My Life in Words

Ok, so after Picton, I got back on the bus and headed to Abel Tasman National park, where I spent two nights. After that it was down to Franz Josef for a few nights (via one night in a town called Blackball), and then to Wanaka for one night before my final stop in Queenstown. Now, I should start this by saying that I dont camp. I dont like sleeping on the ground, I dont like getting dirty, I dont like being cold and I don't like bugs. But in Abel Tasman, I camped (sort of)!! We stayed at a "hotel" called the barn. There were two options of accommodation type - cabin or tent. Since it was "luxury" camping, with big walk in tents and proper beds, I decided to give it a go. The cabins were pretty much identical, only with walls and for more money, so I roughed it for two nights. It wasn't so bad and I actually really liked the accommodation. While there, I did a full day sailing trip in the park. Abel Tasman is a large national part on the northwestern corne

Right. So after Queenstown, the pace of my holiday has really slowed down. New Zealand is not a very busy place.   I have spent the last 4 days in mt. Cook, Rangitata, Kaikoura and Picton (where I am now).  Since not a lot has been going on, I figured I would just share this highlights  - In Rangitata we stayed at a sheep farm. it was really in the middle of no where. They did, however offer white water rafting, as the near by river has class 4 and 5 rapids, but I decided not to go since I have been before.  Instead, one of the owners drove me down to the river and I spent about an hour walking back. I'm not usually one who enjoys quiet time, but I was surprised how much I enjoyed my walk and my stay on the farm. Dont get me wrong, I hve no intentions of becoming a farmer, but its nice walking around with no one else around within miles. I scenery on the walk was beautiful and on the way I chatted at some cows (who then scared me, as there were hundreds of them looking at

October and November were tough months. After a surprisingly busy October at work (which is supposed to be my quiet time), I spent nearly the entire month of November on the road for work. I don't mind traveling for work, but by the end of the four weeks away, I was really looking forward to some time to myself. That's not to say I won't be busy during my time in New Zealand; I will be. But I'll be busy doing things I want to go and seeing places I want to go (unlike my most recent work trip, which involved using a first aid room at a mine site as an office, while our of town for the week in a place called Gunnedah). Stop 1 on my 2 weeks here is Queenstown; Adventure capital of the world (or something). I can understand why - every other store in this (surprisingly) small town, is a booking agency. Bungy jumping, sky diving, white water rafting, parasailing, hang gliding, and about 50 other adventure sports I never even knew existed. Case and point - extreme jet b

Hello Again Firstly, I want to say that I am glad to see that people are reading this blog.   The page viewer on my blog showed 74 views in the 24 hours after I made the last post.  Surely, my parents didn't read it more than 5 times, which still leaves 69 views.....maybe I have a stalker. Anyway, I thought I would write one more post from Japan before I leave  this evening. We spent 4 nights in Kyoto after Takayama.  As I mentioned before, I was quite surprised at how different the city is to Tokyo.  It's much more laid back and as a result, seems like a more fun city.  You see more people in unusual and interesting outfits and far less traditional practices.  I spoke about the nice neat queues in Tokyo..... It's much more of a free for all in Kyoto. Kyoto is known for it's temples, and I can understand why.  There seems to be thousands of them. Everywhere you look is another temple.  We visited a few, but we are not really temple people.  Honestly, we went mo

Alright - post number two from Japan. This country continues to be extremely interesting. It's such a weird mix of traditional and extremely modern. The trains and technology is scarily efficient, however you often see people using old fashioned brooms, or wearing kimonos and wooden shoes. Previously, I had always thought that it was a bit strange how the Japanese tourists in Canada and Australia always seem to be taking photos of absolutely everything. Having been here now, however, I completely understand why they do it; because even the little things are very different. I realize that I've been just as guilty of taking stupid pictures as they are....they must look at western tourists and think we are the crazy ones! Speaking of western tourists....there aren't many. We have not run into many other Canadians or Australians. We have seen a few white people with cameras at some of the sites, but even they are far and few between. I'm not sure if it's the eart

こんにちは (which I think says konnichi wa) I am currently on holiday in Japan with my aunt. It is my first time here and over the course of 12 days we will visit Tokyo, Takayama, Kyoto and Hiroshima. While there are some 'sites' to see (temples and museums), it's really the cultural differences, food and vibe of each city that are worth talking about. So, rather than take a day by day account, I decided my first post will be a summary of some of the more interesting observations thus far (and there have been lots). I find that Im saying "what is that?" about 50 times a day. Everything is just so strange and different; weird and wonderful. So, here are some first observations from Tokyo: 1. Queues - one of the first thing I noticed when I landed was how civil the Japanese are when it comes to getting in line. Not only does everyone form a queue without being prompted, the queues are perfect straight single file line ups and no one dares budge. For example, while com

I have had a few people ask me recently why I havent been writing my blog.  The answer is simply because I dont have anything to write about.  Unless people are interested in hearing about all the stupid things I do while drunk, my day to day life is not particularly interesting. However, as I was in Queensland last week, I figured I would get back on the blog. My friend Jackie (who I played soccer with growing up, and then lived with in Uni) arrived 2 weeks ago. She spent a few days with me in Sydney before we took off for 8 days in Queensland.  Day 1 - Sydney to Hervey Bay to Fraser Island. We had to get up fairly early Sunday morning to get our flight up to Hervey Bay. Thankfully the saturday night hangover was not too bad and the trip was uneventful. From Hervey Bay, it was a 50 minute ferry trip to Fraser Island. We decided to do a tour while on Fraser - 2 days, 3 nights. We thought about renting a 4x4 and camping, but that seemed a bit ambitious given that I'm