopter tour of the Glaciers, it was totally amazing. It was just Nicola and I in our private helicopter with the pilot and he got us so close to the Glaciers, over 8000 feet up. From there we went to the famous Moraine Lake (the bright blue one on all the post cards). It was gorgeous up there and a perfectly sunny day to visit. After that we went to Lake Louise to see the lake and the Fairmont on the lake which is equally impressive.

Unable to camp in Lake Louise because everything was booked we headed southeast towards Banff and camped at Protection Mountain. That night there was an incredible thunder storm that lit the entire sky up with lightning, every thirty seconds for hours. The thunder was so loud you didn't just hear, you could literally feel it. Nicola was completely freaked out, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

As we went to download our pictures for the day (over 200 of them) a message popped up on my camera reading "Memory Card Error", according to the manual this means the memory card has suffered an anomaly and we've lost all our pictures for the day :( Needless to say we are not happy with that, but all we can do is keep on truckin' and see a lot more cool stuff.

Day 3 - Kelowna

Today was a short trip, from Penticton to Kelowna. Our only objective was to go to the waterslides by Westbank with all the cousins. Unfortunately for everyone, we arrived to find they had just been closed to make way for a new condo development :( (they were apparently just closed one week earlier) So we said goodbye to the cousins and cruised around Kelowna looking for a good campsite. We quickly discovered that the only "campsite" was no more than a glorified trailer park with a bunch of broken down RV's and lots of smelly hippies. After dinner with our friends in Kelowna we made it up to Kakuli Bay on Kalmalka Lake to camp.

Our Campsite at Kakuli Bay Provincial Park

Dinner with Tim and Louise at Joey's in Kelowna

Nicola with Victoria at Dinner

Day 2 - Penticton

Today we took the first ferry from the Island and left for Penticton to meet up with Nicola's cousins. Not exactly roughing it we started our Cross Country camping trip sleeping on a queen size bed at the Ramada, easily the most comfortable sleep we will have for the next six weeks. We played around Penticton for the day and tomorrow will be off to Kelowna to visit some friends.

Day 1- Tofino Day-Trip

It's official- we're off! Today we took a day-trip out to Tofino with Nicola's brother as our surfing guide and chauffeur. We wanted to make it an official coast to coast roadtrip so visiting Tofino was essential. The pictures are from Florencia Bay, Long Beach and Kennedy Lake, the site of Canada's largest Cedar trees and Nicola's Grandmother's resting place.

Nicola and I standing in front of a massive Cedar

Nicola's bro Steven, our Surf Guide for the day

Surfin' with our long boards

Florencia Bay (Wreck Bay)

The route so far

The route on the way...so far

Getting Ready

Well it's only a few weeks away and we are slowly getting things ready for the big road trip. We've got our general route mapped out and most of our stops on our way there picked out. Beyond that we are basically just going to wing it, leaving on July 15th and hoping to be back by the end of August.