Clouds hover above Sydney..

The sun still hasn't shown itself :(
at least its not raining anymore!!

Last night I met up with Florian and Andi and their friend Alex, also German hah. We joined two English girls at a bar downtown and had a few drinks. Funny how a 3$ beer seems so expensive compared to the 50 cent ones in Thailand! ohhhh..
I managed to make friends with 7 Swedish guys outside the bar who loved hearing about how cold the Canadian winter is haha

Today me and the boys went to a market, bought some souvenirs (MORE STUFF?? AARRGG!!) I was terrified at the realization that many of the shops were selling, not only kangaroo hides, but their testicles as key chains and their little paws as back-scratchers!! Sick, sick. just sick. Im not a fan..
I realized today that it is Thursday and I only have 3 more days until i go home!!! Its kind of weird that the trip is coming to a close, and I feel a bit sad, but the sad feeling is drowned out in the anticipation for a HOME and my family and friends!! Oh how lovely it will be to sleep in MY bed (no bedbugs!) and eat home cooked meals every day... aaah yesss!!!

There are giant Christmas trees in all the shopping centers and scattered around town.. there are also huge banners that say Merry Christmas with cockatoos and bushbabies on them haha its weird without any snow... and an abundance of shorts adn t-shirts!

Bonne Fete Maman!!!

Well, while I am aware that I am in the future and that it is not yet the 10th of December in North America, it IS the 10th HERE in Sydney, so Happy Birthday maman!!!

Sydney is pretty awesome so far. I am lucky enough to be staying in a wonderfully amazing hotel (merci encore!) at the moment, and having a flushing toilet and a shower that is more than just a hose stuck on the wall next to the toilet, is just pure luxury!!!
Yesterday I landed in Sydney at 7am, with only a few hours of sleep on the plane. I left Katie in Bangkok, very sad, but not as sad as when we parted ways the first time (phew!). After doing a much needed load of laundry at a laundromat nearby, I grabbed my map and set out to explore. I walked through the busy streets eating a sandwich i had bought at Woolworths and people watching. In the middle of the city is what appears to be a financial district of some kind, and all of a sudden everyone is wearing a shirt and tie... I found a huuuge Christmas tree in the middle of the street, very beautiful old architecture, and finally I made my way to the Royal Botanical Garden!!! Ahhh so gorgeous! There are actually a TON of bats in the garden adn they have to try to get rid of them every year becasue the eat the vegetation. They were all hanging in the trees throughout the garden screeching and stretching their wings. Dont worry, I took many more pictures than was necessary!

The Gardens led to a harbour, and there was the Opera House! What a surprise! I walked up to it, very impressed, stared at it for a while, and headed back toward the hotel (i was about to fall down).
Today I am going to meet up with Florian and Andreas, the german boys i met in Adelaide...
Too bad its cloudy and a bit windy.. my original plan was to head straight for the beach!!!

Oh Thailand!

Its Sunday in Bangkok...we left the beautiful Phuket beaches last night and took the night bus (we dont learn our lessons...) to Bangkok and got here early this morning. We decided to splurge and get a double room at a small inn on Koh San road instead of a guesthouse... Its super pretty, clean, and has A POOL ON THE ROOF!!! For 400 B each (10 bucks? not bad!).
Needless to say our tans are looking pretty spectacular, as is our shopping list.
Tomorrow night I fly back to Sydney for a few days...
Last night in Thailand!!!!

Finally, an island!

We are in Phuket! We made it to the south!!!! Sukhothai's ruins were amazing... but it was nice to get out of that town.
The bus from Bangkok to Phuket was utterly ridiculous. Left at 6 pm, as soon as we boarded, they put on a video called "magic memories"... some live concert of a weird thai guy with crazy outfits, stage contraptions, and dancers. It was SO loud, i couldnt' turn up my ipods volume loud enought to drown it out. THen after that was over, they played Hellboy II in Thai, just as loud. Then when it was over, finally we are like 'phew we can sleep now' it was about 10 pm. At midnight, for a reason know one knows, all the lights on the bus turn on, adn they start blaring what sounded like a spanish-inspired Thai song as loud as they can. We woke startled, not understanding what was going on.... we stopped at a rest stop.
Im starting to hate the vendetta Thai people have for not putting toilet paper in the bathrooms...
So we got to Phuket, rode on the back of motorbikes with our huge packs to a guesthouse, showered nad finally went to the beach!!!
aaaah its so beautiful! There are palm trees lining the beach with white sand, blue clear water, and surrounded by hills covered in more palm trees and banana trees. THe water is very warm adn the sun is very hot... we saw an elephant by the side of hte road!!!
TOday we are going to a Gibbon Rehabilitation Center in the north of the island!!
We are leaving Bangkok monday, and im going back to sydney for 2 weeks before coming back to north america for christmas woo!!!

What date is it again??

So its saturday in Sukhothai. The rooster outside of our room's only windwo has been enthusiastically cock-a-doodleing since, oh, maybe 5 am, much to our dismay. A few blocks down, a small restaurant decided to set up giant speakers proppd up against an old truck, playing cheery sounding Thai music.
The last few days have been spent in Chiang Mai as well as Pai. Pai was reached after a 4 hour minibus ride through the curviest mountain roads ive ever witnessed. Passengers were sick with motion sickness on our way there, and back... very understandable. It was much smaller than Chian Mai, more relaxed, nestled in the hills and farm lands. Very picturesque! We rented a scooter and drove to see a waterfall, hot springs, and the Pai canyon, all the while singing "Born to Be Wild" to ourselves. So much fun!!!
We got to Sukhothai last night, intending to stay for a short amount of time but I think we may stay here a bit longer than expected as katie is feeling a bit under the weather.
Next stop, we anticipate, is Phuket.

The land of smiles...

Sooooo Im in Bangkok!
Katie and Noah came and got me at the airport and took me back to the hotel on koh san road... tiny little room with a very interesting bathroom. We went out and danced and had some pad thai... for less than 1 Us dollar. SOO great!
Bangkok is phenomenal...its so different in every way. There are so many people everywhere, it smells, the taxis are BRIGHT pink, everyone is a crazy driver, there are men driving motor bikes with huge carts somehow attached to the front of them weaving between traffic, tuk tuks, food carts, stray cats and dogs, pictures of the King everywhere, orchids, temples....
amazing.
Everyone is very nice, the food is delicious, we all got 1/2 hour thai massages today for 100 B (2.50 usd?) which were so amazing.
We saw the Grand Palace today and walked around town for quite some time. In one of the temples there was a gigantic reclining Buddah which was about 50 meters long...GOLD!!! Just took my breath away.
Me, Katie and Noah all got matching fisherman pants (we ARE a team!), and Im making mental notes for all the Christmas presents i will bring back ;)

Sooo, change of plans.

I have returned to Adelaide on short notice. I am flying to Bangkok tomorrow!!! Katie and her friend Noah will be there waiting for me, ready for adventure!

Wwoofing with the Builders was amazing. What a great family! They treated me like one of their own, and Marco and Lola were so much fun too! We played quite a bit of chess, although i would get really antsy and get bored of the game... Rita was a great cook, which i will miss, but it was a very fun experience.
Today i ran all over the city getting my things together. I got immunized, talked to my bank, sent postcards... blah blah. all good fun.
Now im going to go to sleep because i have to catch a bus for the airport at 5:20 am! Ouch!

Apricots, parrots, and red dust.

Everything around me is so beautiful. I took the bus from Adelaide to Waikerie, where Thomas (my wwoof hosts' son) picked me up from the bus station. We drove 20 minutes outside of town through gorgeous dry red earth, gum trees, and golden grasses, to their fruit farm and cafe. They have a beautiful property overlooking the Murray River, 4 hectares i think, with peach, apricot, and fig trees. There are two buildings, both dating back to the 1800's, 1 story stone homes with wrap around porches. One of them is the cafe, which has many small tables in one big room with some local crafts for sale, a kitchen, and two bedrooms for wwoofers. It is me, Lola from Germany, and Marco from Austria. They are alot of fun, and Rita and Nick, the owners are very nice and really funny.
There are small lizards, large spiders, parrots (which they actually have to shoot from the fruit trees.. ugh), kangaroos, and a ton more wildlife. Our work around here is from 8 am to 1 pm, we clean up the cafe before it opens, and do some work around the property, pick fruit, or cut fruit and set it on trays to dry in the sun. The rest of the afternoon we have to ourselves to hang out and relax, talk with Rita and Nick, play chess, read, go on hikes... its so so so so so amazing.
Rita is an amazing cook, and they go for walks through the bush at night to get some exercise and see the insanely beautiful sunsets.
I will try to upload some pictures....

The first Australian day...

So this morning at breakfast I met a guy from Vancouver, and the two of us, along with four German guys I had met the night before got some free bikes across the street from our hostel and rode through Adelaide along the river, heading for the beach!!! Increeedible! There are eucalyptus trees everywhere, dry golden grass, and really really crazy birds! It was really sort of tough and I almost ran into a few people on the bike path because 1) we had to ride on the left side of the path.. so weird and 2) i was looking up at the trees and the birds and getting incredibly distracted!
After an hour ride, we got to Henley Beach where we had the alleged best fish n chips in Adelaide (i think i actually ate some sort of shark) and South Australian Beer. Then we went to the beach where the sand is so white nad soooo soft. The water was incredibly warm, so i jumped right in and washed my hair, but I was the only one who did, the boys thought the water was a bit chilly haha
Im leaving on a bus sunday morning for Waikerie where I will meet my first wwoof host! yay!

YOURE DRIVING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!!! ... oh nevermind.

After a 13 hour flight from San Francisco to Sydney, then another 2 hour flight from Sydney to Adelaide, Im finally breathing Australian air!!!!
Katie and I had to bid farewell in the international terminal at San Fran. By far one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.. after being with someone for 6 weeks and loving the hell out of them more and more every day, having to leave each other is tough to say the least.
BUT she is now on a beautiful beach in Fiji and I on a beautiful beach in Australia, so everyone is happy!
I have chosen my first wwoofing destination, http://www.mallyonsonthemurray.com/ and I will be going there on the 16th. After that i have been looking at some tours to do to Alice Springs for 8 days camping and hiking, so Im very excited.
Woo hoo!

pictures from Katies camera!

At the San Jose Sharks game! Shark Attack!!!!


Halloween!

Banana Slug in Olympic

Rose Garden in Victoria

Graffiti Party = Love

picture update....

walking to our hostel in Port Angeles with our matching graffiti party shirts!!


hurricane ridge at Olympic National Park




Playing in the Pacific Ocean on the beach in Klamath



Redwood National Park.. huge root base!


Beautiful beach in Trinidad


Katie and Jon on our morning walk to the beach in Santa Barbara... no big deal



The hundreds of sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco! Very loud, hilarious and super smelly

Santa Barbara: land of money and palm trees?

So Monday we decided we wanted to head south to nice beaches and warmer weather (it was kinda cloudy and also rainy in San Francisco for a few days), and everyone we asked suggested Santa Barbara, so south we went! The three of us rode the bus to San Jose, arrived early afternoon and (concidentally enough) the train station was across the street from the HP Pavillion, where the SHARKS play! Needless to say we wandered over to the box office and bought tickets for that nights game! In the meantime we purchased our ticket for our midnight bus ride to Santa Barbara, and watched the election on CNN in a classroom at San Jose University.
The game was insane! SO much fun!!! Our seats were phenomenal for the price we paid, at the Bell Centre they would have been worth an arm and a leg. They played the Wild, super good game, lots of screaming and yelling. Turns out San Jose's fans love yelling and doing giant shark jaws with their arms for penalties... amazing!
We had some deliiicious mexican food and then sat down on a Greyhound for 7 hours through the night (ugh.) our bus driver was a huge jerk with a weirdo haircut. Not a fan.
We wake up all hazy and unrested only to see a desert sunset out the window followed by beautiful spanish style villas and palm trees everywhere!!! Stumbling off the bus we ask the first person we see where the beach is, and head that way. It was 6 am and the streets were deserted. The buildings in the city center were picture perfect, straight out of a hollywood movie, all the restaurants fancy as can be, and all the stores designer. The only people on the street were me, katie, jon, and the bums (who somehow you didnt 'see the rest of the day..)
Few minutes later we had found a hostel, gotten a free breakfast, changed into our swimsuits and settled down on the beach! Soft sand, pelicans, cool water, blue sky, hills, palm trees, sun, wharf, aaaaah!
We explored quite a bit and spent most of our time on the beach... and then the next day we took amtrak back to San Francisco, had insanely good sushi and hung out for Jon's last night.
We got a sweet room at a hostel downtown on the fourth floor, private bathroom, double bed, and a balcony! Living large!!!!
Sun sun sun!

Halloween

At the hostel in Klamath we met Jonathan who actually decided to come to San Francisco from Arcata with us! It made the bus ride much less scary and very exciting. We got to San Francisco and Jonathan from Montreal (thats right, we had TWO jonathans!) was waiting for us at bus station, so we all hiked to our hostel, The Green Tortoise, which turned out to be a really fun, funky place.
Halloween was very fun, katie and I spent a few hours in the morning making our costumes, with our theme being "things christianity ruined", I was Pocahontas and she was an Amazon woman. Turns out Christianity also ruined the Hamburgler as well as a female body builder named Helga (Jon and Jon's costumes). The hostel had a party in the main hall with a few kegs and some music, needless to say Katie and I danced the night away (someone actually pinned us as "hippies" due to our "tribal dancing"... what!?)
WE explored the city for the next few days and saw all kinds of crazy th ings like Critical Mass, Coit Tower, a lot of homeless people, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 with all the sea lions, a small beach, and of course, each other's ridiculous beauty!
Katie and I found out having two Jonathans makes everything better. From walking down a dark street and not being terrified, to having someone fill up your coffee cup in the morning! woo hoo!!

Caution: Mountain Lion Sightings

Today Katie and I took the bus north into Orick to the Redwood Creek Trailhead, hoping to get to Tall Trees Grove (where the 1st, 3rd, and 6th tallest trees in the world are). Turns out its a 6 mile hike out there and another 6 back, and we only had 5 hours, so we hiked like no one has ever hiked before, trying to get as far as we could. We managed to hike a total of 6.5 miles including numerous photo breaks as well as a nice picnic on the mostly dried up creek bed running through the forest.
The forest was amazing. The sequoias are so gigantic its unreal. Some of the treetops were hidden in a fine fog coming from the ocean, adding to the mystical appearance of the forest. The colors were so vivid, neon and deep greens contrasted against falled red and orange leaves, the yellowish moss covering the huge trunks and the piercing blue sky enveloping it all...
There was a fallen tree trunk across part of the trail whose diameter was taller than I was, with a plaque on it indicating its approximate age of 750 years. At one point we had to take off our shoes and socks and walk across the small river to the other side where the trail continued along with a friendly sign indicating that there have been sightings of mountain lions in the area. The sign proceeded to indicate what to do in case of seeing a mountain lion, which was "If the animal is seen: be as loud as you can, throw objects in its direction, and make yourself seem as large as possible. If the animal attacks: fight back aggressively" Oh, right, thanks. Fighting a mountain lion to the death is easier said than done.
Needless to say, we survived the trail thanks to our singing and talking in loud, deep voices, loudly stating how muscular and powerful we are for all the mountain lions to hear, which apparently worked!

Olympic, Seattle, and a whole lot of Greyhound!

So we took the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles very tired and weathered from a "graffiti" themed birthday party in Victoria, which was, needless to say very fun. Christine bought Katie and I some shirts for it which are now decorated with doodles, signatures and notes from all the amazing people we hung out with in Victoria, as well as some icing from the penis-shaped birthday cake they had baked.
We got into Port Angeles, found a hostel and undertook a very strenuous hike through the town. The hostel was called Thor Town, it was a a big red house with a lovely front yard over taken by chickens wearing friendship bracelets made by the little girl, Pluma, who lived there, as well as many giant sunflowers. It was located riiight by the water and a mile away from Olympic national park! amazing!! We hiked around the second growth rainforest and got a ride with a very nice couple we met at the hostel to the top of the mountains at hurricane ridge. The view was amazing! It was nuts seeing rainforest vegetation slowly change into a sub-alpine zone at the top of the mountains with clouds hanging low in between peaks.
On our second day, KC came and picked us up from the hostel in a Olympic National Park school bus and brought us to his dad's property which is actually a reforestation project as well as a Christmas tree farm. We stayed in a large log cabin built by his parents before he was born. Such an amazing home.. high ceilings covered in posters of everything from collages to Einstein, Ghandi, feminism, anti-war movements... dogs (one which was 15 years old with barely any fur left) and cats wandering around, no running water within the household, two solar panels to run the stove and a few light fixtures, delicious organic vegetables grown in the garden and mushrooms from the forest surrounding it. Five people live in that house, all from different places and backgrounds, loving each other and working on the farm. We walked through a field to a giant cedar and 6 of us proceeded to climb it until we were all perched at different hieghts in the tree and just sat, breathed the fresh air and talked for a long time. They started up the little hand-built sauna in front of their house, by the pond, which was run by a small wood-fire oven surrounded by sheet metal. They burned cedar and splashed the metal with water and eucalyptus oil and the relaxation and cleansing heat was very much welcomed by our bodies. In the morning they took us on a hike through the woods to a small river. The forest was so beautiful, Ive never seen anything like it. The flora and fauna is so different than in the east that I hardly recognized anything I saw. Ferns, alders, giant cedars, birds whose songs I had never heard before, and mushrooms which they identified as we walked along. We finally got to to the river which was clear and very cold as it ran down from the mountains. I played with the two dogs, Lucky and Medusa, throwing sticks in the water for them to catch for a long time until we headed back toward the house.
We caught a few city transit buses and a ferry to get to Seattle which cost us a whopping 3 dollars! Once in Seattle, Hans and his roommate JD picked us up from downtown and brought us to their apartment, where we met their other roommate Mike. They were very welcoming and fed us wine and tortilla chips as we sat in the living room smoking their hookah and getting to relax from our full day bus journey. Seattle is a really cool city, very trendy and filled with coffee shops (who would have guessed???). We explored it walking from one end to the other, and later Hans and his roommates brought us to Volunteer Park where we climbed to the top of a water reservation tower which is the highest point in Seattle, and got a great view of the city, with the Space Needle in plain sight. The next morning we had to say goodbye and headed off to the Greyhound station, to embark on our journey to Arcata.
Now, for some reason, Greyhound decided to have us go from Seattle to Portland to San Francisco and back up to Arcata. Why? WHo knows. All we knew was that this amounted to a 35 hour bus ride, one of the most frightnening and stressful events of our lives! Turns out, once you leave Canada, taking the bus is ridiculous. It was filled with homeless or otherwise very sketchy characters, so we sat as close to the front of the bus as possible and avoided contact with anyone haha
We left Seattle at 1:15 pm to arrive in Arcata the next day at 10:30 pm. At around 11 pm or so, some very rude lady sat behind Katie and I and wouldn't let us recline our seats. She actually made this happen by hitting the back of our seats really hard and yelling "put your seats up!" while we were asleep. Needless to say, neither of us got very much rest that night, and made us even more edgy than we already were. Finally we got to San Francisco at 9 am with a 5 hour lay over. We had made one friend (the only other sane person o n the bus), so we headed to a sunny park where we shared the food we had in our three backpacks and laid in the sun for a few hours, which was exactly what we needed. It was very very warm and we happily took off most of the numerous layers we had been wearing and let the sun warm us up.
Back on the bus we went, for the last 6 hours of our journey. We made each other hair wraps which took our minds off of our tiredness and once again sketchy environment, and before we knew it, we were in Arcata. We got a ride to the Super 8 motel, warmed up a can of vegetarian chili and went to sleep.
In the morning we endulged in the continental breakfast offered by the motel (packaged danishes, english muffins, watery coffee and old cereal) before getting on the bus that would take us north through Redwood National Park (finally!!!!). Our jaws dropped at the sight of the giant trees, hills, and the beautiful fog which covered everything. We checked into the youth hostel which was located just across the street from a beautiful rocky beach on the ocean, and gladly socialized with a California Conservation Corps who were all staying at this hostel. We went for a walk on teh beach and played in the (very cold) water playing frisbee and running at the waves and away from them. We walked back to the hostel with our pants soaking wet, hair drenched, and spirits rejuvenated! We cooked a delicious meal, and relaxed the rest of the night with all of our new friends on the beach where we could see every star with the milky way in plain view (we saw about 60 shooting stars within an hour!).
The next morning was spent hiking through the beautiful surrounding forest and finding Hidden Beach, where, we played in the water and saw a sea otter!!! We were reluctant to go actually swim because we were informed by the people at the hostel that Klamath has the highest concentration of Great White Sharks on the Pacific coast! yikes!!!
Now we are in Arcata staying with Adam, Annie, KO, and Matt. They took us to a circus show put on by their school last night which was very... interesting. We had an amazing pancake, french toast, fresh blackberries, yogurt and apple breakfast on the grass outside and we are now making ginger ale before going to the beach!!!!

The ferry ride from Vancouver to Victoria at sunset!




Harbor in Victoria


Violin-playing Lord of the Sith!


Totem Pole in Victoria



Fullford Harbor


Our campground/nursery


Hike up Mount Erskine, in the temperate rainforest a little fairie door...


Summit!

Salt SpringIsland and wet camping

Tuesday morning we left Sean's and took the bus downtown. We bought sushi and crossed our fingers for a double decker bus to take us to the ferry. Low and behold, there it was! We got on the ferry to Fullford Harbor with our packs and all of our layers on. We sat at the top deck in the harsh wind and beautiful scenery. We got off the ferry with no idea where the campgrounds where, thinking there wasn't a public transportation system... so we head off to go to a super market and ask, when we walk past a little bus! We ask the driver where he is going and he says "town!" ahha so we get on and some ladies start talking to us and reccomending things to do on the island. We get off downtown Ganges, which is the main (little) town on the island, right in front of the visitor center, where a nice man gives us a map of the island and points us in the direction of several campgrounds! We head off and walk up Rainbow rd to a campground/nursery. Very beautiful! Camping in the temperate rainforest wow! Ferns and ivy growing everywhere, everything so green and beautiful. There were blackberry bushes and apple trees all over the island, so needless to say we feasted!!!
We met many interesting people and hiked up Mount Erskine which was simply incredible. The forest became garnished with moss and lichen as we came closer to the summit, and there were even little fairie doors on some rocks and trees on the way up. The view from the top was stunning, we could see the side of the mountain to the water and surrounding islands. Makes you feel very powerful and humble all at once.
Later that day started raining and kept on until the next afternoon. We are now back in Victoria and we are taking the ferry to Port Angeles tomorrow to go to Olympic National Park!!!!!

Thanksgiving and some camping

Katie and I were invited to a Thanksgiving potluck last night with a crowd of amazing U of Vic students. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly, and the food was a vegetarian feast fit for Gods. Great company, amazing food, and if that wasn't enough, some guitar sing alongs. Needless to say, we are extremely thankful for the amazing experiences we've had in Victoria.
Today is very sunny and warm, our bags are packed full of rice, lentils, noodles, dried fruit, tuna, and CHOCOLATE! We are setting out to the ferry to Salt spring island for some camping and hiking. Bags are heavy but our hearts are lighter than air and love is all around us!

Victoria!

We arrived in Victoria last night woo!
The ferry ride over from Vancouver was so so so spectacular! I had heard great things about it, but it exceeded my wildest dreams. The mountains in the horizon getting closer and closer, the cold wind, the boats going by, the moon above the water on one side of the horizon as the sun sets on the other... ah! I took about a zillion pictures.
We are staying with a friend of Katie's from high school in a really cute apartment really close to the University of Victoria campus and at about a 2 minute walk from a beach on the ocean!!!! Its beautiful here. They tell me it only gets to minus 5 Celcius at the most in the winter! There are bunnies everywhere on campus its so amazing! I got to pet a few of them today walking around.. lots of baby ones too. Its hard not to take them home with you!
We will be leaving to go hike and camp in a few days... so until then we are enjoying the beautiful city and the great people we are meeting!!

Vancouver!

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We are now in Vancouver! We spent the day yesterday walking around downtown and exploring Stanley Park. It was a beautiful day and what a beautiful city! Everyone we meet is very friendly, there are trees everywhere, and the ocean!
We walked 3 km around the park along the water and spent a few hours wandering in the wooded trails in the woods. The trees are so huge and beautiful... our jaws would fall open every three seconds at the sight of some natural wonder. Moss and tiny trees growing on a decaying trunk, twisted branches, gigantic trees swaying slowly in the wind... ahhhh! It smelled so wonderful and there was so much moisture in the air. Stunning.
After dinner we got to hang out with Orhan and went to a comedy show at a bar which was a good time! Now with breakfast in our bellies, we are taking on a brand new day!

on the road!

We are on the bus to Vancouver! Vernon was a lot of fun. Katies relatives were very lively and generous. The wedding was a lot of fun, lots of wine, shots of vodka, and I think its safe to say that Katie, her sister Julia and I were the life of the dancefloor. After the reception we went to a club with the groomsmen and the bridesmaids where there was somehow a VIP booth reserved for us in a balcony. Nice, but Katie and I spent our time on the dancefloor. Fantastic timEs until Katie lost her nose ring and a rogue shard of glass sliced a major gash in her ankle. I led her to the bathroom, cleaned it up, hunted down a manager for a band aid, and danced more. The next morning we went to the hospital and I held her hand while she got three stiches and received instructions from the doctor to take them out for her in 10 days. Yay Vernon! Haha all is well and we are travelling with her cousin Matt. 4 more hours until Vancouver!

Banff and the Rockies!

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We left Calgary last night, got on the Greyhound at 7pm headed for Banff.  Driving through the Rockies at sunset was pretty stunning.  The last rays of sun created a yellowish halo, cutting out the dark silhouettes of the mountains against the sky.  The dark and seemingly misty mountains stood like giants above us.  Not being able to make out any detail, only the outline and general shape of them added to their magic.  Small bodies of water could be seen glittering in the dark, with the occasional eeriness of a factory in the middle of nowhere...

Banff was amazing.  Everything is gorgeous, from the buildings, to the garbage cans, to the mountains surrounding us.  We stayed with Katie's friend, Liam, who picked us up from the station and brought us to a beer bingo game and a few pubs with his friends.  In the morning Katie and I set out to walk around and explore a bit, mystified by the morning light on the mountains all around us.  We walked along Bow River on small foot paths and took in all the beauty.  Its incredible how amazing our planet is.  The mountains were so so so glorious and the water was clear and cold.  The trees were dark green and a peculiar golden-yellow... it almost makes you feel helpless being surrounded by the grandiose beauty.  

Her family met us in Banff and we all packed into the van to drive to Vernon, for the wedding.  I spotted a bald eagle perched in a pine right outside of Banff, and was amazed at the series of bridges going over the highway to allow animals to cross safely.  Driving west towards British Columbia, we got a fantastic display of the sun-bathed mountains around us, until it started raining and the air got heavy with moisture and clouds were hanging low over the road, hugging the sides of the cliffs.  Glaciers, waterfalls, light blue and turquoise streams curling around the tall and aged trees..... spectacular.

Harper? Is that you?!

This is Katie and her sister Julia, on our way to get Chinese food walking by Stephen Harper's office? Hahaha

Calgary!

I landed in Calgary last night at 11:40 pm (1:40 pm montreal time) and Katie was there to pick me up with her mom's Prius (amazing!).  The Calgary airport had cowboy everything and anything which was wonderful. We loaded up the car with my humongous bag and drove around downtown Calgary.  I spotted quite a few guys wearing Flames jerseys (yeah Iginla!)

Katie's parents were super welcoming and her dog, Angie was very enthusiastic about making a new friend! 

Katie is currently making me delicious breakfast, so I will go help her out!

Its sunny and crisp outside, I think her dad just said it's supposed to be 16C and sunny.

I have coffee in an Egyptian cup coming my way....