Wednesday, September 27, 2006 

Home Sweet Home


Back in Sydney.... almost in tears when I looked at my boarding pass from LAX to SYD. Not cause of the shit seat, but because it is the end of the journey. I had a laugh at Vancouver airport where the Internet kiosk's blocked access to my blog!

A quick flight down to LAX, a few beers at Chilli's, then the 14.5 hour flight back to Australia. I did manage to get a few hours sleep (with the help of a few bottles of red) so the flight didn't feel too long.

So back in Oz. Mum picked my up from the airport and after a morning long battle with FedEx and Customs to get my laptop I had sent back from the states cleared, we finally got back to Mums apartment and a shower, cuppa, meat pie and the obligatory Mum's fridge raid!!

Sim arrived that evening so it was really good to see him again (even though I'm so buggered I can't help him with those "Scubar?" "Beer?" remarks he keeps dropping!)


The first weekend back in Oz and Shitty's wedding down in Wollongong, the AFL grand final (bloody West Coast won), then the NRL grand final (who cares). Even though i've had a few things on I'm missing all the places, people and experiences I've just seen, met and had. I'm also completely buggered. A few nanna naps and I should be back into full flight - good enough to attack my todo list (tax, bank, real life etc).

So this is the end of this blog. Stay tuned for the next adventure... as for now... Goodbye!!

Tuesday, September 26, 2006 

Where are my teef...?


Hockey. Canada's offical winter game.... and pretty close to the coolest game on earth!! It is a cross between the graceful tactics and passes of soccer and the raw agression and madness of Aussie Rules... all on ice, with sticks!!

I wasn't prepared to leave Canada without checking a game out and luckily last night was a pre-season game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Anneheim Ducks. Lots of hits, slams into the walls, a few mini-brawls, a few helmets being hit off and sicks breaking. Bloody awesome!!


The game finished at 3-3 at full time and after a frantic 5 minutes of sudden death overtime, shootouts were required. Each player takes the puck at the half-way mark and tries to beat the keeper. Well Vancouver won the shoot-out in the "sudden-death-shoot-out" phase! (Yep, I still don't know the rules but it is a cool game!)

So I leave for Vancouver this afternoon and arrive just in time to catch a Qantas jumbo back to Sydney! Sad.

Monday, September 25, 2006 

Back in Vancouver


Our last day in Banff and us boys decide to go check out Sulphur Mountain. After navigating the city-bus system we found ourselves at the foot of the mountain and a big sign saying "Gondala to summit, 23.50 + tax", then another saying "Hike to summit, 5.5km"....... so we started walking! A good hour-and-a-half later we emerged at the summit.... well, Swiss got there about 20 mins before Adam and I. Absolutely breathtaking views of Bannf and the surrounding mountains.

After a thousand or two photos, a quick debate on whether we should go check out a hike that was closed due to "a family of Grizzly's hanging around" and a plate of Poutine (Fries, Cheese and gravy) we got back to the downhill Gondola (one-way - 11.25 + tax), then exitted and walked back down the trail (5.5km... 700m change in elevation!) OUCH!


It turned out to be for the best though, I was so buggered that I slept the whole 13 hour Greyhound journey from Banff to Vancouver. Oh... maybe the run from the bus station back to the pub where I left my iPod had something to do with that tiredness!!

So "Here I am" back in Vancouver... too early for a bed at the HI and too early for any shops to be open. My last day in Canada so I am going to get to the top of Grouse Mountain, then go to an ice-hockey game! Then I start the journey back to Sydney :(

Sunday, September 24, 2006 

The Rockies!!


WOW! Thats about the best word to explain it. The scenery here is absolutely fantastic! There are heaps of these perfect turquoise lakes nestled amongst huge mountains and glaciers and forests. Absolutely spectacular!

After leaving Lake Shuswap we mosied (Moosied) our way across towards Banff... Another long day in the saddle, but stopping at the giant cedar's walk (lunch of a whole roast chicken) and the Visitor's centre where we watched a film titled "Bear & Man" a hilarious educational video teaching what to do if one encounters a bear. Tip: Raise your hands up and say "Woah bear!". We also spent a bit of time taking photo's of stuffed wildlife in case we didn't see much out in the wild.


Moving on we made a quick stop at Emerald Lake where Corey asked if I wanted to go for a swim. To which I replied, "Sure I'll jump in, only if you get me a towel...." thinking he wouldn't bother.... well roughly 20 seconds later a towel was procured and SPLASH! Paul jumped into a freezing cold lake!


We arrived to our accomodation, HI Banff and after a nice dinner, a trip downstairs to the pub. Pretty much all of the team rocked up and we spent the evening playing pool and fussball. Not much else to say there... Beer, peanuts (getting a home (well, bunk)-delivery of peanuts from Swiss at 3am), beer, vodka slimes, beer, pool, beer, vodka smiles, fussball, beer...


The next day we went from Banff to Jasper. An 8am start... I slept in a little cos I saw Denmark sleeping peacefully on the bunk across from me, after noticing it was 7:49am I jumped up and while rushing to get ready shook Denmark awake saying, we're gonna miss the bus. To which I got the reply - I don't need to wake up, I'm jumping off here in Banff! Oooops! The first stop was Lake Louise a beautiful lake with about 20 bus-loads of Japanese tourists. These tourists were very entertained by the sight of Adam and Myself stripping to our boxers and jumping in the 0 or 1C water! So entertained that one lady missed the photo-op so sent us back in the water so she could get a good photo! A quick dry-down and a large hot chocolate and back on the bus...


Continuing on the Icefields Parkway we stopped in at the Big Bend lookout, at Bo Lake - once again another swim for Adam and Paul, walked on the Columbia Glacier before making our way to the Athabasca Falls hostel. This hostel had no running water and not a lot else, but after a huge group dinner of taco's we started up a campfire and had a few drinks, told a few jokes (bag-boom-boom-boom-bang), sung a few songs (woh-oh-oh-camoflague) and learnt the secrets of forestry from Corey (when we went to gather water to douse the fire I turned to see him lying on the groung after slipping in the water - about 2 seconds after warning me that it is a bit slippery around here!)


The NEXT day (friday) Jasper-Banff - most awesome scenery day EVER! First stop the Athabasca Falls, a powerful and stunning waterfall then on to Goat Viewpoint (Mineral Lick)... which someone forgot to mention to the goats as there were none there! We did learn a goat call though, "gooooooat-goat-goat-goat-goat" and a Moose call "HEY MOOSE!!". After another short ride we took a long hike up Parkers Ridge to the peak which overlooks a massive valley and glacier. Absolutely stunning!! The hike took about an hour and took us up to about 2C temeratures (Once I reached the top I was officially wearing every single piece of clothing in my backpack!), also made the stupid decision to throw a few snowballs - and spent the next 10 minutes trying to feel my fingers again! The view was definately worth it!!


Next stop was Peyto Lake. The most impressive scenery EVER! We didn't think it could get much better than Parker Ridge but Peyto Lake just blew it away! Looking at the photos now it still looks unbelievable! It looks like I photo-shopped myself in. After Peyto we headed past Waterfowl lake and over to Moraine Lake for some equally good scenery and some wacky photo's. Then back to Banff for a group dinner at the Old Spaghetti House and a few drinks ($2 spirits) at the Pump & Tap (Hump & Slap) - a tearful farewell to our fellow Moosers, Meese?


Moose tour... very worth it. Corey our driver was a champion, knew everything about the mountains and animals etc and had a few good jokes on the way! Everyone threw their iPods on for the music, and a great group of people.

So I am now in Banff, I have a 13 hour bus ride overnight tonight back to Vancouver, hopefully watch an ice hockey game Sunday night, then home on monday!!


Wednesday, September 20, 2006 

Moosing on... or is that MOOTING!


So I survived a night in the Samesun, Vancouver... a rowdy little backpackers in the heart of Vancouver - actually across the road from the HI. We arrived back from Whistler around 6:30pm in time for our special.. "Mooter" passes... (after finishing up a Moose tour you get free Mooters (Moose shOOTERS) all night.....) trouble in a can.


So after a few of those and a few other beverages, we booked ourselves in for a few games of "circle of death". A few more beve's and we took a walk to find a bottle-o for some drinks. After hanging around the pizza-by-the-slice joint and watching some crazy pom with his yo-yo.... we started on the hunt for beer... the only tip... walk up Granville, take the first right, then the next left and you can't miss it......

..... to after following those instructions.... we walk into a gay bar, not so much a gay bar as "the gay bar from Police Academy!"..... with Miss Gay Vancouver 2006 on the stage doing her thang! Scary.... after being told that the bar can't serve alcohol after 11pm (... are you sure???...) yes, my supervisor is right there and the place is very ANAL about this thing..... we left the place in tears and continued to find a more accomodating place.... after trying to get into a strip joint with 25c.... we ended up back in the Samesun for a well-deserved night of sleep...


..... Until this morning.... the start of the "Rockies" part of the trip.... We left Vancouver early in the morning under the guidance of our new tour leader Corey, first stop, the lovely Moose office to pay our dues. Then out of the city to the Bridal Veil Falls, nice.. then on along the trans-canadian highway for a quick stop in Lytton (the hottest spot in Canada with a whopping 44.4C!!). After a long day of driving we made it to Lake Shuswap greeted by a quaint hostel with an even quainter pub next door. With a sign advertising Metallica on Oct 28 (which we found out later was a Metallica tribute band ("don't forget your costume")).


So Lake Shuswap tonight.... then on to Banff tomorrow.. As I write this... slightly 1516'd... We had a nice dinner at the pub, I lost 1-19 at pool, Adam and I jumped on the bikes about 1am to find the lake (for a swim) and couldn't find the thing.... and did our very best to make the Canadian people say "Fire-fighter!!". An inside joke with us boys, apparantly to Adam, the hottest word a Canadian girl can say is "Firefighter" so we made a game of it to try and get the bar girls to say firefighter without us directly asking. (Funny when a question like, "What do you think the top 5 dangerous jobs are?" gets an answer of "Crab Fisherman!")

Tuesday, September 19, 2006 

Whistler



The first leg of the Moose tour was from Vancouver to Whistler and back.... I managed to get myself out of bed and onto Bob the Bus at 8:25am and on the highway up to Whistler. We sped up the highway passing many beautiful waterfalls, mountains, forests etc and made our way up to the "Alta Vista Chalet"... a little house about 10minutes walk from Whistler. Our first afternoon was spent walking into town and checking out the local charm and beauty of the place... AMAZING... a few brews at the local pub and back to the chalet for the group dinner and a few drinks....


.... so my job for the group dinner had something to do with the BBQ's and cooking chicken..... after almost losing all my body hair to the lighting of the BBQ I took a supervisory role and just drunk beer while watching the actual chicken cook happen. Dinner ended up pretty good with no reported cases of Salmonela.


After dinner there was a word on the street of a hot tub in the hostel.... so all the boys ended up in the hot tub all night..... 2C outside and we all were in the hut-tub admiring the stars, drinking beer and swapping stories.... until some stupid idiot said "Wouldn't it be fun if we all ran down to the lake and jumped in???"..... so five minutes later we were running down to the lake and jumping in!!! from 40-odd celcius to 0-odd celcius and back again!!! If the Salmonella didn't get us... the flu was a good chance!!! Somehow we all survived!


Tuesday we went into town and took a short gondola ride up to the top of Whistler mountain... short = long.. 30 minutes on the chairlift!!! We decided to take a few of the "medium" difficulty hikes around the mountain... unfortunately... Kiwi was guiding us and we ended up on a non-marked, double black trail that put us on the edge of a cliff facing the summit of Whistler.. absolutely breathtaking view... a few photos later and after the planting of the Australian flag (a 2 x 1 inch aussie flag patch taped onto a stick) we moved down the mountain, back to the bus and back to Vancouver!

Monday, September 18, 2006 

CFL - Crappy Football League?!?!


I was lucky enough to be in Vancouver for a BC Lions game. Canadian Football! I was hoping that the game would be a little more fast-paced than the American version... it wasn't! It was exactly the same thing! I had a great view and enjoyed the four or five seconds of action between the 20 or 30 seconds of substitutions, chatting, penalty-flag-discussing etc.

I started the evening down at the stadium where the pub across the road had a "tailgate" party. Budweiser was flowing... and I was pleased to see that in Canada, unlike that sissy country of USA, it wasn't Bud Light that was flowing!


The Lions won which was cool and there were a few good hits and sacks.. and plenty of dances after said hits and sacks! Everything I expect in gridiron so it was a fun night! The guy sitting next to me was fully into the game though. I laughed cos his commentary and yells usually went for longer than the actual play! :)

Sunday, September 17, 2006 

Vancouver... eh?



So I arrived safely and easily in Vancouver. A long, crappy AA flight from Chicago to LAX, then after three hours is the crappiest airport terminal on earth (T2 LAX) I got on a short, fun Air Canada flight to Vancouver - really cool personal entertainment system. I arrived late in the evening, and buzzed through customs and immigration (same questions as the UK, How much money do you have? How long have you been travelling? How did you afford that? etc. etc.). Now the cool thing I did was that because the terminal was semi-packed, I said "yes" to the question about "Have you been on a farm in the last 14 days?" - I had been on the corn farm in Illinois. There was a really long line for the "green/nothing to declare line" so I jumped in the empty red line, showed my shoes and breezed out in 2 minutes flat! Hahaha.. suckers!

Expecting a freezing cold Canada welcome I was appropriately attired in thongs, shorts and a t-shirt. I stepped outside the airport terminal and... it was actually pretty nice. I think around 15-20C so I was a little relieved (I have NO warm clothes! The only thing I have is a pair of wet shoes and the long sleeve t-shirt I bought in Amsterdam - best 20E spent ever!!). I aim to find a cheap fleece, jacket or jumper today as I stroll around the city.

So no real plans for today, going to look around and check out the city, maybe go to a football game tonight but we will see. I am staying right in the centre of everything... in a place that reminds me of the Sydney YHA; a nice clean hostel, then a pub underneath - I need to check it out and see if it resembles Scubar at all!!


One more thing, go the Dockers! I got up really early this morning to watch the game on www.afl.com.au! Yay!

Saturday, September 16, 2006 

On the road again...

Well the American leg of the journey is almost at an end. Friday I board a flight to Vancouver to spend a week in western Canada before flying back to Sydney. I am just about to walk down to the FedEx shop and post my laptop and other goodies back to Australia so I may be a little slow to respond to emails and to update my blog over the next week. Or at the best, I won't be able to post photos.

I am going to retain my US number while i'm in Canada so I don't know 100% how that is going to work roaming and the costs etc, so again, if I don't respond to the "Hell yeah!! Freo just kicked Melbournes butt!" texts.. it is probably because the Canadian's won't let a US cell phone on their soil.

A very quiet week here in Chicago, it has rained and stormed all week so I haven't been able to do a few things on my to-do list... there is always next time though. So I hope you are all happy and healthy, Sydney people I will see you in a week or so!

Friday, September 15, 2006 

I'm lost....!


My last day in the USA and luckily the crappy rainy Chicago weather clears up. Unable to fit my entire remaining list of things to do in the one day, we settled on visiting the Richardson Corn Maze (would that just be a Maize?). Located about an hour-and-a-half out of Chicago. I made up a picnic for Julia and I and we hopped into the XTerra to check the place out.


The place was crazy! 28.5 Acres of corn fields with a maze cut into it! A total of 10.7 miles of track.... the small text said that you won't walk the entire 10.7 miles, but due to a few missed turns, especially after dark we may have walked 13-14 miles! :> Starting around 5:30pm I tried my luck in the Kiddie maze (200-300m long, cut into a soy-plant field - about a foot tall). I made way out of there around 6pm ready for the big one!


The aim is to collect 24 markers scattered around the maze. Starting under the rapidly descending sun at 6pm we started with a bang.. finishing the glove maze in good time, then moving on to the Sox maze. After *several* wrong turns we finally made it back to the farmhouse to purchase glow sticks to assist with the visibility (pitch black!). Next stop the Ivy maze... a very complicated part of the maze, every turn looked the same! After eventually finding our way through that - Paul luck played a major role.... Paul - "OK, Left, Left, straight, right, right, left and it should be right here!.... Bingo!".... Julia - "How the hell did you find that?!?"


So onwards onto the Cubs section which even though it was very dark, was pretty straightforward. Except for the bit between the A in 'ball' and the baseball - no idea! We emerged out of the cornfield about 9:30pm! A really fun day!

Next stop home and my final farewell to Chicago.... Chicago-style-stuffed-pizza!!! Mmmm.. Ambrosia... Ham and Pineapple stuffed pizza! Fan-bloody-tastic!!!

Monday, September 11, 2006 

Homesick

After four-and-a-bit months of travelling I've been getting more and more homesick... missing the family, missing the Australian accent, missing being understood!! (these yanks can NOT understand my accent!), missing Aussie Rules, missing cricket, missing the food, missing real beer.... Now I have about two weeks left of the journey, one week in the US and one in Canada until I'm back in Sydney.


So this weekend in an effort to cure myself I made meat pies and headed down to the Globe Pub in Chicago to watch the Dockers play Adelaide in their second final ever! The day started with a trip to treasure island to pick up some meat and stuff, then back to the kitchen to put it all together! The result was a very yummy meat pie!... of which I ate two and was extremely full and satisfied and ready to hit the pub to watch the Dockers!


We made it to the pub about 11pm before the game started live at midnight. This pub was also the home pub for the Chicago Aussie Rules team. The team had played a game that arvo so there were still a bunch of Aussies and Aussie-Rules-playing seppo's in the back room. I had a chat to the coach and one of the players who gave me a few tips about getting a work visa (just hang around the country for a while, work for cash and eventually someone will give you a job - oh and don't worry too much about that 90-day thing) and asked if I wanted to play a game down in Nashville on the weekend! :)

Unfortunately the pub closed at 2am (end of the third quarter) with the Dockers up by four points! We rushed home to catch the last of the game on www.afl.com.au... unfortunately again, the Dockers failed to score into the wind and were overrun by the Crows and now face Melbourne in the Semi's. Still plenty of chance to make the GF! Go the Dockers!!!!


After a massive weekend (I want a quiet/relaxing weekend, but that didn't happen - went to a German-American festival on Saturday night, beer steins, bratwurst and leiderhosen) I am definately looking for a more quiet week before Canada (although it is my last week in the states so I do need to cross off the last of my to-do list).


PS - I added some photos to some of my earlier posts too.

Sunday, September 10, 2006 

Happy Birthday Dad!

It's my Dad's birthday today!


Happy Birthday Dad!!

Saturday, September 09, 2006 

Aussie Tragedies!

What a sad and tragic week for Australian's!


First over the weekend, Steve Irwin. The Crocodile Hunter. A massive loss to the worldwide conservation of animals, a massive loss to Australia - we have lost a great icon of our country. America is in mourning also, he was such a hero to everyone here.


Then this morning, Peter Brock was killed while racing in a Targa rally. Once again a hero to many in Australia!

So RIP Steve and Brockie!

Tuesday, September 05, 2006 

The Farm

A majority of the US Labour Day weekend was spent down at Kevin Brown's farm. This 127 acre oasis is about 30 mins from the lake and is pretty close to the greatest resort in the Northern Hemisphere. Beautiful countryside, a fantastic pool and hot-tub, a very well stocked liquor cabinet!! Awesome! Most of the weekend was spent hanging in the pool drinking Bud Select, Sugar-free margharita's and random shots. So relaxing....


.... then when everyone got bored, we headed down to the lake and did a spot of toobin' - flying behind the boat on an inflatable boat. Fun! The lake is beautiful in the summer, last I was down it was winter and freezing cold, no leaves on half of the trees. This time it was nice and warm, green, sun up till 6 or 7pm. So we parked the boat down at "Buck's Dock" a tiny little jetty in one of the inlets in the lake and grabbed a burger. So cute to be zooming around the lake, then just pull in to a jetty and grab some food.


We also spent a bit of time hooning around the farm on the 4-wheeler's - a lot of fun. These things can drive over anything! (and pretty much drive INTO anything as I found out). There is a little track cut into a section of the farm and I had a bit of trouble staying on the path... and staying away from tree's... and rocks... As a test to the water and shock-proofness of my Olympus 720sw digital camera, the best digi-camera on earth (If anyone at Olympus is reading this, for that free plug, can you send me a few batteries to overcome the crappy battery life on the thing!?) we gaffer taped it to the front of the 4-wheelers and zoomed around the track. Got some great movies - i'll try upload them but they are pretty large! FYI - the camera came out unscathed even though it got driven through a few puddles, whacked by tree branches and covered in dust! (again, Olympus.... you know where to send the goodies!!)

Sunday, September 03, 2006 

Boobs!


Alrighty! Labour Day weekend in the USA. The finishing post for Summer and the beginning of Fall/Autumn. Also the last weekend for hardcore partying at "Party Cove" at the Lake of the Ozarks! The Lake is about 3 hours south of St Louis, it is a huge in-land lake (well, you can't get much in-land than Missouri!) and "Party Cove" is a little inlet where everyone drives in, ties their boats together and well.. Parties!


Everyone gets stuck into beers and other drinks - drunk normal, shotgun'ed and beer bong'ed, lots of water around to play in (not the best activity due to the fact its also the bin and the dunny!), everyone playing different music on their boat.. oh... and did I say the girls flashing their boobs!?!?!



So all the boats are tied up in rows (a couple of hundred metres long) and other boats will drive up between the rows and the girls will flash... pretty girls, fat girls, old girls, nasty girls... the place has everything!! There was even a "Hooter Meter" which is the US equivalent to our "RBT - Random Breast Test" where a dude will hold a board up with various sized holes in it and the girls put their boobs through to see how big their boobs are.... These Americans are crazy!!!


Anyway. That was Saturday... a relaxing day on the water... drinking beer.. listening to crappy hip-hop... looking at boobs!