Monday, August 10, 2009
Smile like you mean it
Watching somebody do something they have an absolute passion for is truly inspiring. We had the chance at the Elephant Nature Park in Northern Thailand. Her name is Lek Chailert, her cause is great and her commitment even greater; Save the Elephants.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
All around me are familiar faces
Surprise, surprise…my blogging has been less than steady over the past few weeks and I once again find myself behind. For this one I am going to take a piece of advice from Nicole and keep it short and sweet and share the rest with you when I am home in a couple weeks.
Let me start by saying that I love Cambodia, and here are five reasons why:
1. I am a Winnipegger, hence I am cheap. Thankfully Cambodia is one of the cheapest countries we’ve visited and anytime you can buy a pint of beer for 50 cents you know you are in a good place.
See you in Northern Thailand,
kc
Let me start by saying that I love Cambodia, and here are five reasons why:
1. I am a Winnipegger, hence I am cheap. Thankfully Cambodia is one of the cheapest countries we’ve visited and anytime you can buy a pint of beer for 50 cents you know you are in a good place.
2. The natural beauty of Cambodia is sensational. The parts we visited were very prairie-like but instead of wheat fields there were rice fields which were incredible. I think I have actually gained a true appreciation for “flat” ever since I’ve left home.
3. I love food. Cambodian or Khmer food is some of the best we’ve eaten. Without a doubt the week in Cambodia was far and away our most well fed yet. The best part of it all is that the cheaper and grittier the place, the better the food! We got the chance to meet up with Robin and Sara again and we found a great little local hole that fed us like Kings for under 4 bucks each.
4. The Temples of Angkor are completely and utterly awe-inspiring. I knew little to nothing about them before visiting Cambodia but I now believe that they are one of the true wonders of the world and a pure spectacle of engineering and beauty. 
5. I love an underdog, and to me Cambodia is as much an underdog country that is out there. After being absolutely decimated in the late 1970’s by a genocide suffered at the hands of the Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot regime, the country although still struggling has bounced back in a big way. Two million people, nearly one third of Cambodia’s population suffered tragic deaths at the hands of the regime but yet thirty years post tragedy the country is in great spirits. Choosing to move on, instead of dwell on the past Cambodians are a very welcoming and high spirited group of people who seem genuinely excited to have you as a visitor in their country and it really is no wonder…it’s a fascinating place. See you in Northern Thailand,
kc
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Gonna rise up, find my direction magnetically
Hello from Cambodia! Mitch and I arrived a few days ago after getting up at 3:00 am to make it to the airport on time. Needless to say, a bit tired.
We have just finished 9 days in Malaysia which were incredible to say the least. 7 of those days were spent in the state of Sabah which is on the island of Borneo. We arrived in Kota Kinabalu (a major hub in Sabah) from Singapore and hit the ground running. We spent the first little while figuring out exactly what we would be doing over the next week while still trying to enjoy KK. Our first day in town was spent at the Tunku Abdul Rahman national park, which is a collection of islands off of the coast of KK. We did some snorkeling and exploring of the island which was a great ice breaker to the country.
Mitch and I mapped out our plans for the next week and actually decided to rent a car to see what we wanted to see. We are both into doing things cost efficiently and this was the best option for us to see what we wanted to see at an affordable price. Looking back we went into it a bit naïve having no idea what the roads or the traffic would be like, throw on top of that the fact they drive on the opposite side of the road, something Mitch has never experienced and it was a bit daunting. Everything worked out great though!
We read about this place called Danum Valley which is home rhinos, elephants and heaps of other jungle animals. We decided that is where we wanted to spend the majority of our time hiking and thrashing through the rainforest. Danum Valley is accessible through the town of Lahad Datu so that was our first stop. We arrived in LD just before the tour companies were closing only to find out that the park was WAY out of our price range. They wanted something like USD$300 for a 2 day 1 night trip and we definitely couldn’t afford that. The agent (who was incredibly helpful) suggested we head to Tawau Hills National Park where we would be able to do some hiking. We spent the night in Lahad Datu which we now refer to as the ghetto of Borneo and made our way to Tawau the next morning.
After asking about every local in the Tawau area how to get there, and getting lost for about 2.5 hours we finally arrived at the park to find out that not only were we the only people spending the night, but we were also the only people IN the national park. We dropped our stuff and headed out on our first hike to a water fall that was about 5.2km round trip. Arriving at the waterfall was one of the most surreal moments of my life, and probably the best moment I have had since leaving Canada in January. I can’t explain it but it was absolutely breathtaking. After having set back after set back and refusing to pay ridiculous prices to see the rainforest I felt like we were truly being rewarded for our persistence to see things our way, and in a way that few will ever get to see.
The following day we headed out for another day of hiking after one of the loudest thunderstorms I have ever heard overnight. The ground was soaked and the leeches were out in full form! We were advised to wear leach socks which are essentially knee high socks made out of canvas. Today we were heading to the hot springs, which required us to cross a couple of rivers which was a lot of fun. The fun sort of stopped when the leech reality set in, they were everywhere. I think between Mitch and I we probably had about 40 or so leeches on every part of our body throughout the course of the day and that number would probably be tripled if it weren’t for the socks. Not an ideal situation but we made the most out of it. The sulphuric hot springs were great and river rapids beside them made for a great massage!
The next day we headed to Sandakan and more specifically the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. We were very lucky and the apes decided to treat us to a pre-feeding show, posing for pictures along with a dozen or so other monkeys. It was an amazing experience and very cool to see. We also made a stop at a crocodile farm which was also quite the experience, unfortunately not for the same reasons. There were probably over 50 crocs there and we saw a croc show which included a guy dancing with a live croc on his back.
We spent the night in Sandakan and headed back to KK the next day. On the way back we stopped at Kinabalu National Park which is home to Mount Kinabalu. The park was beautiful and we did some hiking around the park before heading back into town.
We returned our car and headed by plane to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital.
Kuala Lumpur was a lot like Singapore with a lot more grime. In this particular case grime is a good thing, because Singapore is eerily sterile. We checked out the some of the sights of KL including Little India, Chinatown markets, Merdeka Square and of course the Petronas Twin Towers (which stand as the nicest building(s) I have ever seen, especially when they are lit up at night. On our last night in KL we went to see Manchester United play Malaysia and the national stadium which seats 100,000 people. They had played a game in KL a few days later and were supposed to head to Indonesia for their next game, however due to a terrorist attack in Jakarta the team pulled out and decided to do another game in KL. Mitch nor I are soccer fans in the slightest but it was still incredible to see one of the world’s best teams in action and the passion and enthusiasm the Malays showed towards them.
Our time in Malaysia far exceeded my expectations. There is something about being alone in the rainforest with one of your best friends that is extremely invigorating. We wanted to take the “off the beaten track” approach to travel in Borneo and we definitely experienced it on our own terms. I know this post is long but it just scratches the surface on our time in Borneo, we had an absolute blast and there are plenty more stories that I can’t wait to share.
Cambodia is up to bat, I can’t wait.
Until next time,
kc
We have just finished 9 days in Malaysia which were incredible to say the least. 7 of those days were spent in the state of Sabah which is on the island of Borneo. We arrived in Kota Kinabalu (a major hub in Sabah) from Singapore and hit the ground running. We spent the first little while figuring out exactly what we would be doing over the next week while still trying to enjoy KK. Our first day in town was spent at the Tunku Abdul Rahman national park, which is a collection of islands off of the coast of KK. We did some snorkeling and exploring of the island which was a great ice breaker to the country.
Mitch and I mapped out our plans for the next week and actually decided to rent a car to see what we wanted to see. We are both into doing things cost efficiently and this was the best option for us to see what we wanted to see at an affordable price. Looking back we went into it a bit naïve having no idea what the roads or the traffic would be like, throw on top of that the fact they drive on the opposite side of the road, something Mitch has never experienced and it was a bit daunting. Everything worked out great though!We read about this place called Danum Valley which is home rhinos, elephants and heaps of other jungle animals. We decided that is where we wanted to spend the majority of our time hiking and thrashing through the rainforest. Danum Valley is accessible through the town of Lahad Datu so that was our first stop. We arrived in LD just before the tour companies were closing only to find out that the park was WAY out of our price range. They wanted something like USD$300 for a 2 day 1 night trip and we definitely couldn’t afford that. The agent (who was incredibly helpful) suggested we head to Tawau Hills National Park where we would be able to do some hiking. We spent the night in Lahad Datu which we now refer to as the ghetto of Borneo and made our way to Tawau the next morning.
After asking about every local in the Tawau area how to get there, and getting lost for about 2.5 hours we finally arrived at the park to find out that not only were we the only people spending the night, but we were also the only people IN the national park. We dropped our stuff and headed out on our first hike to a water fall that was about 5.2km round trip. Arriving at the waterfall was one of the most surreal moments of my life, and probably the best moment I have had since leaving Canada in January. I can’t explain it but it was absolutely breathtaking. After having set back after set back and refusing to pay ridiculous prices to see the rainforest I felt like we were truly being rewarded for our persistence to see things our way, and in a way that few will ever get to see.
The following day we headed out for another day of hiking after one of the loudest thunderstorms I have ever heard overnight. The ground was soaked and the leeches were out in full form! We were advised to wear leach socks which are essentially knee high socks made out of canvas. Today we were heading to the hot springs, which required us to cross a couple of rivers which was a lot of fun. The fun sort of stopped when the leech reality set in, they were everywhere. I think between Mitch and I we probably had about 40 or so leeches on every part of our body throughout the course of the day and that number would probably be tripled if it weren’t for the socks. Not an ideal situation but we made the most out of it. The sulphuric hot springs were great and river rapids beside them made for a great massage!
The next day we headed to Sandakan and more specifically the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. We were very lucky and the apes decided to treat us to a pre-feeding show, posing for pictures along with a dozen or so other monkeys. It was an amazing experience and very cool to see. We also made a stop at a crocodile farm which was also quite the experience, unfortunately not for the same reasons. There were probably over 50 crocs there and we saw a croc show which included a guy dancing with a live croc on his back.
We spent the night in Sandakan and headed back to KK the next day. On the way back we stopped at Kinabalu National Park which is home to Mount Kinabalu. The park was beautiful and we did some hiking around the park before heading back into town.
We returned our car and headed by plane to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital.
Kuala Lumpur was a lot like Singapore with a lot more grime. In this particular case grime is a good thing, because Singapore is eerily sterile. We checked out the some of the sights of KL including Little India, Chinatown markets, Merdeka Square and of course the Petronas Twin Towers (which stand as the nicest building(s) I have ever seen, especially when they are lit up at night. On our last night in KL we went to see Manchester United play Malaysia and the national stadium which seats 100,000 people. They had played a game in KL a few days later and were supposed to head to Indonesia for their next game, however due to a terrorist attack in Jakarta the team pulled out and decided to do another game in KL. Mitch nor I are soccer fans in the slightest but it was still incredible to see one of the world’s best teams in action and the passion and enthusiasm the Malays showed towards them.
Our time in Malaysia far exceeded my expectations. There is something about being alone in the rainforest with one of your best friends that is extremely invigorating. We wanted to take the “off the beaten track” approach to travel in Borneo and we definitely experienced it on our own terms. I know this post is long but it just scratches the surface on our time in Borneo, we had an absolute blast and there are plenty more stories that I can’t wait to share.
Cambodia is up to bat, I can’t wait.
Until next time,
kc
Monday, July 13, 2009
I want to break free
Hello dear readers! My apologies for my mysterious disappearance over the last few weeks. I would formally like to blame the Chinese government who have deemed Blogspot unworthy to view by the “People’s” Republic. A true democracy isn’t it?!
Where to begin?...How about China seeing as though that is where I have been hiding the past little while. For those of you who have dreamt up China as a polluted, overcrowded mess of peace signs, you actually aren’t that far off the mark. While it may be bursting with western world stereotypes I almost instantaneously fell in love with the complete and utter chaos that is China. Simply put the country is amazing. There is never a dull moment while the sights and sounds provide for a truly unique and amazing experience.
My time in China began in Beijing after a connection (and breakfast with Eamon) in Hong Kong from Sydney. I was a bit apprehensive about leaving the airport via subway however the system was extremely easy to navigate (thanks in part to the 2008 Olympics I’m sure) and I was able to find my hostel which was located near Tiananmen Square nestled in between an ever changing construction site.
I spent the first full day in Beijing checking out Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen had an extremely powerful feeling however you can’t help but feel that “big brother” is watching you constantly. The Forbidden City was also quite spectacular and extremely massive. It originally housed the Chinese emperor but is now open to the public.
My second day was out at the Great Wall. The hostel I stayed at ran a secret wall tour where we were taken 2.5 hours outside of Beijing to climb a largely untouched, and original part of the wall. We met this old Chinese woman who was very yoda-like and probably in her early 70’s who led us up the mountain and through the wall, all with her cane! It was quite hilarious but absolutely beautiful. There was not another tourist in sight, aside from our group and the wall wrapped around the mountains for as far as the eye could see. You really appreciate what a fascinating feat of engineering and sheer will power the wall is after taking this trek…unlike anything I have ever seen or experienced.
In the first few days in Beijing I got out to the Olympic park where the birds nest was lit up in all its glory at night. It is even more fantastic in real life and the water cube was equally as cool. I was lucky to meet a Swedish brother and sister (Robin and Sara) who I travelled with up until Xi’an. We had some great times at the Beijing Zoo (for the sake of animals everywhere…NEVER go here), Summer Palace, Mao’s grave, silk markets, Temple of Heaven among many, many others. Travelling with these two was an absolute riot and they basically sold me on Sweden being the greatest country on earth (Ikea, H&M, WESC and Volvo...what more can you want? Oh yeah…and ABBA haha). Ray, a friend of Robin’s from Beijing and took us out for a night on the town including some shopping and great Tibetan food.
We travelled together on the “hard seat” to Xi’an which according to Ray is only for the poor and students. Lucky for me I am both of those and it was actually a lot of fun. Nobody spoke a word of English but we still managed to have a lot of fun with (some at the expense of) the people around us.
Beijing got an A++ in my books and is an absolute must for anyone.
We arrived in Xi’an which is famous for the Terracotta Army, and instantly melted. Up until this point the thermometer had yet to dip below 34 degrees. Xi’an was a cool city with a great Muslim district and city wall. We headed to the Terracotta Army the second day and we were all slightly disappointed. They have somehow managed to turn a potentially amazing place into a disaster of a tourist trap. It was far less impressive than what our expectations held but still neat to see. The day got better though when we returned to the city and rented bikes and drove along the city wall which runs 13km. Xi’an was a fun little town (5,000,000 is little by Chinese standards) and far less hectic than Beijing.
Xi’an gets an A-.
The dynamic duo and I went our separate ways from Xi’an. I headed to Guilin and the Swedes were off to Chonqing. I arrived in Guilin late at night and planned for the next day. Guilin is famous for the Li river which is full of mountainous limestone peaks. The following day I took a boat cruise on a bamboo boat down to the town of Yangshuo with two Germans. Yangshuo, like Guilin is very touristy and but still beautiful. We rented bikes and a guide took us out to Moon Hill and then through an extremely scenic trip through some small villages. The second part of the bike trip may have been the most beautiful landscape I have ever experienced. I tried to take hundreds of pictures to try and capture it but none even come close to doing it justice. It was just phenomenal and a great day on the whole. I somehow managed to get pretty sick from something I ate the next day so aside from checking out a few sites in the town I just relaxed and caught up on some sleep. Up until this point it had been complete and utter nonstop go go go and it was nice to catch my breath for a bit before I headed to Singapore.
Guilin gets a B-
Yangshuo the town a C+
The Li river an A+
and the area surrounding Yangshuo an A++++.
From Guilin I flew to Guangzhou and spent the night in the un air conditioned pitch black airport. It was fairly new so that was nice but a tad uncomfortable. I flew from Guangzhou to Singapore on the 11th where Mitch met me at the airport. I can’t tell you how nice it was to see him. We have been planning this for what seems like forever and I don’t think either of us could wipe the smile off our faces for the first little while.
Singapore was a bit of a disappointment, but on the other hand I had no expectations. It is for all purposes a giant shopping complex that lacks any real substance, aside from a few corners of town. Nice place to meet up though.
We are now in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia also known as Borneo. Tomorrow we are heading into the jungle for a couple of days and Mitch and I have already started to think of a plan of attack should we encounter any Rhino’s which apparently is a possibility in the part we will be trekking. We have opted to do it tourless and guideless so it should be a real off the beaten track type approach. More on Borneo next week.
Again, my apologies for not writing this sooner. Spread the news that I am back in business and will be writing at least once a week until I get home. For the record China is a can’t miss country…the only problem is that it’s so massive that you can’t help but miss things. I will be back again though…maybe sooner rather than later actually, but time will tell. There is so much that I didn't include in this post that I can't wait to share with all of you. My time in the Mao-velous country was only enhanced by travelling with two incredible people, so a big thank you to Robin and Sara…I’ll see you soon.
Also if you get bored of me, Mitch is here as well http://mbushuk.blogspot.com/. Read his blog…it will likely include bigger words and cohesive sentences! p.s. comment the hell out of it!
Talk to you soon.
kc
Where to begin?...How about China seeing as though that is where I have been hiding the past little while. For those of you who have dreamt up China as a polluted, overcrowded mess of peace signs, you actually aren’t that far off the mark. While it may be bursting with western world stereotypes I almost instantaneously fell in love with the complete and utter chaos that is China. Simply put the country is amazing. There is never a dull moment while the sights and sounds provide for a truly unique and amazing experience.
My time in China began in Beijing after a connection (and breakfast with Eamon) in Hong Kong from Sydney. I was a bit apprehensive about leaving the airport via subway however the system was extremely easy to navigate (thanks in part to the 2008 Olympics I’m sure) and I was able to find my hostel which was located near Tiananmen Square nestled in between an ever changing construction site.
I spent the first full day in Beijing checking out Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen had an extremely powerful feeling however you can’t help but feel that “big brother” is watching you constantly. The Forbidden City was also quite spectacular and extremely massive. It originally housed the Chinese emperor but is now open to the public.
My second day was out at the Great Wall. The hostel I stayed at ran a secret wall tour where we were taken 2.5 hours outside of Beijing to climb a largely untouched, and original part of the wall. We met this old Chinese woman who was very yoda-like and probably in her early 70’s who led us up the mountain and through the wall, all with her cane! It was quite hilarious but absolutely beautiful. There was not another tourist in sight, aside from our group and the wall wrapped around the mountains for as far as the eye could see. You really appreciate what a fascinating feat of engineering and sheer will power the wall is after taking this trek…unlike anything I have ever seen or experienced.
In the first few days in Beijing I got out to the Olympic park where the birds nest was lit up in all its glory at night. It is even more fantastic in real life and the water cube was equally as cool. I was lucky to meet a Swedish brother and sister (Robin and Sara) who I travelled with up until Xi’an. We had some great times at the Beijing Zoo (for the sake of animals everywhere…NEVER go here), Summer Palace, Mao’s grave, silk markets, Temple of Heaven among many, many others. Travelling with these two was an absolute riot and they basically sold me on Sweden being the greatest country on earth (Ikea, H&M, WESC and Volvo...what more can you want? Oh yeah…and ABBA haha). Ray, a friend of Robin’s from Beijing and took us out for a night on the town including some shopping and great Tibetan food.
We travelled together on the “hard seat” to Xi’an which according to Ray is only for the poor and students. Lucky for me I am both of those and it was actually a lot of fun. Nobody spoke a word of English but we still managed to have a lot of fun with (some at the expense of) the people around us.
Beijing got an A++ in my books and is an absolute must for anyone.
We arrived in Xi’an which is famous for the Terracotta Army, and instantly melted. Up until this point the thermometer had yet to dip below 34 degrees. Xi’an was a cool city with a great Muslim district and city wall. We headed to the Terracotta Army the second day and we were all slightly disappointed. They have somehow managed to turn a potentially amazing place into a disaster of a tourist trap. It was far less impressive than what our expectations held but still neat to see. The day got better though when we returned to the city and rented bikes and drove along the city wall which runs 13km. Xi’an was a fun little town (5,000,000 is little by Chinese standards) and far less hectic than Beijing.
Xi’an gets an A-.
The dynamic duo and I went our separate ways from Xi’an. I headed to Guilin and the Swedes were off to Chonqing. I arrived in Guilin late at night and planned for the next day. Guilin is famous for the Li river which is full of mountainous limestone peaks. The following day I took a boat cruise on a bamboo boat down to the town of Yangshuo with two Germans. Yangshuo, like Guilin is very touristy and but still beautiful. We rented bikes and a guide took us out to Moon Hill and then through an extremely scenic trip through some small villages. The second part of the bike trip may have been the most beautiful landscape I have ever experienced. I tried to take hundreds of pictures to try and capture it but none even come close to doing it justice. It was just phenomenal and a great day on the whole. I somehow managed to get pretty sick from something I ate the next day so aside from checking out a few sites in the town I just relaxed and caught up on some sleep. Up until this point it had been complete and utter nonstop go go go and it was nice to catch my breath for a bit before I headed to Singapore.
Guilin gets a B-
Yangshuo the town a C+
The Li river an A+
and the area surrounding Yangshuo an A++++.
From Guilin I flew to Guangzhou and spent the night in the un air conditioned pitch black airport. It was fairly new so that was nice but a tad uncomfortable. I flew from Guangzhou to Singapore on the 11th where Mitch met me at the airport. I can’t tell you how nice it was to see him. We have been planning this for what seems like forever and I don’t think either of us could wipe the smile off our faces for the first little while.
Singapore was a bit of a disappointment, but on the other hand I had no expectations. It is for all purposes a giant shopping complex that lacks any real substance, aside from a few corners of town. Nice place to meet up though.
We are now in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia also known as Borneo. Tomorrow we are heading into the jungle for a couple of days and Mitch and I have already started to think of a plan of attack should we encounter any Rhino’s which apparently is a possibility in the part we will be trekking. We have opted to do it tourless and guideless so it should be a real off the beaten track type approach. More on Borneo next week.
Again, my apologies for not writing this sooner. Spread the news that I am back in business and will be writing at least once a week until I get home. For the record China is a can’t miss country…the only problem is that it’s so massive that you can’t help but miss things. I will be back again though…maybe sooner rather than later actually, but time will tell. There is so much that I didn't include in this post that I can't wait to share with all of you. My time in the Mao-velous country was only enhanced by travelling with two incredible people, so a big thank you to Robin and Sara…I’ll see you soon.
Also if you get bored of me, Mitch is here as well http://mbushuk.blogspot.com/. Read his blog…it will likely include bigger words and cohesive sentences! p.s. comment the hell out of it!
Talk to you soon.
kc
Friday, June 19, 2009
Let's do this
Well my final exam has come and gone, as has the my final month. Seven days and counting until I leave this amazing country and the feeling is definitely bittersweet. I am excited to travel, but not so excited to leave all of the amazing people I have met.
My laptop is catching a flight to Toronto in an hour so I just want to update all of you as to my whereabouts the next 9 weeks.
I will be spending 4 days of my final week in Australia up in Byron Bay with some friends. We rented a beach house and are planning on just relaxing have having one last hurrah before we all have to go our separate ways. When I get back to Sydney on Wednesday I will be going with a bunch of friends to the State of Origin Rugby game which is essentially the best players from Queensland and New South Wales duking it in a three game series...this is game two so it should be a lot of fun.
As per my earlier post (right below this one) I am heading to China for two weeks before meeting up with Mitch in Singapore. Below are Mitch and I's plans for seeing South East Asia.
1. We will travel from Singapore to Borneo (Malaysian part) and spend a week checking out the Orangutans, rain forests and hopefully some of the best scuba diving in the world
2. From Kota Kinabalu we will fly to Kuala Lumpur and spend a couple of days there.
3, 4. From KL we will travel to Siem Reap, Cambodia where we will see the temples of Angkor Wat and make our way by bus down to Phnom Penh.
5 , 6. From Phnom Penh we will travel via Bangkok to Chiang Mai and spend a chunk of time up there seeing Northern Thailand.
7. From Chiang Mai we are flying to Krabi to check out some of Thailands famous beaches and hopefully get over to the full moon party.
8. From Krabi we will fly to Bangkok and spend a few days there checking out what the city has to offer.
9. From Bangkok we will fly to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam.
10. We will spend about 10 days travelling north in Vietnam before getting to Hanoi.
11. From Hanoi we will fly to Hong Kong, my last stop before I come home on August 22nd.
This is our tentative plans as of right now, but I just thought I'd give you guys a heads up of where you can expect to see new blog posts from! Being in Australia has been absolutely great, however the culture is not all that different from home which is why I am really looking forward to seeing a part of the world that is completely foreign to me.
All the best for the coming week, and I'll talk to you all very soon!
Kev
My laptop is catching a flight to Toronto in an hour so I just want to update all of you as to my whereabouts the next 9 weeks.
I will be spending 4 days of my final week in Australia up in Byron Bay with some friends. We rented a beach house and are planning on just relaxing have having one last hurrah before we all have to go our separate ways. When I get back to Sydney on Wednesday I will be going with a bunch of friends to the State of Origin Rugby game which is essentially the best players from Queensland and New South Wales duking it in a three game series...this is game two so it should be a lot of fun.
As per my earlier post (right below this one) I am heading to China for two weeks before meeting up with Mitch in Singapore. Below are Mitch and I's plans for seeing South East Asia.
1. We will travel from Singapore to Borneo (Malaysian part) and spend a week checking out the Orangutans, rain forests and hopefully some of the best scuba diving in the world
2. From Kota Kinabalu we will fly to Kuala Lumpur and spend a couple of days there.
3, 4. From KL we will travel to Siem Reap, Cambodia where we will see the temples of Angkor Wat and make our way by bus down to Phnom Penh.
5 , 6. From Phnom Penh we will travel via Bangkok to Chiang Mai and spend a chunk of time up there seeing Northern Thailand.
7. From Chiang Mai we are flying to Krabi to check out some of Thailands famous beaches and hopefully get over to the full moon party.
8. From Krabi we will fly to Bangkok and spend a few days there checking out what the city has to offer.
9. From Bangkok we will fly to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam.
10. We will spend about 10 days travelling north in Vietnam before getting to Hanoi.
11. From Hanoi we will fly to Hong Kong, my last stop before I come home on August 22nd.
This is our tentative plans as of right now, but I just thought I'd give you guys a heads up of where you can expect to see new blog posts from! Being in Australia has been absolutely great, however the culture is not all that different from home which is why I am really looking forward to seeing a part of the world that is completely foreign to me.
All the best for the coming week, and I'll talk to you all very soon!
Kev
Saturday, May 16, 2009
I wait, yeah I wait, for something good, for something great
Well folks, with a little less than 6 weeks left down under I thought I would update you on my post-Australia plans.
I am set to meet the one and only, Mitch Bushuk on July 11th in Singapore but before that I recently decided that a jaunt to China was in order. Up until recently the idea of China never really crossed my mind but I figured that I had some time between my last exam finishing and meeting Mitch so I might as well make the most of it.
I am set to leave Sydney on the 27th of June where I will fly to Hong Kong and make my way by bus to Guangzhou, China. From there I will fly to Beijing where I will try to cram in as much excitement into 7 days as I can. I will then take the train from Beijing to Shanghai where I will spend another five or so days exploring the sights and sounds before flying back to Guangzhou. After a day or two in Guangzhou it will be onwards and upwards to Singapore to meet Mitch.
While Mitch and I don't have any concrete plans or itineraries thus far for South East Asia, we will spend six weeks trekking around Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (which I'm looking most forward to) before heading up to Hong Kong in time for me to fly home on the 22nd of August.
Life is great.
I am set to meet the one and only, Mitch Bushuk on July 11th in Singapore but before that I recently decided that a jaunt to China was in order. Up until recently the idea of China never really crossed my mind but I figured that I had some time between my last exam finishing and meeting Mitch so I might as well make the most of it.
I am set to leave Sydney on the 27th of June where I will fly to Hong Kong and make my way by bus to Guangzhou, China. From there I will fly to Beijing where I will try to cram in as much excitement into 7 days as I can. I will then take the train from Beijing to Shanghai where I will spend another five or so days exploring the sights and sounds before flying back to Guangzhou. After a day or two in Guangzhou it will be onwards and upwards to Singapore to meet Mitch.
While Mitch and I don't have any concrete plans or itineraries thus far for South East Asia, we will spend six weeks trekking around Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (which I'm looking most forward to) before heading up to Hong Kong in time for me to fly home on the 22nd of August.
Life is great.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Second times a charm
Annnnnnnnd were back! Yes, I know...it took long enough but better late than never I supppose. You all have Melissa to thank as her constant nagging for more blog posts (with pictures!) has finally paid off.
Where to begin...it's been a month since my last post and a lot has happened. Not surprisingly, the month of April flew by but it was also the source of some of my greatest memories to date.
The university was kind enough to give us a beauty two week mid-semester break where I headed up to Melbourne and the Great Ocean road for a second stint. This time I went with three of my friends who are also on exchange, Ben (Austria), Cas (Holland) and Rohit (India). I am really glad that I got the chance to go back to Melbourne as it quickly became one of my favourite cities that I have visited. Travelling with 3 of the coolest guys I have met down under didn't hurt either
We spent 4 days checking out the city and drinking beer...lots and lots of beer. The highlight was definitely all the time we spent in Fitzroy (aka Fitzrockn'roy) which can only be described as Queen West x100.
Two of Rohit's friends (Aditi and Roxanne) met us in Melbourne and we headed out west for two days on the Great Ocean Road. I don't think I need to reiterate how awesome it is, but it was definitely worth doing again!
The beauty of doing it the second time around was that this time it wasn't foggy at the Twelve Apostles and we actually got to enjoy the sunset there, which was just incredible. We stayed the night in Apollo Bay which is home to the nicest hostel I have ever stayed at and some of the best Thai food I have ever had (forgive me Salad King). The hostel had an awesome lounge and rooftop where we once again drank the night away. Before leaving Apollo Bay we took a short drive up through the national park, followed by an hours hike through the forest to check out some waterfalls which added to another great day.
Since getting back from Melbourne school work has been fairly constant. I suppose that's what happens when you squander a two week opportunity to get a lot done! Either way, as it stands now I am 7000 words and a final exam away from being done school.
More to come soon on my plans from here on out! (I promise it won't take this long next time)
kc
Where to begin...it's been a month since my last post and a lot has happened. Not surprisingly, the month of April flew by but it was also the source of some of my greatest memories to date.
The university was kind enough to give us a beauty two week mid-semester break where I headed up to Melbourne and the Great Ocean road for a second stint. This time I went with three of my friends who are also on exchange, Ben (Austria), Cas (Holland) and Rohit (India). I am really glad that I got the chance to go back to Melbourne as it quickly became one of my favourite cities that I have visited. Travelling with 3 of the coolest guys I have met down under didn't hurt either
We spent 4 days checking out the city and drinking beer...lots and lots of beer. The highlight was definitely all the time we spent in Fitzroy (aka Fitzrockn'roy) which can only be described as Queen West x100.Two of Rohit's friends (Aditi and Roxanne) met us in Melbourne and we headed out west for two days on the Great Ocean Road. I don't think I need to reiterate how awesome it is, but it was definitely worth doing again!
The beauty of doing it the second time around was that this time it wasn't foggy at the Twelve Apostles and we actually got to enjoy the sunset there, which was just incredible. We stayed the night in Apollo Bay which is home to the nicest hostel I have ever stayed at and some of the best Thai food I have ever had (forgive me Salad King). The hostel had an awesome lounge and rooftop where we once again drank the night away. Before leaving Apollo Bay we took a short drive up through the national park, followed by an hours hike through the forest to check out some waterfalls which added to another great day.
Since getting back from Melbourne school work has been fairly constant. I suppose that's what happens when you squander a two week opportunity to get a lot done! Either way, as it stands now I am 7000 words and a final exam away from being done school.More to come soon on my plans from here on out! (I promise it won't take this long next time)
kc
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Hockey Night in Sydney
Rest easy friends, I will now be able to watch NHL playoff hockey.The games were a few days old and I already knew the results but that didn't matter. The beer was cold, the wings were hot and the poutine was a pretty damn good attempt for down under. Did I mention Canadian beer? Kokanee and Blue are both served regularly.
Thanks to a few fellow Canadian friends, I had the privelage of attending Hockey Night in Sydney, a weekly ritual for ex-pats and hockey lovers to get together and watch some Hockey. Doug, a hockey enthusiast from Atlanta, Georgia (yes I know, a bit of an oxymoron) started the tradition two and half seasons ago and has a fairly loyal following.
On tap Wednesday night was Montreal v. Toronto, Vancouver v. Edmonton and Ottawa v. Montreal. The organizer actutally gets someone to record the games back in Canada and has them e-mailed out to Australia for our viewing pleasure.
The TSN highlight of the night definitely had to be the national anthem during the Ottawa/Montreal game. Imagine about 30-40 Canadians singing along and cheering as if they were at the game live.
I know I won't be able to keep myself from checking the scores before I go but at least I will be able to enjoy the playoffs in some capacity. Playoff season without any playoff hockey would have been devasting, thank god for Doug.
OHHHHHHHH CANADA!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
We're gonna sip this wine and pass the cup
After being in school for 5 weeks I realized that I haven't really said much about the whole education aspect of being here. So here it is!
The University is actually eerily similar to Ryerson. Scattered throughout the downtown core of Sydney, they place a huge emphasis on the practicality of teachings. This semester I am taking four classes (equivalent to five at home) including Sports Management, The Olympic Games, Business Strategies and Advertising Practice. I really wish Ryerson would offer more classes to do with sports management since we are located in the sports capital of Canada but either way I am happy to be enrolled in them out here, as the Australian content offers a fresh perspective. The main difference between here and there (there being Ryerson) is the passion in the lecturers. All of my lecturers have this incredible passion for their subject which is really refreshing. The topics also have that much more relevance when your professor can point to a picture of the Australian contingency marching in at the 2008 Beijing games and say, "that's me!"
I recently completed a group tutorial assignment in Sports Management where we looked at expansion franchises and their impacts on leagues and fans. Initially we were going to focus on expansion in the NHL and the AFL (Australian Football League) however as we began to narrow down our search we had way to much information. We decided on strictly looking at the AFL who's plans for expansion reminded me of a lot of Gary Bettman's plans to grow the NHL in non traditional markets. Forgive my pessimism but I couldn't help but think some of the new franchises were destined for failure.
Next week I have another group tutorial presentation in my Olympic Games course. A fellow Canadian and I have decided to look at how the International Olympic Committee can try to bridge the gap between the Winter Games and their significance to the Southern Hemisphere (mainly Australia). The topic was definitely inspired by my Canadian pride being squashed when I came down here, and no one knew what the hell Vancouver 2010 was. Either way, I am looking forward to the presentation as we have some fun videos, and very interesting facts to back up our research.
The work load is pretty similar to Ryerson, but the majority of my work is due within the first 5 weeks. The past week and the next two are pretty hectic but it should settle down after that. The semester is quite a bit shorter than at home too. We started on February 23rd and finish on May 27th with an 18 day mid-semester break in the middle of April, so I'm definitely not complaining.
What else can I tell you? For those of you who haven't heard, I have decided to trim my trip short by three months to get back to Ryerson for the Fall. With the potential of Grad school a year a way I figured I should get home and attempt to boost the ol' GPA before it's too late. There were also some issues with my transfer credits which didn't help the situation either. Either way I have kind of gotten over that and am looking forward to getting back for September. I have plans of co-producing a TV show for our campus station with my friend Chris, and getting involved with some other student groups in hopes of starting a Sports Management conference of some sort. It also makes it easier to leave early knowing that I will have all my travelling that I had planned on doing, done. Mitch has graciously altered his travel plans to accommodate my change so when July rolls around we will hopefully be travelling South East Asia.
Up until now it has been tough for me to grasp the consequences of the global financial crisis that we are now immersed in. After searching for a job in Sydney for the past 2 months, I now understand that the problems are real and the situation is tough. Thankfully I am not supporting a family or paying any real bills, because I can't imagine how tough it would be to live in these extreme conditions. While the job search will continue I have opened my options up a bit and will now look at fruit picking during the month of June to save up a bit of cash. In the meantime I am keeping myself busy with school work and my new found gig writing for the Universities magazine, Vertigo. My first assignment is reviewing an animated feature called Mary and Max which premiered at Sundance this year. I will post the article when it's complete.
Other than that all is well on the Australian coast. I would like to send out a special shout out to Michelle Tiangco who is celebrating her 19th birthday today and of course to my Baba Teenie who turned the big 8-2, on Tuesday. I would imagine one birthday party will involve more drinking than the other but either way I wish I was able to attend both!
A final hello to everyone at O'Keefe House who will undoubtedly have the place rockin' all night Friday during formal. Wish I was there! Have a blast.
Until next time,
kc
The University is actually eerily similar to Ryerson. Scattered throughout the downtown core of Sydney, they place a huge emphasis on the practicality of teachings. This semester I am taking four classes (equivalent to five at home) including Sports Management, The Olympic Games, Business Strategies and Advertising Practice. I really wish Ryerson would offer more classes to do with sports management since we are located in the sports capital of Canada but either way I am happy to be enrolled in them out here, as the Australian content offers a fresh perspective. The main difference between here and there (there being Ryerson) is the passion in the lecturers. All of my lecturers have this incredible passion for their subject which is really refreshing. The topics also have that much more relevance when your professor can point to a picture of the Australian contingency marching in at the 2008 Beijing games and say, "that's me!"
I recently completed a group tutorial assignment in Sports Management where we looked at expansion franchises and their impacts on leagues and fans. Initially we were going to focus on expansion in the NHL and the AFL (Australian Football League) however as we began to narrow down our search we had way to much information. We decided on strictly looking at the AFL who's plans for expansion reminded me of a lot of Gary Bettman's plans to grow the NHL in non traditional markets. Forgive my pessimism but I couldn't help but think some of the new franchises were destined for failure.
Next week I have another group tutorial presentation in my Olympic Games course. A fellow Canadian and I have decided to look at how the International Olympic Committee can try to bridge the gap between the Winter Games and their significance to the Southern Hemisphere (mainly Australia). The topic was definitely inspired by my Canadian pride being squashed when I came down here, and no one knew what the hell Vancouver 2010 was. Either way, I am looking forward to the presentation as we have some fun videos, and very interesting facts to back up our research.
The work load is pretty similar to Ryerson, but the majority of my work is due within the first 5 weeks. The past week and the next two are pretty hectic but it should settle down after that. The semester is quite a bit shorter than at home too. We started on February 23rd and finish on May 27th with an 18 day mid-semester break in the middle of April, so I'm definitely not complaining.
What else can I tell you? For those of you who haven't heard, I have decided to trim my trip short by three months to get back to Ryerson for the Fall. With the potential of Grad school a year a way I figured I should get home and attempt to boost the ol' GPA before it's too late. There were also some issues with my transfer credits which didn't help the situation either. Either way I have kind of gotten over that and am looking forward to getting back for September. I have plans of co-producing a TV show for our campus station with my friend Chris, and getting involved with some other student groups in hopes of starting a Sports Management conference of some sort. It also makes it easier to leave early knowing that I will have all my travelling that I had planned on doing, done. Mitch has graciously altered his travel plans to accommodate my change so when July rolls around we will hopefully be travelling South East Asia.
Up until now it has been tough for me to grasp the consequences of the global financial crisis that we are now immersed in. After searching for a job in Sydney for the past 2 months, I now understand that the problems are real and the situation is tough. Thankfully I am not supporting a family or paying any real bills, because I can't imagine how tough it would be to live in these extreme conditions. While the job search will continue I have opened my options up a bit and will now look at fruit picking during the month of June to save up a bit of cash. In the meantime I am keeping myself busy with school work and my new found gig writing for the Universities magazine, Vertigo. My first assignment is reviewing an animated feature called Mary and Max which premiered at Sundance this year. I will post the article when it's complete.
Other than that all is well on the Australian coast. I would like to send out a special shout out to Michelle Tiangco who is celebrating her 19th birthday today and of course to my Baba Teenie who turned the big 8-2, on Tuesday. I would imagine one birthday party will involve more drinking than the other but either way I wish I was able to attend both!
A final hello to everyone at O'Keefe House who will undoubtedly have the place rockin' all night Friday during formal. Wish I was there! Have a blast.
Until next time,
kc
Sunday, March 22, 2009
All Hail...
Had Kings of Leon anticipated the success they would have south of the equator they may have opted for a more pertinent name, perhaps Kings of Oz. The Tennessee bred family rockers have had remarkable success in the country of 21 million; selling more copies of their fourth studio album, Only By The Night than in their native US. While Kings of Leon found a mediocre level of success with their first three albums it is their fourth release that has propelled them to a level of superstardom in Australia. Brothers Caleb, Jared and Nathan Followill alongside cousin Matt Followill currently find themselves in the midst of their Australian tour which has them playing eight sold out arena shows across the country. Tonight the boys in Kings of Leon find themselves in Sydney for a third and final night where they will play to yet another sold out venue.
The opening slot of the night was awarded to Canadian indie rockers and close friends of Kings of Leon, The Stills. The Montreal based band had a big job on their hands as they attempted to warm up the then trickling in crowd. The crowd responded favourably as the Stills rocked their way through an above average 45 minute set. As The Stills moved into their last song of the night they thanked Kings of Leon for bringing them along for the ride, undoubtedly hoping that the exposure would help them find their place on Australian radio.
The lights went out on Acer Arena and Kings of Leon were ready to roll. The capacity crowd of 17,215 were a raucous from the moment the band hit the stage to a hair raising rendition of Crawl. Front man Caleb Followills strong vocal abilities were on display from the first note as he powered his way through the first few songs. Followill greeted the audience, “Last time I checked this wasn’t a CD listening session, so get off your asses and let’s party”. With four albums worth of material to work with the party had definitely started. As the set wore on the band treated long time fans to early classics including King of the Rodeo, California Waiting and Molly’s Chambers. While Followill lacked the stage presence that most arena rockers are famous for, he still had no trouble keeping the crowd howling throughout the night. As the night progressed crowd favourites including Revelery and Fans had the arena serenading Kings of Leon as home videos from the bands childhood played on the big screens. “Who wants to sing?,” Followill proclaimed as the band dove head first into unquestionably their biggest hit to date, Sex on Fire. As the 18 song set drew to a close Followill explained to the crowds delight, “We have a lot of people around us who are telling us we should make Australia our new home, and I have to be honest with you, we’re considering it!” And why wouldn’t you. The guys returned to the stage for a four song encore that included, Knocked Up, Manhattan and the shrieky Charmer. Once again the band thanked the crowd profusely as they took a moment to soak up their new found fame.
Finding a place for rock music on today’s bubblegum pop radio stations is no easy task, and after four albums Kings of Leon are finally enjoying a level of success unseen before. While the show lacked the hoopla and budget that Acer Arena had seen 3 days previous during Coldplay’s Viva La Vida tour, Kings of Leon definitely delivered. After an hour and forty five minute set that left the crowd screaming for more one has to assume that their is an new heir to the rock and roll throne. All hail Kings of Leon.
The opening slot of the night was awarded to Canadian indie rockers and close friends of Kings of Leon, The Stills. The Montreal based band had a big job on their hands as they attempted to warm up the then trickling in crowd. The crowd responded favourably as the Stills rocked their way through an above average 45 minute set. As The Stills moved into their last song of the night they thanked Kings of Leon for bringing them along for the ride, undoubtedly hoping that the exposure would help them find their place on Australian radio.
The lights went out on Acer Arena and Kings of Leon were ready to roll. The capacity crowd of 17,215 were a raucous from the moment the band hit the stage to a hair raising rendition of Crawl. Front man Caleb Followills strong vocal abilities were on display from the first note as he powered his way through the first few songs. Followill greeted the audience, “Last time I checked this wasn’t a CD listening session, so get off your asses and let’s party”. With four albums worth of material to work with the party had definitely started. As the set wore on the band treated long time fans to early classics including King of the Rodeo, California Waiting and Molly’s Chambers. While Followill lacked the stage presence that most arena rockers are famous for, he still had no trouble keeping the crowd howling throughout the night. As the night progressed crowd favourites including Revelery and Fans had the arena serenading Kings of Leon as home videos from the bands childhood played on the big screens. “Who wants to sing?,” Followill proclaimed as the band dove head first into unquestionably their biggest hit to date, Sex on Fire. As the 18 song set drew to a close Followill explained to the crowds delight, “We have a lot of people around us who are telling us we should make Australia our new home, and I have to be honest with you, we’re considering it!” And why wouldn’t you. The guys returned to the stage for a four song encore that included, Knocked Up, Manhattan and the shrieky Charmer. Once again the band thanked the crowd profusely as they took a moment to soak up their new found fame.
Finding a place for rock music on today’s bubblegum pop radio stations is no easy task, and after four albums Kings of Leon are finally enjoying a level of success unseen before. While the show lacked the hoopla and budget that Acer Arena had seen 3 days previous during Coldplay’s Viva La Vida tour, Kings of Leon definitely delivered. After an hour and forty five minute set that left the crowd screaming for more one has to assume that their is an new heir to the rock and roll throne. All hail Kings of Leon.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Smells like gold
Wow, where to begin. At 13 days this stands as the longest I have gone blogless thus far and hopefully the trend won't continue. It would help if I knew where the last few weeks have gone as it's been an absolute whirlwind around here, but in the best possible way.
School has been consuming a lot of my time as of late but I have had my fair share of distractions as well which has definitely made the time fly by. Dad, Courtney and Dale arrived on the morning of March 6th to a very hungover Kevin. Needless to say I tried not to show it, and I think I did and I think I did a pretty good job! It was really surreal (and still is) seeing my family down under, even though I have only been here two and a half months it has begun to feel a bit like home so having them here is awesome. DC&D as I will refer to them from here on out were staying out at Coogee Beach in a nice two bedroom apartment right on the beach. The first few days I did my best to show them around Sydney which was a lot of fun. It's kind of neat showing people around a city you barely know and it was actually a great chance for me to see a lot of the city that I had yet to see.
Highlights from the first week in Sydney included an interesting, albeit once in a lifetime stop at the Mardi Gras parade, shopping at the Rocks and Paddy's markets, nighttime harbour ferry, the Opera House of course, a trip to the Blue Mountains among many other things. After writing that last sentence I am beginning to realize why not blogging regularly sucks, I'm now forced to cram a weeks worth of fun into one sentence. Either way it was a great time and I still managed to attend all my classes.
On Thursday we headed north to the Gold Coast and more specifically Surfer's Paradise. Courtney managed to score us an awesome apartment right in the heart of town which was awesome. We spent a lot of time just bumming around Surfer's and hanging out by the pool. Dad, Courtney and I took a day trip down to Byron Bay which wasn't nearly long enough but has inspired me to return. The Gold Coast is very touristy in comparison to the rest of Australia I have seen, think Puerto Vallarta meets Orlando. Theme parks, cruises, cabaret etc. are all over the place but we managed to stay away from the that stuff for the most part.
A highlight of the trip up North was our adventure to the Australia Zoo. also known as the home of the Crocodile Hunter. The Zoo was incredible and is probably the best legacy Steve Irwin could have left. We started off the day by hand feeding the elephants, yes real live elephants. They managed to leave a bit of gross snot on your hand after they took the food but it was worth it. Following the feeding we headed to the Crocoseum where they put on a great live show with birds, reptiles and of course crocs, all of which was very entertaining. We managed to spend nearly the entire day at the Zoo and I finally got to see a live Tasmanian Devil. The park was set up in such a way that it really celebrated the life of Steve Irwin instead of mourning the death. One of the most incredible things was a tribute area they had where they displayed pictures, letters and other things people had made and sent to the family. It was definitely a bit moving.
After the Zoo we headed to Noosa Heads for the rest of the afternoon/evening. We arrived just in time to see the tricks competition at part of the 2009 Noosa Festival of Surfing. Dogs riding on the boards and acrobatic tricks were some of the highlights. All in all it was a great day enjoyed by everyone I do believe.
Unfortunately I had to leave the family in Surfer's as I needed to get back to Sydney for school. They are due back in town tomorrow sometime where I am sure I will have more stories to tell. In the mean time enjoy the following few pictures from the Zoo and Noosa.
Cheers,
kc
School has been consuming a lot of my time as of late but I have had my fair share of distractions as well which has definitely made the time fly by. Dad, Courtney and Dale arrived on the morning of March 6th to a very hungover Kevin. Needless to say I tried not to show it, and I think I did and I think I did a pretty good job! It was really surreal (and still is) seeing my family down under, even though I have only been here two and a half months it has begun to feel a bit like home so having them here is awesome. DC&D as I will refer to them from here on out were staying out at Coogee Beach in a nice two bedroom apartment right on the beach. The first few days I did my best to show them around Sydney which was a lot of fun. It's kind of neat showing people around a city you barely know and it was actually a great chance for me to see a lot of the city that I had yet to see.
Highlights from the first week in Sydney included an interesting, albeit once in a lifetime stop at the Mardi Gras parade, shopping at the Rocks and Paddy's markets, nighttime harbour ferry, the Opera House of course, a trip to the Blue Mountains among many other things. After writing that last sentence I am beginning to realize why not blogging regularly sucks, I'm now forced to cram a weeks worth of fun into one sentence. Either way it was a great time and I still managed to attend all my classes.
On Thursday we headed north to the Gold Coast and more specifically Surfer's Paradise. Courtney managed to score us an awesome apartment right in the heart of town which was awesome. We spent a lot of time just bumming around Surfer's and hanging out by the pool. Dad, Courtney and I took a day trip down to Byron Bay which wasn't nearly long enough but has inspired me to return. The Gold Coast is very touristy in comparison to the rest of Australia I have seen, think Puerto Vallarta meets Orlando. Theme parks, cruises, cabaret etc. are all over the place but we managed to stay away from the that stuff for the most part.
A highlight of the trip up North was our adventure to the Australia Zoo. also known as the home of the Crocodile Hunter. The Zoo was incredible and is probably the best legacy Steve Irwin could have left. We started off the day by hand feeding the elephants, yes real live elephants. They managed to leave a bit of gross snot on your hand after they took the food but it was worth it. Following the feeding we headed to the Crocoseum where they put on a great live show with birds, reptiles and of course crocs, all of which was very entertaining. We managed to spend nearly the entire day at the Zoo and I finally got to see a live Tasmanian Devil. The park was set up in such a way that it really celebrated the life of Steve Irwin instead of mourning the death. One of the most incredible things was a tribute area they had where they displayed pictures, letters and other things people had made and sent to the family. It was definitely a bit moving.
After the Zoo we headed to Noosa Heads for the rest of the afternoon/evening. We arrived just in time to see the tricks competition at part of the 2009 Noosa Festival of Surfing. Dogs riding on the boards and acrobatic tricks were some of the highlights. All in all it was a great day enjoyed by everyone I do believe.
Unfortunately I had to leave the family in Surfer's as I needed to get back to Sydney for school. They are due back in town tomorrow sometime where I am sure I will have more stories to tell. In the mean time enjoy the following few pictures from the Zoo and Noosa.
Cheers,
kc
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
I've got soul but I'm not a soldier
School is in full swing and it is hard to believe that I already have two weeks behind me (more on that next post), it's even harder to believe that I'm ready to welcome some familiar faces from home Down Under! My dad, sister and Dale "The Mail" Elmore are set to arrive in just under 36 hours, and as you can imagine I can't wait. More on those adventures to come...
For now I'll take you on my trip to the nation's capital.
Canberra - February 27-28th, 2009
I had been back in Sydney for less than 3 days when I decided to once again hit the road. This time I elected to go to the capital of Australia, Canberra. This time I also elected to travel alone, with my main stop being to the Australian Institute of Sport.
First things first I'd like to say there is a lot to be said for travelling on your own. I don't want to take anything away from my previous travels as they've been amazing and Kim and Kristine have been great to travel with but the solo thing definitely gives you the real backpacker feel (albeit it was for two days one night). I had planned literally nothing leading up to the trip aside from booking my train ticket and organizing a meeting at the AIS.
I got off the train and I couldn't help but feel like I was in the middle of nowhere. Canberra is probably the weirdest city I've ever been in (in a good way) as everything is fairly new and seemingly strategically planned. I took a bus from the train station to the city centre in hopes that a) I would stumble upon the hostel and b) that they would have rooms left. I managed to find it quite easily considering I had no address or map of the city.
I checked in, had lunch and hopped on the bus to the AIS. Thanks to my friend Linnae at Rogers I was put in touch with a fellow Canadian, Rachel Parry who is the General Manager of Corporate Communications at the Australian Sports Commission. I arrived at the AIS facilities where I met Rachel and she provided me with a great overview of the Australia Governments involvement in sport in Australia. After the crash course info session, Rachel toured me around the Australia Institute of Sports facilities. The AIS was founded after the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games where Australia failed to win a gold medal. This was seen as quite the embarrassment so the Australian government funded the institute as a training centre for elite sport. Of all the Australian's that went to 2008 Beijing Games, 60% had at one point or another trained at the AIS facilities. Rachel referred to the AIS as Australia's "Gold Medal Factory" and rightfully so, the Australian's won more medals per capita than any other nation at the 2008 games. The facilities themselves are quite simply astonishing. From underwater viewing areas in the pool, to cutting edge technologies and breakthroughs in sport the AIS truly is a world class facility. I was lucky enough to see a few members of the 2008 Beijing Games Men's swimming team who took home silver and bronze medals at the games preparing to practice. What was probably the most shocking thing to see was the gymnastics area where girls as young as 8 years old were training twice a day in hopes of one day making the games, a dream that is still at least 8 years away. I was fortunate to learn a lot about sport in Australia and the importance of the Olympic games to the nation. Special thanks to Rachel who was fresh off a visit of the Vancouver 2010 sites, but still took time out of her busy schedule to show me around.
I headed back to the city centre and bummed around the area before heading back to the hostel and calling it a night.
The next morning I took an hour walk to National Museum of Australia. The museum is probably less than 5 years old and is absolutely amazing and the best part of it all, it was free. I roamed around the museum for a couple of hours which was at times a bit creepy as I seemed to be the only person in the massive facilities. I finished up and headed back to the city to visit the Australian War Memorial.
I don't consider myself a history buff or a war enthusiast which is why I was a little reluctant to head to the war memorial. I was recommended by a friend who told me it was spectacular, and it definitely did not disappoint. After arriving I wandered around the never ending rooms before finally meeting in the lobby for a guided tour. The tour lasted an hour and a half and was absolutely amazing. I learned a lot about Australia's involvement in the war from World War I right through to the Iraq war. They have put together an amazing series of exhibits and it truly is a tribute to everyone who has served the country of Australia. In total I spent nearly four hours in a place I had planned on staying one or two. If you go to Canberra for no other reason, go for the War Memorial.
I took a stroll down the ANZAC Parade before I finally headed to the train station. I had two jam packed days in Canberra and although the city is a tad strange it definitely was great to see. I would be lying if I didn't say one of the best things about Canberra is nearly everything is FREE (this is definitely the Winnipegger in me!), but either way I had a great time and headed back to Sydney with a lot more knowledge than I left with.
Until next time,
kc
For now I'll take you on my trip to the nation's capital.
Canberra - February 27-28th, 2009
I had been back in Sydney for less than 3 days when I decided to once again hit the road. This time I elected to go to the capital of Australia, Canberra. This time I also elected to travel alone, with my main stop being to the Australian Institute of Sport.
First things first I'd like to say there is a lot to be said for travelling on your own. I don't want to take anything away from my previous travels as they've been amazing and Kim and Kristine have been great to travel with but the solo thing definitely gives you the real backpacker feel (albeit it was for two days one night). I had planned literally nothing leading up to the trip aside from booking my train ticket and organizing a meeting at the AIS.
I got off the train and I couldn't help but feel like I was in the middle of nowhere. Canberra is probably the weirdest city I've ever been in (in a good way) as everything is fairly new and seemingly strategically planned. I took a bus from the train station to the city centre in hopes that a) I would stumble upon the hostel and b) that they would have rooms left. I managed to find it quite easily considering I had no address or map of the city.
I checked in, had lunch and hopped on the bus to the AIS. Thanks to my friend Linnae at Rogers I was put in touch with a fellow Canadian, Rachel Parry who is the General Manager of Corporate Communications at the Australian Sports Commission. I arrived at the AIS facilities where I met Rachel and she provided me with a great overview of the Australia Governments involvement in sport in Australia. After the crash course info session, Rachel toured me around the Australia Institute of Sports facilities. The AIS was founded after the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games where Australia failed to win a gold medal. This was seen as quite the embarrassment so the Australian government funded the institute as a training centre for elite sport. Of all the Australian's that went to 2008 Beijing Games, 60% had at one point or another trained at the AIS facilities. Rachel referred to the AIS as Australia's "Gold Medal Factory" and rightfully so, the Australian's won more medals per capita than any other nation at the 2008 games. The facilities themselves are quite simply astonishing. From underwater viewing areas in the pool, to cutting edge technologies and breakthroughs in sport the AIS truly is a world class facility. I was lucky enough to see a few members of the 2008 Beijing Games Men's swimming team who took home silver and bronze medals at the games preparing to practice. What was probably the most shocking thing to see was the gymnastics area where girls as young as 8 years old were training twice a day in hopes of one day making the games, a dream that is still at least 8 years away. I was fortunate to learn a lot about sport in Australia and the importance of the Olympic games to the nation. Special thanks to Rachel who was fresh off a visit of the Vancouver 2010 sites, but still took time out of her busy schedule to show me around.
I headed back to the city centre and bummed around the area before heading back to the hostel and calling it a night.
The next morning I took an hour walk to National Museum of Australia. The museum is probably less than 5 years old and is absolutely amazing and the best part of it all, it was free. I roamed around the museum for a couple of hours which was at times a bit creepy as I seemed to be the only person in the massive facilities. I finished up and headed back to the city to visit the Australian War Memorial.
I don't consider myself a history buff or a war enthusiast which is why I was a little reluctant to head to the war memorial. I was recommended by a friend who told me it was spectacular, and it definitely did not disappoint. After arriving I wandered around the never ending rooms before finally meeting in the lobby for a guided tour. The tour lasted an hour and a half and was absolutely amazing. I learned a lot about Australia's involvement in the war from World War I right through to the Iraq war. They have put together an amazing series of exhibits and it truly is a tribute to everyone who has served the country of Australia. In total I spent nearly four hours in a place I had planned on staying one or two. If you go to Canberra for no other reason, go for the War Memorial.
I took a stroll down the ANZAC Parade before I finally headed to the train station. I had two jam packed days in Canberra and although the city is a tad strange it definitely was great to see. I would be lying if I didn't say one of the best things about Canberra is nearly everything is FREE (this is definitely the Winnipegger in me!), but either way I had a great time and headed back to Sydney with a lot more knowledge than I left with.
Until next time,
kc
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Here comes the sun again
The Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef - February 15th-19th, 2009
Sleeping on deck really has it's advantages. After our second night we were awoken by another beautiful sunrise which helped to nurse a slight hangover.
The day started out with another, "(Fleetwood) Mac Morning" as they were eventually dubbed and we enjoyed yet another sunny beginning. We started sailing for Whitehaven beach, the most photographed beach in the world where we trekked up a hiking trail to the lookout point. The lookout point provided an amazing view of Whitehavenbeach, unfortunately the tide was high so it was almost entirely covered, regardless it was great. 
The moment took a hilarious turn when Lisa, our new Canadian friend made her way to the top of the lookout point looking for Shaun, a crew member from the boat. The following conversation followed loud enough for the 70 or so people at the lookout point to enjoy:
Lisa: Shaun I have a problem
We spent the morning and early afternoon sailing around the islands before finally heading back to Airlie Beach. The group was heading out for drinks later in the day but unfortunately school was calling us back in Sydney. We said goodbye to Spank Me!, the crew and our new friends and headed to Hervey Bay, the halfway point in our trek back to Brisbane. The weather was great, the people were great and the experience was amazing. If you are planning on heading to Australia do not leave the Whitsunday's off your list of things to do!
Sleeping on deck really has it's advantages. After our second night we were awoken by another beautiful sunrise which helped to nurse a slight hangover.
The day started out with another, "(Fleetwood) Mac Morning" as they were eventually dubbed and we enjoyed yet another sunny beginning. We started sailing for Whitehaven beach, the most photographed beach in the world where we trekked up a hiking trail to the lookout point. The lookout point provided an amazing view of Whitehavenbeach, unfortunately the tide was high so it was almost entirely covered, regardless it was great. The moment took a hilarious turn when Lisa, our new Canadian friend made her way to the top of the lookout point looking for Shaun, a crew member from the boat. The following conversation followed loud enough for the 70 or so people at the lookout point to enjoy:Lisa: Shaun I have a problem
Shaun: What's wrong?!
Lisa: I have to go number two
Shaun: Uhhh...go back to the boat then
Lisa: I can't, it's coming now
Shaun: I'm not sure what you want me to do
Lisa: I don't know in Canada we have out houses and shit...
Lisa: I don't know in Canada we have out houses and shit...
Lisa made friends with the forest.
We got to spend a couple hours on Betty's Beach which was adjacent to Whitehaven. Thankfully we dodged the rain once again as the skies opened up just minutes before we left the beach.
After returning to the boat we sailed around to another island, the site of our second dive. The second dive was just as amazing as the first. We spent 50 minutes diving at depth's around 15 metres and saw a ton of fish and other aquatic life. Shaun took us through another cavern but this time it was about half the size, needless to say claustrophobia set in and I held my regulator in my mouth to ensure that it didn't snag and get ripped out.
We finished our dive and headed back to the boat for lunch. Due to the lack of wind on the trip the amount of actual sailing was limited so our skipper Gary thought he would make it up to us by taking us to a resort for the afternoon. We spent the afternoon/early evening relaxing poolside and enjoying the swim up bar. It was an awesome afternoon and by the time everyone was back on the boat more than a few people were in the bag. The night consisted of more drinking, a great dinner and another fellow Canadian managing to fall into the giant cooler, nearly fall off the ship and finally dropping her iPod into the ocean. Needless to say an incredible evening for her...
Almost everyone slept on the deck on our final night which was great as there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I once again got up at the crack of dawn and enjoyed a beautiful morning.
We spent the morning and early afternoon sailing around the islands before finally heading back to Airlie Beach. The group was heading out for drinks later in the day but unfortunately school was calling us back in Sydney. We said goodbye to Spank Me!, the crew and our new friends and headed to Hervey Bay, the halfway point in our trek back to Brisbane. The weather was great, the people were great and the experience was amazing. If you are planning on heading to Australia do not leave the Whitsunday's off your list of things to do!Monday, February 23, 2009
Here comes the sun
After spending another night in Hervey Bay we packed up and headed for Airlie Beach. In the name of good travels we decided to break up the 8 hour drive with a stop in Rockhampton, for really no other reason than the fact that it had a YHA hostel. This usually provides a cool opportunity to check out some little town's that you may not have had the chance to see otherwise, that being said this was NOT the case. I'm not one to rag on places that I know little to nothing about, because after all it is "home" to someone. I am however willing to make an exception for Rockhampton, quite simply...DO NOT GO HERE. I have never been to small town Kentucky but I would imagine it would be something like that.
Now for the fun stuff...
Now for the fun stuff...
The Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef - February 15th-19th, 2009
Airlie Beach might just be the closest I ever get to Hawaii and to be completely honest I'm not even sure if I would ever know the difference. We boarded our sailing vessel, "Spank Me!" on Monday afternoon from the beautiful coastal town with our fingers crossed hoping for the best from the skies. We slightly overlooked the fact that we had booked a sailing trip in the middle of the rainy season in the tropics until we were bombarded with people telling us how awful the weather was going to be leading up to the trip. Thankfully they were very wrong.
After boarding the boat and meeting the crew (who were fantastic by the way) we set out to sail the islands. Our first stop was about 2 hours off the coast where we stopped and had snacks on a sand spit literally in the middle of nowhere. We watched the sun set and were wowed by a spectacular lightning show that seemed to be a complete 360 degrees around us. The nature induced variety show was just getting started however as we were entertained for literally hours by a pod of dolphins that were jumping and feeding right beside our ship. We had dinner, had some beers and once again enjoyed great company. The sleeping quarters on the ship were tight and very hot which is why I elected to sleep on the deck of the ship. The deck wasn't the comfiest sleep I've ever had but I probably will never fall asleep to the sounds of dolphin's jumping around in the water either. A fair trade I'd say.
Tuesday morning came early as the crew started sailing just after 4:00 a.m. en route to the Great Barrier Reef. We were awoken by Fleetwood Mac's Go Your Own Way blasting on the stereo and I kind of half expected Nicole Henderson to be dancing on the bow, but no such luck. The certified divers were the first to get a crack at the Great Barrier Reef as Shaun the on board diving instructor took Kim, Kristine, Daniel, Paul and myself out for our first dive at 8:30 a.m. There is no describing the experience of diving in the Great Barrier Reef. It is simply one of the most fascinating and best things you could ever do and I feel so lucky to have had the chance. The reef is packed with thousands of colourful fish, coral and other marine life which was just incredible. Our 40 minute dive took us 25 metres under the surface where Shaun lead us through some tight caverns and we saw a few sea turtles and a 2 metre long Wabbegong (surface shark). The realization I quickly came to was that every postcard or picture you see of the GBR was exactly correct, just on a much grandeur scale. For all you Winnipegger's just imagine swimming through Club Regent's aquarium multiplied by about a million.
After the dive we relaxed on the ship in the soaking hot sun for the entire day. I got a start on my third (yes, THIRD) book of the trip, Dreams from my Father, a book written by Barack Obama while he was in law school at Harvard. I finished it two days later and I highly recommend the read. I know it seems a tad cliche, but I have to tell you it reads like a fiction novel and it's really no a surprise that the man is president considering the fascinating life he has lived.
Becky cooked us an amazing Green Curry meal for supper which rivaled Salad King before we hit the bottle one more time. We spent the majority of the night hanging out with Sam and Sam, two friends from New Zealand and our newly acquired Canadian friend Lisa from Vancouver. A big shout out to Lisa who is up there with the funniest and most entertaining people I have ever met.
The sun set on our second night of the trip and I was once again on top of the world. Quite simply, amazing.
More to come,
kc
Friday, February 20, 2009
Let it rain
I am back in Sydney after spending an amazing 9 days up in Queensland. Before heading up North the plan was to stay in Brisbane for a couple of days before heading further north to Fraser Island and finally the Whitsunday Islands. Unfortunately on the way up we took a look at the calendar and realized that we didn't have as much time as we thought and when we got to Brisbane we pretty much had to pack up and leave not too long after arriving.
The trip up to Brisbane was interesting to say the least. As it turns out Australia's most distinguished apparently opt to fly vs. take the train which left us with a bunch of real winners on the train ride up. 30-something year old drunk, blue collar Aussie's forced us to sleep with one eye open the entire ride to ensure that we arrived with all of our luggage. Once we finally did get to Brisbane (14 hour train ride) we rented a car and headed to Hervey Bay, the mainland point en route to Fraser Island.
Fraser Island - February 12th - 13th, 2009
My expectations heading into our two days on Fraser Island were pretty much non-existent as I really didn't have any idea what the island was all about, aside from a few people who had travelled there telling me how cool it was. I honestly think this is a great way to do things while travelling. If you go in with nothing more than a recommendation, it's really tough to be disappointed and in this case I was pleasantly surprised and borderline overwhelmed.
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world which makes it's contents that much more fascinating. We were picked up by our tour guide Fritz, an older Austrian-Australian who was a cross between Glen Huffman and my Uncle Lawrence; funny, friendly and entertaining. There were 22 other people on our tour ranging from young backpackers like us, to a Canadian retired couple who formerly lived in Winnipeg and were frequent patrons at The Dak.
We arrived on Fraser Island via ferry and set out to explore the island in what was pretty much a tour bus on steroids. The steroids were necessary though as the islands roadways are made up entirely of sand and would be pretty tricky to maneuver through if you didn't have the proper vehicle. The ride down the bumpy and narrow roadways was entertaining as Fritz filled our heads with facts about the island. Our first stop was the Yidney Scrub Rain forest. We got out and were able to walk through the thick forests which was incredible.
We had lunch at one of the Island's only restaurants and then hit the highway for the rest of the afternoon. The "highway" is actually nothing more than an open beach but it was awesome to speed down it with the open ocean always in view. We stopped at Eli Creek which is Fraser Island's largest freshwater creek and headed and then made our way to the SS Maheno shipwreck which was just a ways down the beach. 
Our final stop before heading to camp and having dinner was at Indian Head, FI's only major rock formations. As you can see from the picture it was a considerably big hike to the top but sitting up there made you feel like you were on top of the world.
We ate lunch and then headed for another walk through a second piece of rain forest. It had just finished raining so this time everything looked a lot brighter. Our final stop of the trip was Lake Birrabeen, a freshwater lake with an abnormally low (but safe) pH level which is supposed to "make you look younger." Minutes after we arrived we were doused with sheets of rain. Nearly everyone adopted a "if you can't beat em' join em' mentality" and spent the final portion of the trip in the rain and in the lake.
After getting back to Hervey Bay, everything that I owned was completely drenched but I of course could care less. Fraser Island was an amazing introduction to Queensland and really a must do for anyone travelling to Australia. I had a hard time believing anything was going to top Fraser Island until we hit Airlie Beach and met Spank Me!...
The trip up to Brisbane was interesting to say the least. As it turns out Australia's most distinguished apparently opt to fly vs. take the train which left us with a bunch of real winners on the train ride up. 30-something year old drunk, blue collar Aussie's forced us to sleep with one eye open the entire ride to ensure that we arrived with all of our luggage. Once we finally did get to Brisbane (14 hour train ride) we rented a car and headed to Hervey Bay, the mainland point en route to Fraser Island.
Fraser Island - February 12th - 13th, 2009
My expectations heading into our two days on Fraser Island were pretty much non-existent as I really didn't have any idea what the island was all about, aside from a few people who had travelled there telling me how cool it was. I honestly think this is a great way to do things while travelling. If you go in with nothing more than a recommendation, it's really tough to be disappointed and in this case I was pleasantly surprised and borderline overwhelmed.
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world which makes it's contents that much more fascinating. We were picked up by our tour guide Fritz, an older Austrian-Australian who was a cross between Glen Huffman and my Uncle Lawrence; funny, friendly and entertaining. There were 22 other people on our tour ranging from young backpackers like us, to a Canadian retired couple who formerly lived in Winnipeg and were frequent patrons at The Dak.
We arrived on Fraser Island via ferry and set out to explore the island in what was pretty much a tour bus on steroids. The steroids were necessary though as the islands roadways are made up entirely of sand and would be pretty tricky to maneuver through if you didn't have the proper vehicle. The ride down the bumpy and narrow roadways was entertaining as Fritz filled our heads with facts about the island. Our first stop was the Yidney Scrub Rain forest. We got out and were able to walk through the thick forests which was incredible.
We had lunch at one of the Island's only restaurants and then hit the highway for the rest of the afternoon. The "highway" is actually nothing more than an open beach but it was awesome to speed down it with the open ocean always in view. We stopped at Eli Creek which is Fraser Island's largest freshwater creek and headed and then made our way to the SS Maheno shipwreck which was just a ways down the beach. Our final stop before heading to camp and having dinner was at Indian Head, FI's only major rock formations. As you can see from the picture it was a considerably big hike to the top but sitting up there made you feel like you were on top of the world.
We finally headed to our camp at Cathedral Beach where Fritz cooked us a great steak dinner complete with Kangaroo for an appetizer. We enjoyed some beers and the great company before we called it a night.
Our second day on Fraser Island started very early but was well worth it. We drove down the beach to a walking path were we hiked through a forest, then through about a kilometre of sand dune deserts to reach Lake Wabby, a freshwater lake in the middle of the desert. We had a swim and hiked back. Fraser Island is famous for it's large number of Dingo's that inhabit the island. Up until this point we had just seen one briefly while driving down the beach but this time we had one waiting at our bus when we got back. The rules were simple "don't run, and it won't attack you." I was able to snap a few good pictures but in hindsight probably shouldn't have got so close.
We ate lunch and then headed for another walk through a second piece of rain forest. It had just finished raining so this time everything looked a lot brighter. Our final stop of the trip was Lake Birrabeen, a freshwater lake with an abnormally low (but safe) pH level which is supposed to "make you look younger." Minutes after we arrived we were doused with sheets of rain. Nearly everyone adopted a "if you can't beat em' join em' mentality" and spent the final portion of the trip in the rain and in the lake. After getting back to Hervey Bay, everything that I owned was completely drenched but I of course could care less. Fraser Island was an amazing introduction to Queensland and really a must do for anyone travelling to Australia. I had a hard time believing anything was going to top Fraser Island until we hit Airlie Beach and met Spank Me!...
Friday, February 6, 2009
Well it's 1, 2, 3, 4 take the elevator...
January 19th 2009 - Port Fairy to Port Campbell
Before leaving Port Fairy we decided that we should probably do something that we hadn't done much of since arriving in Australia...spend some time on the beach. The beach in Port Fairy was beautiful and full of family vacationers. It was nice to soak up the sun for a few hours and the fact that we were constantly dodging Cricket balls that were flying our way only made it more exciting. I was able to get a good start on a book called In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson, an American travel writer whose accounts of travel through Australia manage not only to be saturated with a plethora of information but quite sarcastic and hilarious at the same time (I have just finished reading it, thanks Dan and Robyn!).
We left Port Fairy and had lunch in Warnambool not to far from our starting point. I had never been so excited to finish eating lunch as I knew what laid before us. It was the beginning (or the end I suppose which was you are travelling) of the Great Ocean Road. What I didn't realize going into the drive was how the GOR was split up. There is essentially two sections of the drive; the first being near the ocean but not directly beside it and including tons of rest stops and view points to take it in and the second where you are driving literally along a mountain side where a sudden jerk of the steering wheel could send you plunging into the ocean below. Today we were doing the first. 
As you can see, the Great Ocean Road is absolutely breathtaking, although I still feel obliged to reiterate that the pictures don't quite do it justice. Now I am not a fan of the many "Things to see before you die" lists that have made there way into alot of nature based publications, but that being said this would undeniably make that list. I actually think it should be mandatory for everyone to drive the GOR at some point in their life. It is a wondrous sight and one of the most beautiful things my eyes will likely ever see.
After arriving in Port Campbell we set up shop at the town's only caravan park. It was situated metres away from a great beach tucked into a small little bay. Great day, goodnight.
A few hundred metres from our digs in Port Campbell
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Please sign here...
Hello there. I have come to the conclusion that after writing 19 posts or so that I really have no idea who is reading this blog, hence the creation of this post. I have enabled the comment section so you are no longer required to have an ID in order to post a comment. Instead you can just click on comment, write a comment, type in the verification word and under where it says Choose an Identity just click Name/URL. Type in your name and submit. This will now allow anyone and everyone to submit comments.
I was hoping that you can now comment on this post and it will act as a sort of "Guest Book" for my blog. I am excited to see who is out there reading!
Thanks,
kc
I was hoping that you can now comment on this post and it will act as a sort of "Guest Book" for my blog. I am excited to see who is out there reading!
Thanks,
kc
Aquaman
I can honestly say that I have never really had a particular interest in scuba diving. It's something that I've noticed but never thought I would actually partake in...until this week. On Monday I started a four day full-time scuba course and today I am officially a licensed PADI Open Water Diver. What does this mean? Well it means that I can dive in waters up to 60 feet deep without instruction. The following is an account of how this all happened.
Despite my bank account looking more like a glass of water with a medium size whole in it (draining rapidly fast) I decided to take scuba lessons in order to get my license with Kim and Kristine. We are heading up to the edge of the Great Barrier Reef next week and I really wanted to be able to get the full experience. We registered for our course which we took out of the Bondi Dive Centre just outside Bondi Beach. We picked up our textbooks and some additional info from the centre on Saturday and we were instructed to read chapters 1-3. Of course I left this to almost the last minute assuming it was going to be about 50 pages of reading and it turned out to be 177. I powered through the readings and started class on Monday.
Monday was a full day in the classroom where we did a few quizzes and watched heaps of instructional videos. Our instructor was a lady named Noriko who was half Japanese and half Peruvian. She was a very interesting women and very much a free spirit. She has lived all over the world and when she gets bored she moves, the beauty of being a diving instructor I suppose.
Despite my bank account looking more like a glass of water with a medium size whole in it (draining rapidly fast) I decided to take scuba lessons in order to get my license with Kim and Kristine. We are heading up to the edge of the Great Barrier Reef next week and I really wanted to be able to get the full experience. We registered for our course which we took out of the Bondi Dive Centre just outside Bondi Beach. We picked up our textbooks and some additional info from the centre on Saturday and we were instructed to read chapters 1-3. Of course I left this to almost the last minute assuming it was going to be about 50 pages of reading and it turned out to be 177. I powered through the readings and started class on Monday.
Monday was a full day in the classroom where we did a few quizzes and watched heaps of instructional videos. Our instructor was a lady named Noriko who was half Japanese and half Peruvian. She was a very interesting women and very much a free spirit. She has lived all over the world and when she gets bored she moves, the beauty of being a diving instructor I suppose.
Tuesday was alot more fun. We spent the day at the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre trying out some skills in the water and got to give the full wetsuit a try. I felt a bit like Michael Phelps minus the muscles, gold medals and of course his latest accessory, the bong. Breathing underwater for the first time was really cool. It took a little while to get comfortable with it as your natural tendency is to believe that it's impossible but eventually you become relaxed and you get used to it.
Wednesday we did a bit more theory and then headed to Bare Island about 30 minutes from Bondi to do our first two open water ocean dives. After putting on all the equipment including tank, weight belts, fins, snorkel and mask you can't help but feel a tad ridiculous and with all this added weight it was kind of hard to believe that all of the equipment was actually going to help me in the water. Our first dive was a bit disappointing, I managed to stay in control for most of the dive but the visibility under the water was not great so we couldn't see much except for what was right in front of us (in most cases our instructor). The second dive actually ended up being worse than the first as I had troubles controlling my buoyancy and was all over the place. I ended up finally getting balanced but the visibility still wasn't great. We ran into a few fish but nothing really to get excited about. We packed up our stuff and headed back to Bondi. I considered the day a success in the sense that 1) I survived and 2) I was fairly confident in my skills after two dives. I went home looking forward to Thursday.
We started the day Thursday with our PADI Open Water Diver exam. I am happy to report that I scored a respectable 88%...too bad this doesn't count towards my GPA. After the exam we headed to Bare Island once again for our final two dives. During our dives we were required to complete a series of skills in order to earn our certification. Ascending from the water at a controlled speed without our regulator (piece of equipment that allows you to breathe underwater), removing and replacing our goggles and deflooding them and underwater navigation using our compass were a few of the exercises we completed on the final day. Today's dives were significantly better than the first two. The visibility still wasn't great but it was alot better than the day before and we were able to see schools of fish swimming by the hundreds, stingrays, jelly fish and shark eggs. Our instructor stopped at one point and picked up this unknown object off the ocean floor and wrote on her board "Shark Egg" then she proceeded to write "Is the mother near?". Not exactly what you want to nearly 30 feet underwater but I suppose it's a reality of diving. After completing the two dives we were officially licensed divers.
The experience as a whole was amazing. I got to step out of my box in a huge way and do something that I never really thought I would do. It is a different world under the sea and I am looking forward to seeing more of it next week. I don't know how much diving I will do while I am down here as it's an expensive sport but I do hope to get out a few times to keep it fresh and hopefully partake in some diving if I make it to Indonesia and Thailand.
Enjoy the photos below. Cheers!
kc
Anders, Kristine, Kim and I after our first dive on Thursday
Bare Island
Success!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Back to the rythym and back to the beat of the radio
Good evening from Sydney! I figured I would post some more details that followed "Hell Day" so you guys can get a bit more of positive spin on what happened leading up to Melbourne. First of all I would like to send out a public service announcement. I am sorry for my lack of personal communication to alot of you. I really appreciate all the e-mails and Facebook messages that you've sent and if I haven't responded to you yet, I HAVEN'T forgot about you! I will try to respond in the next few days as I have a couple of days of down time ahead of me. Keep them coming though, I love hearing from everyone.
Also a special shout out to Debbie Huffman! Kayla tells me you are an avid reader which is great to hear.
After arriving in Port Fairy we got ourselves a campsite and proceeded to have our first night in the van. Life was squished.
Also a special shout out to Debbie Huffman! Kayla tells me you are an avid reader which is great to hear.
January 17th - Port MacDonnell and Mount Gambier
When I last left you we had just got to Port MacDonnell and things were a little...well let's just say things had been better, and better they got.
We stayed two nights in Port MacDonnell courtesy of Jenny's gracious parents Ron and Joyce who lent us their beach home. It was literally right on the ocean (check out the view from the living room!) and the town was very quaint and enjoyable, it also provided us with two less nights of sleeping in the van which we had yet to do at this point. The day following our strict peanut butter sandwich diet we enjoyed lunch at a place called Periwinkles in town where I had a huge plate of prawns, fish, calamari and salad (all fresh from the ocean of course). I really wish I had taken a picture of the plate as it cost me about $12 Canadian and was truly a meal fit for a king.
We spent the day 20 minutes up the highway at a place called Mount Gambier. The big selling point of this medium sized town is Blue Lake. The picture below doesn't quite do it justice but it is this absolutely amazing blue lake (surprise!). No one really knows why it's so blue but it was formed from an old volcanoe and turns the brightest blue you have ever seen every summer. After touring around some of the other sinkholes and craters that were around the town we headed for dinner at Ron and Joyce's. They prepared a massive barbeque for us which was great. Their other daughter from Darwin was visiting with her three girls and they took us to see the possums that come out at night at one of the sinkholes before we finally headed back to the beach house for the night.
We stayed two nights in Port MacDonnell courtesy of Jenny's gracious parents Ron and Joyce who lent us their beach home. It was literally right on the ocean (check out the view from the living room!) and the town was very quaint and enjoyable, it also provided us with two less nights of sleeping in the van which we had yet to do at this point. The day following our strict peanut butter sandwich diet we enjoyed lunch at a place called Periwinkles in town where I had a huge plate of prawns, fish, calamari and salad (all fresh from the ocean of course). I really wish I had taken a picture of the plate as it cost me about $12 Canadian and was truly a meal fit for a king.
We spent the day 20 minutes up the highway at a place called Mount Gambier. The big selling point of this medium sized town is Blue Lake. The picture below doesn't quite do it justice but it is this absolutely amazing blue lake (surprise!). No one really knows why it's so blue but it was formed from an old volcanoe and turns the brightest blue you have ever seen every summer. After touring around some of the other sinkholes and craters that were around the town we headed for dinner at Ron and Joyce's. They prepared a massive barbeque for us which was great. Their other daughter from Darwin was visiting with her three girls and they took us to see the possums that come out at night at one of the sinkholes before we finally headed back to the beach house for the night. 
January 18th - Port MacDonnell to Port Fairy
We left the beach house enroute to a place called Port Fairy. On the way we decided to stop at this place we saw on the map called Discovery Bay. After driving down a dirt road, which actually wasn't much of a road for half an hour we gave up and turned around and instead discovered nothing. The drive turned out to be pretty rewarding however after we stumbled upon a place called The Crags.
Basically The Crags turned out to be a bunch of really cool rock formations that provided for some great pictures. We climbed over the "Do Not Cross This Rope" rope and headed down to the beach. We spent quite a bit of time there before we headed to Port Fairy.
After arriving in Port Fairy we got ourselves a campsite and proceeded to have our first night in the van. Life was squished.
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