She'll be coming over the mountains when she comes!

 WARNING!!! TOO MANY MOUNTAIN PICTURES ARE IN THIS BLOG POST!!!! Right off the bat I will tell you that it was stupid how many pictures of the Rockies I took but it couldn't be helped. They are the definition of the word awesome (awe....inspiring!!). So here is the route I took from Victoria B.C. to Calgary A.B.
It took me from June 3rd to June 7th.

 Canada: The great north. Famous for it's mountains, trains, parries, oceans, animals, and winters. Perhaps more as I will soon discover. On my drive I encountered four trains along the way, they seem to go on for miles filled with wood, oil and all the essentials for the government to sell for money. I haven't seen a passenger train yet. even though it is supposed to be the way to travel Canada.

Another classic thing Canada is known for is the wild life. I have to say that I most definitely encountered a fair bit of wild life and I am only in the second province. So far I have seen four bears total, this one was a brown bear near the road on my way from Whistler to Lillooet. I also saw a mama and baby black bear and a grizzly. I have doubbed this guy George since he turned around to have a curious look at us when we stopped, though I think that's because he didn't like that we stopped and was giving us the eye.

As we drove through the Coastal Mountain Range I felt like I was Pinocchio driving down the whales esophagus being swallowed up by the mountains walls on all sides of me. This meant the temperature rose quickly.....

Since Victoria is Victoria and I am not use to lots of sun at this time of the year, I began to overheat.






The temperature in Lillooet was 31!!
In Lillooet there is a glacier run off that collects at this wonderful lake. It was very cold but a relief to walk into this clean and clear beach after the long drive. You can see this lake below.  

Literally a HOTspot!!

And I thought I had a large load!!!

This was the first glimpse I got of the Rockies. It felt as though these silent giants peered out at me from their cozy thick blankets but I didn't get a true look at them until the next day when the clouds cleared.

 Even through the sky wasn't clear my breath was taken away by the impressive size and natural beauty of these mountains. I am so very proud to be part of this country.

 Ok so I thought that Hawaii had lots of waterfalls but it turns out we have a ton of impressive powerful glacial waterfalls. Emphasis of the powerful!

Reargaurd Falls

I decided I'd try to take a swim......

  Tadaaaaaaaa Jess presents to you......Mount Robson

 Below are the four mountains that are clustered together and began my journey through to Alberta.

Of course I got lost in the midst of all the signs. I have to get lost every few days or so or else my life doesn't seem complete.

The crushing beauty of the mountains got to me. 

 GOOOOOOODBYYYYYEEEE BRITISH COLUMBIA!!!!

 HEEEEELLLLLLOOO ALBERTA!!!!

 So right beside the sign for Alberta there was bear scat. It was a strong sign of what was to come......

After 6 hours of driving our destination was upon us. The weather was not as hot as it was in Lillooet. We came into the town Jasper and it was extremely cloudy and poured torrential rain for 30 minutes. I thought long and hard about getting a hotel room but the rain settled. I would rather stay in a campground than a hotel so I can really experience the local area better.

 It wasn't our first stop in Jasper but it was great to have my gift card to grab a snack for when we set up camp.
So I forgot to take a picture of our campground but it was big and very equipped for wildlife. Good thing it was because there were Cariboo and bears living IN the campground. I have proof of this near the end of the blog. :D

 We continued the drive the and I just put these following pictures in because I couldn't get over the mountains and these pictures were very Canadian picturesque.

 The Athabasca Falls were breath taking. They were only 30 minutes from my campsite so we checked it out before settling for the night. I took a few pictures of it since it was just lovely. It runs off the Athabasca pass glacier which you will see in my pictures below.

 

This was a grizzly bear we meet at the size of the road about 5 Kilimeters from my campsite.

Our camp group's local residents.

More waterfalls. Take that Hawaii!!! 

Our country is just amazing.

We made our way across the Ice Field Parkway towards Lake Louise and Baniff. There is a picture below of Jeff, Mia and I near Lake Louise. Though it is a beautiful spot I found it really over touristy and kinda sad to see such a large ugly hotel next to it. I didn't stay long here and mosied my way to Baniff.

 In Baniff... need your fix..... Whaaaaat?




Finally here is the proof that life was in our campsite that you have been waiting for. We discovered this the next day. A bear had climbed up on top of my car and back down again. The prints you see below are the size of my hand.

So now Jeff and I have parted ways and I headed for Calgary. I will post again when I have left Alberta. I am currently in Edmonton after checking out Calgary for a couple days. Hope you enjoyed the post and it wasn't too scatterbrained or overwhelming with pictures for you. Thanks for reading!!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang we love you!!!

It has begun.... I have moved out of my home and into my car, Andy is his name. He is my Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He and I will be good friends soon enough. It’s kind of strange to think everything I need is in my car. This makes me a little nervous because it also makes me a little vulnerable. In venice I had my camera stolen out of a locked cabinet in a locked room, so my car seems much less challenging to break into. So I have kept this in mind when I packed my car full of the least valuable stuff I could. As a side note, beware villains for I am equipt with my swiss army knife and a positive attitude! I am getting very excited for the experience that is a head of me. 

Before heading on my trip I was living out at Goldstream Park, while my show Oliver finished up on Sunday. Because I sold the most vouchers for my play I got a couple gift cards to Tims, so I have made it my goal to take pictures of all the Tim's I go to across Canada as I use those gifts up. Thanks Four Seasons!

Sadly when I moved to Goldstream I got lost getting to my campsite. I get lost pretty easily. Sometimes I think getting lost is a good thing since I seem to find that fun or interesting things happen when I do. I finally did make camp in the forest at Goldstream after a long day of work and errands. Here's my cousin and I saying goodbye at my campsite!!

I finally left for my trip today and waved so long to Goldstream. I began writing this entry sitting in my car on the 9 am ferry (one the left is my goodbye picture from the ferry) and finished it sitting in my room in Whistler (to the right you can see me pretending to be more athletic than I am beside the Olympic rings). Andy, Jeff, Zoey -his car-, Mia- his dog- and I will be checking out the village. I have never been even though it’s super close. 

On our way to Whistler we stopped in Stanley park for a picnic lunch from my cooler. Then we headed up the Sea to Sky highway and checked out the local sights! I had no idea there were such powerful waterfalls along the road. I got thirsty after seeing them all so I decided to take a drink while I was there. 

As we climbed the mountain we got a more and more amazing views. Seeing my own province from high heights was pretty fantastic! I will miss B.C. 

After Whistler our plan is to head north towards Jasper, then Baniff and Lake Louise, perhaps I'll catch a ride on the train and become a freight jumper :D I will do a B.C. post after I reach Calgary where Jeff and I will part ways and I truly begin this solo Journey to explore my own county. Until then happy beginning of June!!

Where I call home.....

Can you believe it has been two years since my last post and my last big adventure! Have you ever found yourself being asked about where you're from when you are travelling other countries? I was, my response was always Canada (I wasn't sure if they would know much about Canadian geography) and they always  tried to guess which city I lived in such as Vancouver or Toronto or Montreal.... and that's about where their knowledge of Canada ended. Occasionally I would meet a fellow traveller who was so excited to talk to me, because they had been to Canada. They would question me and tell me all about the places they had been. I began to realize that they would know a boat load more about my own country than I did. So when I got back I promised myself that in two years time I would set off to explore the country I call home. So here I am two months away from departure across a distance that is equivalent to driving to mexico. This time around I am travelling with myself and Andy- my Toyota Matrix. We just met and have been getting to know one another. We plan on going across Canada and back through the states from the beginning of June to mid August. My saving began two years ago and my planning is slowly coming together, but I want to let things flow and change as I let the miles (yes miles- Andy is American) run beneath his wheels. So my blogs are being resurrected as my trip draws nearer. Please keep checking for future posts coming within the next couple months.

Fiji

Alright everyone so this is extremely late but I am going to post it anyway so you know what I got up to in the Fijian islands then I amgoing to post about the first week of Europe. I flew intoNadi on the 19^thof April late in the evening. We caught acomplementary cab ride to our hostel. The ride was a bit scary as the Fijian peoples seem to drive with a lot of enthusiasm and assertive skills. The hostel that we stayed at called the Blue Water Lodge was very nice and I would recommend it as a friendly clean and welcoming place though it rests a bit out of town though there is a shuttle. The day after we arrived in Nadi we headed into Deneau port where the ferries run out to the over 300 islands. Though the actual accommodation at Beachcomber island is reasonable the ferry to the island is whopping $88 FJ each way, make sure to have that in your budget. The island itself is great. Food is included in your stay and extras aren’t that expensive either. There are many activities available for all ages including scuba diving, snorkeling, paragliding, jet skiing, swimming, walking, tanning andjust hanging around in a hammock. I spent three wonderful days here meeting people from England, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and many other places from around the world. I went tanning, snorkeling, play beach volleyball. The sunrises and sun sets were absolutely amazing and I enjoyed getting up and going for a swim as the water turned to gold around me. After Beachcomer island I went to the Weston in the Denarau area. It was a beautiful room and a beautiful area to finish of the south pacific though food was extremely costly. We did learn about how to open coconuts demonstrated below and how to scale a coconut tree as well!! We explored the area a bit but basically just took it easy.

After the five peaceful and beautiful days I flew home for a great week with my close friends and family. Thank you so much Peter and Steph for letting me stay with you it was wonderful and thank you to my family for sharing such a wonderful evening with me as well.

The last of Australia

I arrived in Coff's Harbour on April 5th. Coff's Harbour was nice. It is a small town with a few attractions but some really nice people. Some of the things that I did were jump of the Jetty, go to the big banana, walk the Habitat walk and check out to Mutton Island. I enjoyed the 3 hour walk around the habitat walk. Most of the trail was in good conditions,but due to rains the Habitat walk was flooded and some of the trail was underconstruction so I recommend checking out the status of the trail before walking all the wayaround. The big banana was fun! It had delicious frozen bananas with chocolate and nuts or sprinkles and banana ice creamand ofcourse many banana merchandise.The sky walk through the banana fields were short due to construction and weather was no longer fully open. Lastly the pier was lots of fun. It is a long pier that I jumped off it twice.I jumped when it was just a bit after high tide so the jump isn't as big as it can be but it was long enough that I registered that I was falling for an extra long time! It is a good good place to go to relax and escape from the big cities. The YHA there was good and had organized events that brought people together. After the small town of Coff's Harbour I headed for Newcastle.

It was a wonderful place filled with lots of shopping, interesting architecture. Some of the things that I did was explore the lighthouse

which was not much to see as it was under construction, but it was a nice walk out to the

point. The YHA here was awesome it was a converted gentleman's club and it looked like one inside and out. From Newcastle I went on a tour of the Hunter Valley. The next day I left for Sydney again.

The YHA harbour was so wonderful last time that I stayed there again but using the epack this time is was almost half of the price. Then we stayed in the YHA Railway

where our dorm was actually an old rail cart. It was pretty awesome and great way to finish off Australia.

After being in Sydney for a week last time we were there and seeing most of the things we

wanted to see. We booked a trip to the blue

mountains.We went with the Happy Coach which was decent. We had a range of people from the middle aged to the young from all over the world. The driver was late but friendly and talked a fair bit about our surroundings. It was also the cheapest tour we could find so that was a plus too. Once getting out to the blue mountains it was beautiful.

The tour took us into the Blue Mountains national park and saw our last kangaroos and walked through spider laden grass. We headed to the Jamison Valley look out and saw the famous Three sisters rock formation and hear the story of their creation where a father turned his three daughters into stone to save them from death. I walked the Furber steps down and along the valley and saw waterfalls rain forests and old mining areas. On the way back up the Valley I took the steepest railroad in the world! It was a wonderful day and the last one I had in Sydney Australia.

I enjoyed my stay in Oz it was fun and filled with lots of different kinds of weather. If you are interested in surfing and taking it easy Australia is the place for you. If I think of New Zealand in comparison with Australia then I would say I loved NZ because of the wonderful and friendly people there, the beautiful scenery and great places to explore.

Brisbane to Byron Bay

Hello friends and family!

(I don't know why but the pictures are not matching up to the words I am sorry I will try and fix it soon but here is the post anyway)

I can't believe how time is moving. In ten days I will be in Fiji then home in six days after that!

After Hervey Bay we left for Brisbane to meet up with a friend we met in Ayers Rock. The first night we were there I went to Wicked. It was absolutely amazing. For those who don't know the play is the story behind the Wizard of Oz. I cried so much it was fantastic!
The next day we headed off on our Brisbane adventure with Tom. We went to GOMA, the Gallery of Modern Arts. This place was wonderful it had exhibits on lego (below), on youtube, on convenience stores, on cardboard, recycled bags, and all kinds of modern materials; it even had a slide in the entrance way!

To the right is a picture of ribbons that lined the walls that had wishes people have written. You take one that you think fits you the best then place a wish of your own in it's place, the artist will choose which wishes he wants to print on more ribbons that will be placed there. It was very interesting to see all the different kinds of wishes that were on the walls.

We also went to another contemporary arts museum called the Power House, this was a building that was once used as a port for coal imports.


I also went to the the Roma Street Parklands, a beautiful garden full of local and imported plants that was also full of animals. We had a wonderful guide who took us around for free and was well worth doing.

Later that day I got to see a rugby game with the Reds VS the Cheetahs. It was a very intense game where the play only stops for three reasons, and one of them is not if someone gets hurt! Below is one play in action!

I then bussed up to the top of a mountain to see the whole city from above. The city is huge though I found that the city didn't have a ton of things to keep you busy so we left after four nights.

After we left Brisbane we headed to Surfer's Paradise. It is like a beachy Los Vegas where surfers meet city slickers.




We stayed there a total of three nights to give us time to see two amusement parks, Dream World and White Water World. I have never been to an amusement park like this before and I was blown away. I went on all of the rides and had an amazing time. The ride below is called the Claw, it swings you back and forth while also spinning you around. It was the worst one for me but I rode it three times!!!! it was great.

Along the way I got in trouble for stealing a horse, but it was okay because I got a way in an Oldsmobile car!

<------ This is the Tower of Terror and the Giant Drop. We rode both. The Tower of Terror took you up about 20 stories backwards then shot you back down again all in about 10 seconds. It was a lot of fun! The Giant Drop was scarier as you go up 33 stories hang around for 90 seconds then plummet for less than 5 seconds. It was unsettling and was experienced only once.

There was also some amazing animals there, everything from snakes to white tigers. Below is a large crocodile chilling out in his home, can you spot the female in the picture?

<--- This is the world's tallest residential building in the world. It is found in Surfer's paradise and is quite the landmark building. It holds only 56

residents so I can only imagine the prices for living there.



We stayed at Surfer's Paradise Backpackers Resort. It was an okay place to rest your head

and get to know some people. I played volley ball every night there and chilled out with some great people including some people from Victoria! The staff were very casual so if you are looking for a little more well run place than I would look into another hostel but for the three nights we stayed it was good.

I headed to Currumbin after Surfer's Paradise. It is a small place about 20 minutes south of Surfer's Paradise and 20 minutes north of Coolengatta. I stayed with a good friend from home. He was very hospitable and took me out Paddle boarding on the river, walking along the beach, a bike ride to Coolengatta (my calf's were tight for quite a while), and cooked me some amazing meals to boot! I like the quite place, it was friendly, had the beach and wasn't far from all of the amenities and two great little cities. Coolengatta is also a town that boarders New South Wales and Queensland, which I straddled so that I could be in two places at once!!

After a wonderful two days there I was off to Byron bay. This place reminded me of Saltspring Island, with the clash of tourists and naturalists. It was a great place to check out the beach, go to markets and shop in the small town.

One of the days we were there we hiked up to the lighthouse that is famous there for being on the most Easterly point of Australia. Below you can see the view from the light house and the lighthouse itself. A beautiful building that looks like a small castle built to withstand the ages.

Byron Bay has been wonderful, relaxing and fun. Unfortunately the rain did find me so I wasn't able to enjoy the sun and beaches as much as I could have.


Today I head to Coff's Harbour. Then off to Newcastle before heading back to Sydney and the Blue mountains.

As the trip comes to a close I am enjoying each day as much as possible since the days seem to pass by so quickly at times. I don't know when I will blog next, perhaps in Sydney before I head to Fiji.

I hope everyone at home is well and is enjoying the warming of the weather!