Christina (from the Garibaldi and Juan de Fuca trips) had once again done us proud and organized a snowshoe hike to Elfin Lakes Shelter in (a different section of) Garibaldi Provincial Park. Christina, Harini, Mark, Scott & Whitney, Stephen and I were going… only Stephen had winter camped before!

Preparing for this one presented a few problems. Firstly I didn’t have a winter tent. I do have my great MEC Camper 2 tent, but that’s 3 season rather than 4, and contained meshing. This attracts condensation that then snows down back on top of you, and melts from your body heat, making your bag wet. Secondly, the bag itself was rated to -7C. I could increase that to around -12C with a fleece liner.

Well, I would just throw on some more thermals when I slept. Heavy arse bag packed, snowshoes and winter boots at the ready, I woke up at 4:30 to transport myself, Christina and Harini up to Squamish to meet the gang, under a lunar eclipse of all things…

We got to the trailhead and set off. Quickly, we realised we had hiked above the fog!

Harini’s backpack did need repacking due to being heavily loaded at the top, but no matter, we were soon all plodding on nicely. Whiskey Jacks were about and up to their normal scavenging ways…

It was around this time, after a huge long uphill switchback section, that Harini and I realised our snowshoes had heel lifters! This makes going up hill more akin to walking up the stairs, much less effort! We were kicking ourselves!

The higher we get, the better the views got!

Eventually we reached Red Heather hut. This is a warming hut that had been built up here, complete with fire and tables to relax in. Can’t camp inside it though. That said, if I were stuck in a snowstorm or something, damn right I’m sleeping in there!

Quick lunch and a chance for some photos of Mount Garibaldi!

We had intended to go a more northerly route, which took us below some avalanche slide paths. Here is a little lesson in back country travel. Lesson one is that you should go and get a REAL lesson in it (I’ve done Avalanche Safety Training 1 for example). Lesson two is always travel with a beacon, probe and shovel. Lesson three is where this story actually starts. Essentially slide paths are slopes with the potential to avalanche, and then the movement the snow will take after that. A slide path can be varied, but typically a clear slope with an angle of 25-45°. You can spot some of them by a lack of trees, although there are trees around them. Of course, that doesn’t apply above the treeline. You only make the decision to travel through them based on snow stability tests, avalanche bulletins and weather conditions. Because some in our group had not brought avalanche safety gear, we decided to proceed along a more southerly but higher ridgeline.

Now here’s where the debate starts and I think this deserves a full sized photo! Apparently everyone but me can see the huts in this view!

I cant see it but apparently it's there!?

We trudged on and started to come across a novelty… flat sections, and even downhill!

This has to be something that deserves a video. We ran into two guys who had built an ingenius way of getting an extra 40kg of gear up the mountains. The Pole Pack Hiker.

Wish I had one of those as the pack was digging into my shoulders. No matter, the hut was within 2km!

That night we feasted on the traditional Mountain House Buffalo Chicken Wraps and various freeze dried treats. Stephen kindly provided the Caesars! A rugby team or stag do or something also hiked their way up. They had brought pirate levels of boose! The rangers came along and asked them to keep it the hell down. When we all went to sleep (at a very adult 19:30, we had been up since 4 remember)… they were singing away. I think I actually said aloud in my tent “I wish these idiots would shut the fuck up!”

Sleeping in -12°C… well this is no where as easy as it sounds. When you climb into the sleeping bag, you will immediately be far to hot and have to unzip it. However, in the night, your metabolism slows right down, and you’re then going to start to get pretty cold. I woke up shivering a few times, but pulled a hat on, put my sleeping bag over my head and went to sleep.

Also, you’ll find your moisture rich breath will condense on the fabric of the tent. Then, when you move, it will snow back down on top of you! It did on me quite a few times.

The next day, this is what we woke up to!

Today was going to be mostly downhill. Phew. It was also the best light of the day so I think I’m just going to post a load of photos!

And here are a couple of Panoramas:

Back at the Red Heather hut, the Whiskey Jacks were back and out in force to steal whatever they could! They even nicked salami right off Stephen’s knee!

After that it was only a 90 minute walk back to the cars, which we were more than a bit relieved to see!

In conclusion, top marks for my snowshoes!

My mighty snowshoes! MSR Denali Ascents with 6inch tails!

A couple of weeks after the White Water Rafting fun, we decided more hiking was in order! Garibaldi Provincial Park it is! Organised by Christina and Stephen (both of whom also organised the Juan de Fuca trip) and attended by Hannah, Mark, Scott and I…. but the thing is, Hannah, Mark and I couldn’t make it until after work. We were going to have to start this hike at night.

Isn't this about the time the serial killers come out?

Great time to find out the new rechargable batteries, that Duracell claimed were “precharged”, were actually not charged after all, and therefore my headlamp was out of action. Fortunately, I have a backup light.

I'm not kidding about this night thing!!! Thankfully it was a full moon!

It seems 8km uphill took longer than we thought, so we arrived about 90 minutes late arriving at Garibaldi Lake Campground. Stephen was on the sat phone to us and there was a very relieved look on Christina’s face. There was a slightly more bitter look on someone else’s face when I accidentally used his stove, thinking it was ours.

Sleep time.

Next morning, this is what we wake up to!

This was an awesome way to wake up!

This looks a lot better when the sun is up!

Our first day hike was to Black Tusk, which I’ve seen many times from the top of Whistler, but never been to it. I’d forgotten to bring a smaller backpack, so had to borrow the top of one of the backpacks, which handily converts into a bumbag!

Off we go!

Scott's idea of directing us!

Did I mention how awesome the view is?

I repeat, awesome!

Yes, awesome (and I'm running out of caption ideas)

Stephen, admiring both the mighty Black Tusk, and the 1km of snow, scree and uphil between us and it!

This was pretty much the going for this bit, probably the hardest single section we did

However, we persevered and made to the top!

Looking out over the edge, long bloody way down!

So we were wondering back down again when we take a good look at the slope to the West… and quick as a flash, Mark and Scott decide bootskiing is in order!

And they were pretty good at it!

Of course, Stephen and I looked at each other and decided we had clearly missed a trick! We were both skiers, so we must be born to doing that!

This is the middle of summer! And yes it was tricky to walk up!

So there we were at the top of the cornice, looking down… I mean how hard can this be!?

Yeah, it wasn't so easy, I'm that large spray of snow on the right! (note: Christina took this on Mark's camera)

Complete with ice burns on the arms and numb hands, we headed back. As we neared the camp, we found this:

Can someone explain what this strange sit in bike thing is? It was going over the bridge and down the stairs at the time

In terms of the budding photographers among us, this evening was going to be great! We settled down to the bagged dinners, while enviously looking over at the folks who had brought up an entire stirfry with them! However, we were seeing scenes like this!

More salt with the bagged dinner sir?

Moonrise!

Note to self: Buy reflective clothing for shots like this!

60 second exposure of Garibaldi Lake at night! By far my favourite shot!

Reminder, I’m using my Lumix TS3 for this! However, all of today’s fun had taken it’s toll on the battery. I was getting critically low and one more day to go.

The next day, we were heading to Panorama Ridge before we hiked down. Yep, 26km in one day! I had to be a little more frugal on the photos given the battery situation, and even borrowed Hannah’s camera (not that I have the photos from it yet missy!)

But this view made the grade!

As did this one of the Tusk!

After that, I was fully out of power, so the rest of the photos are from Mark’s camera.

Me, Scott and Mark in front of Garibaldi Lake!!

Then we caught sight of a nice downhill slope… and decided that it was time to try out bootskiing or just arse-sliding down!!!

I'm having fun!

Loads of fun!!

Thing is, in this situation I tend to bite off a little more than I could chew. After Christina had a great slide down the next slope, then deftly caught by Mark, I basically lept into the slide slope, which was a little more slippery than anticipated! It’s not on camera, I essentially flew (catching air a few times), down this. Mark pretty much decided that 87kg moving at speed was far too much to stop, so I flew down twice the distance of everyone else:

Weeeeeee!

Me, with a load of snow melting off my face!

So back to camp, where Stephen and Hannah (who hadn’t come out that day) had squared everything away. We did however have a visitor:

Hannah thought this was great!

On the way down we passed The Barrier (that we can actually see now, because it’s light)! This huge lava dam, that creates Garibaldi Lake, is degrading. Have I mentioned there was an earthquake nearby recently? Might have shaken a few things, just in time for us to see it, and Mark to photograph it:

Impressive rock slide when you see it in person!

Anyway, 2 hours of wet boots downhill later, we were finally at the car. Great time! Well recommended!

Firstly, I decided this was going to be the end of the trip and I would have a week off at home rather carry on on the road. As fun as it was, this was the best decision.

So, from Sun Peaks I headed for Lytton and to the camp site where I was meeting Hannah, Melissa and Mahal. We were camping, and rafting, with Hyak that weekend. We had gotten a deal through Zozi so we had it for half off (Zozi is similar to Groupon, but more focused on activities)!
Note: the link above is my referral link 

Once we arrived, it was clear that we were all in the mood for a lot of drinking, a lot of fun that weekend! We quickly befriended not one but TWO stag parties that weekend! That resulted in a lot of very fun drinking if I do say so myself! Thing is, we didn’t really have enough torches between us, so I ended up using my dive light… this is basically having a small sun in your hands!!

Anyway, next day we were joined by more friends, went up to Hyak to grab our lifejackets and helmets, then off we went!

Transported up there on old schoolbuses, half of us were paddle rafting, the rest (including us) were using power boats

Here is a giant advert for Hyak!

Quick safety briefing (essentially put your hands between your legs and hope for the best ) and some more banter with the stag parties and away we go!

Me on the way (note: the black tshirt you can see is my rashy)

One of the boats we were using, the guides were awesome!

The Western Side of the river had a railway (YES, A RAILWAY IS WHAT I CALL IT!!), and we enjoyed getting the drivers to sound their horns!

Anyway, after the first set of rapids, we pulled into shore for lunch (sandwiches…. no not “gourmet lunch” as Zozi described). Was tasty though, and relaxing!

The rafts tied up at shore

After lunch it was on to the big stuff! You’re probably wondering why I’m able to take photos when my camera was being replaced… good thing I sold my old Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2 to Hannah!

Off we go towards the bigger stuff so to speak!

We rotated through the boat, so everyone got a go at the front having water crash into their face!

Isn't this just a great country!

We kind of look like a flotilla going down here!

Yes, this is a good idea of what it was like. Great fun!

So, with that done we were all on a high! We promptly loaded up my cooler (great investment for this trip) with as much boose and ice as it could take! The party in the evening was insane! Not many photos I can share without someone slapping me, but I will put this one out:

This is in the middle of a valley in a predominantly desert part of BC! Huge blow-out party!!!! Best I've had for a while! Well worth it!

All in all, great way to end the road trip!

After this, I had a week at home chilling out and catching up on a few things. New website for Mum was made, and I caught up with as many friends as I could. New job started a week after!

Photos in this post were taken by Hannah and I, on Hannah’s camera

Now, remember all that wine I’m transporting? I have to keep it cool, even red wine can’t stand too much temperature raise within the bottles. Fortunately, because I have cases of wine, this works in my favour, the bottles keep each other cooler than a single bottle, and I can blast them with air con, leave the windows slightly open when I leave the car, find the shady parking spots, that sort of thing. Unfortunately, at Enderby you are pretty much parking smack bang in the open. This was going to have to be a fast hike!

Quite a nice trail up and all the rest… until, without warning, it says it’s closed half way up!! Blah!?

This was the best view I really got.

Headed back and decided to drive to Salmon Arm for a quick tea. Then I looked at the map and spotted a few Provincial Parks nearby… why not go to them I thought?

Thing is, on the way to the closest one, I saw a nice looking road that looked like a major route on the map. Why not use that I thought?

I’m writing this on Windows Live Writer because I can’t find any WiFi, can’t insert a map like I normally would. I’ll try to remember to update this when I upload the post, but in the mean time, go to Google Maps and get the following directions:
From: Pritchard, BC, Canada
To: Sun Peaks, BC, Canada

Yeah, see that windy road? It’s unsurfaced, there are signs saying that logging trucks should call out on their radios, bumps, pot holes, stones, cattle on the loose. Yes, the Impreza is the perfect car for the job… I mean who wouldn’t attempt it with normal road going tyres, normal road going suspension, normal ride height… no, it has All Wheel Drive, clearly there is nothing it cannot do for 24km!

After pushing through some cows, including one angry looking bull, complete with horns, I went up through the switchbacks and the loose surface as the sun was going down. Have to admit, the view was great and I secretly enjoyed the drive. For some reason though, I wasn’t alone. I caught sight of dust from someone up ahead, and just caught sight of him turning down a real 4×4-necessary road marked private, wonder what that was.

Anyway, eventually I caught sight of ski hill trail markers and realised I had made it to Sun Peaks. No messing around, I found the overnight carpark and joined a few other campers and RVers, all unofficially camping.

Immediately headed to town and went round every bar, I had gotten in at about 9:10, ten minutes after most had stopped food service, but Powder Hounds were nice enough to do one last plate for me.

That was a PHENOMINAL burger. If your wondering, that’s got all the fixings except cheese, I prefer my burgers without it! 3 pints of Granville Island Hefeweizen didn’t go a miss either! Really nice place to chill out, friendly bartenders and has a patio. (There’s a review I hope they see).

Anyway, closing time came round so I went back to the car, set up the tent in record quick time and crashed pretty quickly watching A Bridge Too Far (did you know that has Sean Connery in it?).

Will say that the netbook (a Samsung N220) has been a trooper throughout all this. I’m easily getting 5 hours of battery life, possibly more, even if I’m watching movies etc. Will be making this my travel notebook for now. Still want the Asus U36SD for my main one though!

Anyway, I’m off to explore Sun Peaks some more, I might spend all day here and just skip Kamloops. One way or another, I have to be in Lytton this evening to meet the group for White Water Rafting. Can’t wait!

So I headed up to Vernon, as I was driving through I found a dive shop and thought that might be fun. But, no joy, they didn’t have any tours or info on anywhere where I could go get a couple of fun dives in, so I left for a wonder. Over lunch, I thought about heading up to Silver Star to see what was going on up there. So off I went up a great road (by the way, those of you who own automatic Imprezas… buy manual ones or use the tiptronic gear changer).

When I got there I immediately realized I should have resolved to get up here sooner, as I could have gotten a downhill mountain bike lesson and rental for the day and had a great time. Never mind, wen’t hiking instead and took a few snaps from the top:

Ahh the whole Okanagan (probably... well in fact probably not)

The Village

Vernon, I think...

I liked it up there so I decided to camp for the night (just $10 and includes access to hot showers, decent bogs, and right by the village with the bar open late). Got talking to a few people and had a great time!

Anyway, hitting the Northern Okanagan now, then it’s onto Lytton for the White Water Rafting trip.

After my first night at Cathedral Provincial Park, I got up, realized I couldn’t be bothered to cook breakfast on my BBQ (which had to be packed away into the car every night, bears would just think it was Christmas otherwise), and promptly drove into the next town, Keremeos, where I stopped at a Fruit Stand by the side of the road to grab some snacks.

As I was driving, I noticed the landscape was really starting to change, as I had been warned, into a drier semi-desert. As I got to Osoyoos, it really was starting to look that way… except that there were vineyards everywhere!

I chilled out in Osoyoos for a bit then went wine tasting. Wish I could remember where I took this, but this was the view:

Vineyard country!

Looking north, towards Oliver

Carried on around quite a few vineyards that day, including (but not limited to as I can’t remember every last one off the top of my head 4 days later when I write this); Oliver Twist, Quinta Ferreria, Hester Creek, Rustico (where I ordered a whole case on behalf of me and a friend). My car ended up looking a bit lush:

That will be fun to drink!

Anyway, time was getting on so I decided I needed to look for a place to sleep that night. I spotted a road that looked like it might lead to a campsite, so i decided that was as good a reason as any to drive up it. Turns out it was just a logging road, with a loose gravel/dust surface.

But the view was good.

Might be the photo that sums up the whole trip

Eventually I backtracked, I resorted to a private campsite just outside Okanagan Falls.

Day 3 and I head for Penticton… I’ve been look forward to this since my friend told me about her trip a few weeks ago. To get there though, I decided to drive a back route to see what was out there, eventually ending up at White Lake, and I spotted something in the distance…

What are those in the distance? Look like satellite dishes.

Turns out I had stumbled across the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory. Decided to walk in, but there were rather off-putting signs around.

:-|

Essentially, 7 radio telescopes are in an exact East-West row. 3 of them are mounted on rails to allow them to be moved (the more distant ones in this photo). It allows for great radio imaging.

A quick wonder round later, I had not been bitten by a rattlesnake, so drove on Penticton. I was kind of lost for things to do if I’m honest, was a cloudy day, so after lunch and writing that first blog post, I headed for a drive up in the hills. One more wine stop later, I had a look at the front of the car and saw just how many bugs it was picking up!

How am I supposed to get all them off?

I didn’t take any photos of this next bit. I got it into my head that Apex Mountain had an RV Park or Campground, so I drove the 31km up there through nice windy roads (great drive). When I got there I was very much mistaken, and it was getting dark. So, instead of just turning back like I should have, I took off towards Nickel Plate Provincial Park. Pay attention to that page, I didn’t. Although camping is allowed, you need a 4×4 to get there, and that was certainly the case when I saw the access road. My AWD Impreza was not going to do it, I like the suspension (which is road going) more than I wanted a free camp site.

Defeated, I drove back to Penticton and another commercial campground.

Day 4 and I woke up with one thing on my mind, going for a float down the river. So after finding breakfast, I drove all over town finding a floaty:

How else was I going to get it in the car!?

Then I realized the bus service I was going to use could have rented them to me if I had read the sign. Ah well, I had it now, so off I went for a relaxing float. If any of you do this, I tell you the route is longer than it looks, I think it was about 45 minutes of floating. Well worth it if you’re in the area!

After that I headed north, stopped for a swim at Kickininee Provincial Park. Even broke out the snorkel and mask to see what was down there (kelp forest and quite a lot of small fish, possibly a kind of wrasse). Was great!

Great view of Okanagan Lake

Anyway, I then checked out Summerland for a little while, but decided to head into Kelowna. Where, after some deliberating, I decided to check in to the Samesun that night and meet some folks. Tuesday is a bit of quiet night though, so didn’t meet as many people as I thought. However, I got a 4 bed room to myself, so all good there!

And now, I’m off to explore Kelowna!

Seems I’m only going to have enough time to write day 1 before my parking runs out. Will do the other days later…

The car packed, I stopped to get some bear spray from MEC… might need that if I’m going to camp out in the wilderness. In the car, off on Highway 1. Clearing the city and Abbotsford, I decided to make the first stop in Hope.

Seems there was a Harley Davidson Festival on...

So after a quick lunch, I headed to get some petrol…. this should be no problem… I counted seven stations on the way in. Oh no no… every last one of them was full! I would either be waiting for 4 cars to fill (and everyone took their sweet time once they got to the pump). I eventually found a free one. Then I loaded up on BBQ grub for that evening’s camping.

I did get reminded that the Hope Slide, the largest landslide ever recorded in Canada, occurred near here… so I went to go see it.

This was huge! Look at Wikipedia!

Bit more driving later and I saw a sign for Cathedral Provincial Park. Literally just saw a sign and pulled off the road and headed there. That’s the extent of planning I’ve done.

On the way in... I think the road had turned to graded dirt at this point...

Camping on the first night in Lakeview Head Campground! I intend to eat like a king!!!

And I had ideas I wouldn't bother with the fly on my tent... decided against this eventually...

I had the whole campground to myself, although there was another van there… but I never once saw the occupants…

Great way to start off!

Ok, I’ll write the rest later, I think my parking is going to run out.

Wow this still take a long time to write…

Here was the route I did on day one:

Then I realized I haven’t seen much of the Interior of BC yet… and I bought an Impreza last year… ROAD TRIP!

2 weeks of virtually no planning later, I’m on the road!

Loading up the Road Warrior! Cooler, Propane Barby, Tent, Sleeping bags (two, depending on how hot it is)... I intend to live like a king!!!

It was kind of a bad time to have the Panasonic Lumix TS3 in for repair, worse still, my old Casio Exelim 1080 has seen much better days (lens doesnt focus well, can’t zoom anymore, doesnt always bring the lens back into the camera body when turning off, doesn’t always turn on for that matter). Looks like the Nexus One will be stepping up to being a full blown camera for a bit.

Good news is, I’m going White Water Rafting in Lytton on 27th, so my friend Hannah can bring my replacement camera when it’s delivered! Thanks Hannah!

Things I want to do include vineyards and lots of them, car camping (aka LUXURY CAMPING), generally touring round. As I say, there isn’t much of a plan going on here!

So, I’m off. I’m cheating and writing this post in Osoyoos, one day after I departed, I’ll write the story of the first few days soon! Now some Skype calls home!

This trail is 47km along the South Coast of Vancouver Island, from near Port Renfrew at the Western end to about half way to Sooke.

• BC Parks page (with map)
• Wikipedia page
• Sooke Outdoors page
• ClubTread Page

George filming, Christina directing and Václav giving his interview

Off we go! Václav, Christina, Hannah, Brandon and Eva posing here!

Sombrio Beach!

Glad I had the waterproof Lumix TS3 for taking this one!

In case you’re wondering, we were using Stephen’s MSR Sweetwater MicroFilter Pump and Drops. It’s great to have as much water as you like, just take a couple of those 1L bottles, one can be purifying (the drops need 20 minutes to work) while you drink the other.

This was the first of many views like this we had!

And nothing like a good direct look down off a suspension bridge!!!!

That was what the bridge was crossing...

Another great view! This, for 3 days straight!

Quite a few bits of the trail were essentially logs, either as bridges (like this one) or turned into stairs...

Chin Beach was where we stopped at for the first camp site, but this was the view to the West...

It seems we had some neighbours too!

And it seems I can make fire pretty well!

The camp sites were rather good. In general, you had a private area, cleared of brush, separate from the other sites and windbreaks near the beach facing side. We could easily put up the 4 tents we were using! They also had long drop toilets (which we tried to work out which stank least as soon as we arrived), and bear-proof caches nearby.

Food wise, we had all packed pretty different, but one of the clear favourites from sampling everyone’s was the Mountain House Buffalo Style Chicken Wrap Fillings I brought (along with wraps, that are pretty hiking friendly by the way), followed closely by the Beef Stroganoff Hannah had that evening! For breakfast, porridge/oatmeal worked well:

This was my breakfast creation, and it was great! Oatmeal with Raising & Cranberry Trail Mix stirred in.

Day 2 was by far the hardest day. Plenty of up and down hilly outcrops, virtually no flat sections. See that section on the map between Chin Beach and Bear Beach? Most difficult. Yep, it was.

Didn't take many photos of this bit, so here's another view

So we get to Bear Beach, our second camp, and what do we find? Dragster tyres!

Those will be good for a photo, so I jump up onto them, forgetting that 20kg pack I had on my back. This put me off balance and I went arse over tit off the back!

Hannah took this one... I was on the floor behind the tyres, laughing so hard I couldn't say I was OK, probably what made Brandon come over...

Not to be beaten…

This is what I was going for (Hannah's photo again)

Just who on earth leaves dragster tyres on a beach!? (That's Olympia National Park in Washington,USA in the background)

 

That is Cheese cake mix that's being prepared by Stephen... unfortunately, the smoke from the fire was so acrid that most of us could only stand it for about a minute...

That evening we played the most dodgy game of “Continue the Story” I think ever has been played.

Setting out on day 3!

 

These were those log stairs I was talking about earlier...

 

The trees were getting a bit nuts

Finally we hit Mystic Beach, our stopping point, because that evening we wanted some drinks! So we got the cars back and headed to Port Renfrew… where we found out about this!!!

Stanley Cup Final Game 5 Result!!! CANUCKS WON! (this is before they rioted remember)

So, lots and lots and lots of booze bought from the only bottle shop in town, we headed back for a night of very drunken fun and games!

Nom! This was dinner!

Anyway, after getting very hammered, the next morning was a well deserved hungover breakfast at a place Stephen knew, called My Chosen Cafe. More than worth going to if you get the chance! Ate like a horse I tell you! Was nice to get the phone back (even if it had turned itself on in my pocket and drained it’s battery) and some clean clothes on!

All in all, great trip… wow my writing style is bad these days…

Bern busy but want to blog it! Will write it as soon as I can. In the meantime, my office view of Vancouver.

I’m on Vancouver Island, writing this on my phone, on my way to the Juan de Fuca trail!

This 47.7km trail is along the south coast of Vancouver Island, all along the coast. Will be great.

Will be posting photos

I have, however, invested in a new Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3 camera, replacing the TS2 I bought last year.

It’s getting warmer now, so skiing is starting to end (did Grouse, Cypress and of course Whistler this year) and hiking is starting to increase. I’m actually booked to go on a 4 day hiking/camping trip up in Garabaldi Provincial Park, including a hike of Black Tusk, in June. Looking forward to that and will put photos up.

Speaking of photos, here are some!

We did quite a photo shoot on a powder day on Whistler in March

Here's a more sensible shot, in the Helly Hansen gear I bought this year.

Now on to the hiking, Lynn Valley has been popular!

Note how clear that water is (it's important later)

Deep Cove is another good stop!

When I'm dressed like this, it's a good weekend!

There’s something I don’t have photos of. I did my first cold water dive last weekend with Edge Diving Centre. When I say cold, I really mean cold! The water temperature was around 4-5°C. Essentially, at this time of year, fresh water (from melting snow mostly) is running off into the ocean and forming a layer of colder, fresh water on the surface. At depth, it’s slightly warmer seawater, which is better. All of these changes have meant an plankton bloom at this time of year, limiting visibility a lot.

Anyway, 2 dives booked, 14mm wetsuit on and in I go. Yes, it woke me up I tell you! With all that neoprene, I was ridiculously buoyant, 46lb/21kg of extra weight was not enough. On the first dive, wasn’t able to actually stop for the safety stop. With an empty tank, and not enough weight, up I went.

The surface interval was interesting… initially I tried just wondering around to stay warm, didn’t work. Then I added a hoodie, also didn’t work. Eventually, and lots of shivering later, I had to be put in a truck, with the heat on full, and a couple of blankets. Quite comfortable actually.

By the way, both of the other two divers in my group had drysuits on!

Eventually, with 51lb/23kg of extra weight, I had a much better, but equally as cold, dive. With the correct buoyancy, I was more stable in the water. Lots of lin cod, one of which went on the attack in defence of his nest, loads of starfish, a few crabs. No octopuses were seen though, all the dens were empty, and the Grey Whale we saw on the surface didn’t come back.

I make it sound like I was frozen to death… I actually had a great time!

Anyway, more soon I hope.

Note: One of my friends, Harini, has gone to Tanzania to volunteer for a few weeks. She’s also chronicling her adventures! Good luck and keep us informed!

Anyway, this was strictly a family trip home, so as normal, family photos won’t feature. But I also took the chance to be a tourist in a country in which I lived for 25 years!

So, first 7 days were in Yorkshire. I didn’t do any runs out to Norwich or London this time round. Just plain ole fashioned home time and me eating everything I had been missing for the last 10 months. Mini scotch eggs featured highly! I was also fortunate to miss the snow disruption in Europe, just.

Brimham Rocks - was a great clear and cold day.

The dogs!

This cold weather carried on for most of the time I was there. Was nice really.

Thruscross

This is one of my best shots. Its an HDR Photo of trees over the River Nidd.

Had a great time catching up with home and seeing the family. But I then wanted to get over to the South of France! Hadn’t been there in 21 months!

Old Salt Flats at Hyéres

La Londe

Remember the WWII monument?

One of the main highlights was a trip to the Millau Viaduct! The highest bridge in Europe!

The bridge itself!

The view from it was great! Millau looked spectacular.

As did Montpelier!

Of course I couldn't resist taking a photo of a beer! Especially not after day driving like that!

18 great days later I was back here… pretty jetlagged!

I’ll do one more post about what I’m up to out here some point this week as well, and maybe an intro to snowshoeing.

Post coming folks

I’m still happily out here in the Canadian Winter. Got a few evening ski sessions in so far… I’ve done more snowshoeing this year, actually, I’ve done my Avalanche Safety Training 1 last week.

Got a trip back to the UK in December, then flying to France on one of New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. Need to sort out that flight pronto. Then it’s back here for more skiing!

Ok, here is what you all come for, some of the photos.

Night Skiing on Grouse, I snapped this lucky shot

First snowshoe trip of the year was on Seymour... weather wasn't great but had a good time none the less

However, the AST-1 Course had great weather!

When it's good weather on the mountains, I get snap happy!

And here is Downtown Vancouver from a spot I found on Mount Seymour, wish I had an SLR

Keep holding your breath for the next big trip folks. I’m sure this travelblog of sorts will keep going every so often.

We did a few days in Seattle the day before then did the 5 hour drive up (broken up by going to the Boeing Future of Flight Tour at Everett). Snapped a good shot on the ferry:

Moody Sky isn't it? (it was actually a great summer's day)

We got here and checked into The Sunshine Coast Resort & Marina, found just past Madeira Park)

Had a great cottage there, perfect for a family holiday. Right on the water! Here are the snaps of the scenery as usual.

What I woke up to every morning!

Most of these will be of the water!

We also explored some inland areas... mostly lakes...

Can't remember where this is, but it's geotagged so you can check

Renting a boat is a great idea!

There is one more spot I should point out, on the drive back we stopped next to the Sechelt Inlet.

Nice spot for kayaking

Hope you like snakes though! These were coming out of the water (or near the edge)

I got out of work on Wednesday before last (9th June 2010), went home, got my bags and headed to the airport for my 14 hours of flying from YVR –> SEA –> HOU –> RTB… the last one being Roatan!!!

So getting here mid day on Thursday 10th June, I basically decided I didn’t feel like my browse round until I find a spot I liked tactics that I normally use when I’m travelling (well, at least as I used last year). I just leapt in a taxi and told them to take me to Coconut Tree Divers, who I knew had diving, courses and accommodation.

So, within an hour I was checked into a private cabin. I went straight over and found they had a boat leaving  for a fun dive. Perfect. I was in the water about 2 hours after landing! Liked it so booked my Advanced Open Water to start on Saturday. Time to explore:

That evening I did quite a big bar crawl, trying out everywhere I could see. I quickly determined that Sundowners was still the starting point of the night, but they start around 6pm, even earlier some nights. I’m used to much later starts in the big city. Wikitravel’s advice on the rest of the nightlife needs a bit of updating (note to self: update it), but the other highlight was Blue Marlin. It had been rebuilt last year and was a great place to chill out.

Anyway, Friday, another fun dive and more exploring. I did break out the new camera to snap this new Facebook Profile Picture:

And I did a decent walk half way to West Bay to get this:

And I find I have a housemate:

I suppose it’s time to let you know what a Tipico, a typical island lunch, is:

Those are fried plantains in the middle, behind the fish. They are FANTASTIC!!!

Saturday I promptly start Advanced Open Water with my Deep Dive (a mixture of a Nitrogen Narcosis check and seeing what was what 30m/100ft down) round the wreck of the El Aguila, a cargo ship sunk in 1995 by Anthony’s Key Resort to provide all the divers with somewhere to go. It’s great! Blinking huge underwater let me tell you.

Navigation Dive, mostly what it sounds like, navigating using a compass underwater and doing distance estimation by way of counting fin kicks. Great fun.

The Sunday after was for 2 of our 3 selected speciality dives. Firstly was Drift Diving, an easy form of diving that I find difficult since I keep bumping into my buddy (sorry Jen). We headed down a reef called Tabyanas, using the current for help… this of course means that it moves you where it wants to and if you don’t keep your eye on where your going (which I did not) you will find yourself colliding with something. Still, non the less, good times.

The second was Peak Performance Buoyancy. Many challenges here, but the main one was swim through a hula hoop under water… more difficult than it sounds!

Did some exploring all the way to West Bay this time, took these on the way back.

And there is nothing like a watertaxi picking you up to make the ride home easier:

Monday was half spent doing the Emergency First Responder course which was a pre-requisite of the 2nd half of the day, the Rescue Diver course. This course is basically to equip you to handle the vast majority of diving accidents. You handle all of panicking divers, tired divers, unconscious divers, injured divers and the most unfortunate, heart attacks underwater! The whole thing takes 4 days of classroom and scenarios.

One skill worth mentioning is bringing an unconscious diver at the bottom to the surface. In that situation you establish they are are unresponsive (wave your hand in front of them and shake them), then sort of straddle their tank with your knees. Holding their regulator in place and opening their airway, you gently inflate their BCD in a controlled manner, deflating it to ensure it ascends both of you in a controlled manner. You also have to deflate your own (only one BCD does the work). Once at the surface, inflate both BCDs, dump both sets of weights and start rescue breaths as you hold the airway and tow them to the boat. Once on the boat, start CPR.

That whole sequence, plus a panicked and tired diver, plus a search is the final exam. I had to do all of that. Messed up the surface part of the unconscious diver so redid it much better. That, and a multiple choice exam, and your certified. To quote Helen, back in Ko Tao, I should be OK now to dive, with a buddy, separately from the group if I wish!

I’ve written all that, forgetting that I did my first Night Dive as well (as the certification dive for Advanced Open Water):

The above was taken by a travel buddy I made at Sundowners. Let me tell you, diving at night is GREAT! Recommended for all at least once in your life. Lobsters come out from under rocks, more chance of seeing an Octopus and at one point you press your light into your chest, so you can see the photo luminescent plankton!

Ok, more photos time:

Had to include one of the dive boat, Bottom Time!

The last couple of days were doing the more advanced dives in the morning that took me down to 30m/100ft. On Friday, I did the wreck again and this time did a load of swimthroughs. Not full wreck penetration but close to it. The PPB course paid off. We then visited quite a good underwater cave. The second dive was rather special, being the last, but also since we saw a turtle, quite a few spider crabs and our Instructor had a damn good go at killing a Lion Fish. 24 hours of decompression time later, I’m on the plane.

Anyway, here are a few tips for anyone going:

• Dive Shop: Coconut Tree Divers
• Stay: Coconut Tree Cabins (but I didn’t really look round anywhere else). $40/night for a private air-conditioned private cabin that would sleep 2.
• Breakfast: Cindy’s Place (next to Coconut Tree Divers) for a Baleana
• Lunch: Sundowners  for a Nacho Jalapeño Wrap, Noodle Shack for noodles
• Dinner: Cannibal Cafe for Burritos, Eagle Rays  for pretty much anything, or try the lunch tips above
• Drink: Sundowners (starting out), The Blue Marlin (moving on), Nova Bar (last stop)
• Dive Gear: TGI Diving – sells Mares gear at a good price, bought a Rashy, Pure Vision Mask and a Snorkle from there
• General Stuff: The little shop next to Coconut Tree Divers (but most places are good).
• Explore: Get a moped. I wish I had
• Internet: There is an internet cafe next to Noodle Shack, but it’s not cheap. To be honest, go without it!
• Remember to bring: Suncream, Insect Repelent, Anti Malarials (I was on Malarone this time and did not have side effects), some sort of hat or bandana that you can wear in the water if you want to keep the sun off your head. DAN Diving Insurance isn’t a bad idea in addition to normal travel insurance, and it’s a year long policy.

Well, I’m writing this in the airport on the way back to Houston and then Vancouver. Will get back at 23:45, have to get a new work permit when I arrive as well!

One thing I regret is not getting out of the West End that much. I strongly recommend taking the time to explore or whatever you please, but don’t get West End/Diving blinkers like I did. I’m sure there was an Island Tours place but I didn’t find it.

A few more photos:

That cat really liked sleeping on my drying board shorts or my rashy!

However, both laptops have now decided to give up. Firstly the Dell broke AGAIN! In conversations with them about that (more soon no doubt)… but the backup Samsung N220 I purchased also gave out! Thankfully they have an international warranty that will sort that out, calling on Monday.

I’m also pleased to say I have my Panasonic DMC-TS2 Camera in hand and was trying it out yesterday! Will post some photos later… certainly from Roatan if not before.

EDIT: Photos, uploaded full size: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/hpkarmitage/Vancouver15thMay2010

Give me 10 days here!

I’m looking at mid-June to go and thinking:

• Flying out there over night to Roatan but go straight to Ulita
• 3 days doing an Advanced Open Water diving course, probably with PADI this time
• 1 day free to explore then go over to Roatan
• Possibly 3 more days to do a Rescue Diver course as well (will require some first aid recertification)
• Some fun dives and exploration
• Lots of drinking!

I’ll probably have to get the Continental flight out there, so go via Houstan. Might be a bit of sleeping in the airport but so what! I need some fun!

To prepare for this, I bought myself a Panasonic DMC-TS2 Camera today!

I was up early for Shaw being fitted this morning. Honestly, I don’t know why they didn’t just courier the cable modem and splitter? The guy just popped over, screwed the cable into the wall outlet and typed some stuff into his phone. I could have done that had they couriered me the stuff! Well, when you take me to the internet, I’ll spend hours on it!

3 hours later I realize its become a great day. So out I go… I’m writing on the SeaBus to downtown. Will update later…

Later comes… in fact, I write this a day later!

Well, that was quite a roam! After a $13 all you can eat Sushi lunch at Kisha Poppo in Downtown, I felt like a wander… so off I go.

Filming in Progress outside the Vancouver Art Gallery

While in Downtown I firstly went to Robson Square to check out where I watched the closing ceremonies of the Olympics a couple of months ago (wow, it’s been that long already!?)… it was a lot of hobos these days! Still a good spot, but they should have kept the zip line

What they were filming

Then as I was heading past the Vancouver Art Gallery where they were filming something… not sure what… seemed like a period drama. Quite a few cops and a huge blinking crowd looking at proceedings. I doubt they will be trying to pretend this was done in the 1700s.

Anyway, roaming onwards I headed down Robson Street towards Stanley Park… making only one stop at American Eagle on the way. I love that place! Great stuff… although I do have a tenancy to buy everything from there! The Running Room also had some large sale on… makes sense, summer is here!

Eventually I get to Stanley Park, and decide my wonder will take me clockwise round the seawall… keep in mind this is supposed to be an after lunch stroll… I’m now off on the 8.8km seawall walk! Cue the photos!

The Vancouver Rowing Club

I assume this is where they go rowing. The camera on the Nexus one does not do justice to the great weather!

That skyline I like so much from a different angle!

You see those Yellow Sulphur piles... they arrive on trains (that go through Lower Lonsdale at night, blowing their horns!!!!!!!!)... always wondered from where...?

Well here is my answer! Alberta sends it!

All of the fun at the Port of Vancouver Lookout made me realize I should probably keep this wonder going all the way round to the Lions Gate Bridge

This gives you an idea of what a great spot this is

There's the Lions Gate Bridge... and the North Shore Mountains

Thing is, to get up to that Bridge… you have to make your way up the hill in the centre of the park. So into the interior I go…

Is that a redwood?

That's quite a bridge!

Prospect Point... has a bar

My patriotic shot of the day

Pity the camera made this one all purple

Now at this point I put the phone away as I was strangely paranoid that I would drop it off the bridge into the Burrard Inlet below. Once I got to the other side, something went through my head and I decided I would finish the whole way back to my place on foot! So there I am, tramping away what I normally do in the other direction in my friend’s cars! Eventually I’ve done about 16km.

When I got back I realized that was quite an afternoon stroll I took there! Felt fantastic but needed to find a way to loosen up my legs! I need to get a hot tub fitted!

All the photos are from the Nexus One.

So I’m working hard in my new job in EMR (remember, I keep work anonymous on this, it’s a personal endeavour for me. Been putting quite a bit into this job, been giving me some great experiences however, especially a trip to Courtenay, on Vancouver Island, towards the end of last year. My decision on my PNP Application has been made but gets sent to you in the post… as I write this it’s still in the post a week later! I’m on tenderhooks I tell you!

Whistler has been visited plenty of times! I’ve done 9 days up there (remember, I don’t have a car and have to crash on people’s sofas, it’s not my seasonal days anymore)! Must admit, my skiing has gone downhill (no pun intended) since my seasonaire days! Been meaning to do a few more mountains but kind of got bogged down in work and other weekend activities. I’ve taken up snow shoeing too while the Grouse Grind has been closed. Strange thing to take up but I’ve been having a great time exploring. For those of you who keep an eye on my Facebook, Picasaweb and other feeds will probably see photos flying up every so often of my trips round Grouse Mountain (a membership there by the way is a great thing!).

This is why I snowshoe... you see views you will never see in any other sport, I couldn't see this when skiing... and I'd only see something like it when hiking

I’ll be needing some new summer activities I think… Downhill Mountain Biking, Bike Touring, Kayaking for example…

I don’t normally talk too much about family on here, but I will let you know that I had a great time when Mum & Bob came over just before Christmas. We spent a week in Vancouver (with me working the early shift at work to maximise time with them). However, Bob broke his wrist, badly, on the 3rd day and spent 24 hours in hospital. We managed to make the best of it and honestly, it didn’t stop us. We headed to Sooke, on Vancouver Island, for a few days as well and rented the AMAZING Stone’s Throw Cottage for a few days… I’m seriously considering organising a mass party weekend there… it’s great! Felt like home.

We went to Victoria, which we all thought was a very British place! Had a great time roaming the streets and enjoying familiar looking architecture and look and feel. We went Whale Watching (ironically, back towards Sooke) and saw plenty of Orcas in the Juan de Fuca straights. Bob forfilled a lifelong dream there… bet he didn’t think he would be doing it with a splint on!

A very lucky shot of mine!

This is the oldest lighthouse in BC - originally from Scotland

Christmas was spent in Whistler, and I had a great Christmas meal thanks to Catherine & Peter! However, that morning I had stacked quite badly in Blackcomb Bowl, damaging 2 ribs. This sent me to the Chiropractor for a bit… paid for by benefits!!

Me, nursing those ribs, with 7th in the background

Isn't this a great place!

A few weeks after that I went back to LA to meet Dad and see our family friends the Brandon’s! Remember my first trip? I was staying in the Holiday Inn down the road! Met up with Dad and caught up in person for the first time in 10 months. Had a great few days touring round LA with him and one of his work colleagues who was also staying. Saw the Brandon clan including James & Katie. This isn’t the most memorable thing about that meeting (James & Katie, you know what that is) but Katie has a great trick with wine corks that you should never try to confidently copy at the dinner table… practice it in private first whatever you do!

(It seems I don’t have photos handy for that but I might edit them in later)

There’s something I can’t forget to mention, seeing the Olympic Flame at Lonsdale Quay one cold February morning!

I only have the Blackberry shot for this one... i might edit in another later!

A day later, I’m jumping on the plane back to the UK for Pete & Beth’s wedding in Southampton. I flew in, got the train down, met up with them all and gave Pete & Beth their “thanks for having me” present (not wedding present) of 2 boxes of North American Ceerios for Pete and a box of Lemon & Ginger Tea for Beth. We then went to Pete’s Parent’s place for dinner (keep in mind that meals cooked by anyone’s parents are rare, and Pete’s Mum knows how to cook!!!) then headed out for a few eve of the wedding drinks with Pete, his Brother/Best Man and a few of his friends… may have gone a bit far for a person who runs 6 miles a day!!!

I slept solidly through (jetlag) but must have had quite the look on my face when Pete’s Dad told me Pete was clearly hungover the next day!

Anyway, great ceremony, great reception and great company. Had to duck out early and do a 6 hour train ride back up to Yorkshire and see it for the first time in 11 months! Was great to see the family (both sides – a great deal of them) and have a week chilling out with my dogs who I’d been missing. I managed to pack in a trip to Norwich to see folks down there too! Just what I needed.

Ahh! Yorkshire!

I took these up near Scar House reservoir on a dog walk... nothing quite like the Dales

I'm thinking I need one of these two to come back to Canada with me

One thing I will say about travelling between places is always try to go back to them at the same time of year if you have been away a long time. I left in Winter last year and came back in Winter this year, just as I left and came back in Summer to Vancouver last August… feels like slipping on old shoes. Speaking of which, I raided my old clothes  and dragged out some stuff, and went back laiden with Yorkshire Tea, Chocolate and a 1L bottle of Jager I had!

Flying back, I went LBA (Leeds/Bradford) –> AMS (Amsterdam) –> YYC (Calgary) –> YVR (Vancouver) – the bag made it to Amsterdam before taking it’s own little holiday. Took days to get it back and when I finally got it, the lock had been cut for searching… I PAID EXTRA FOR A TSA-OPENABLE LOCK!

The Olympics were epic! I won’t soon forget becoming a full on Team Canada fan and watching them win Gold! Then the amazing party in downtown afterwards! I have never seen such huge crowds on Granville Street. I have never given so many high fives!

The next month was taken up with house hunting, hard work and then moving in to my own place at last!

I now have my own place! Rented a 1 bedroom apartment in North Vancouver, Lower Lonsdale area. Not far from the Seabus. I’ve been in it 2 weeks, it smells of new IKEA Furniture, has a sunny balcony and is finally a place where I can do whatever it is I want! Housewarming coming soon! Furthermore, I have a full, proper bed to sleep on at last! No more air matress.

I really appreciate having this!!!! Beds are luxury.

And I have these to chill out on... although I only really use the one on the right of the picture as it has the best view of the TV!

This place is great! It has a beer dispenser in the fridge!!

Anyway, since these photos were taken I’ve tied up some more and added more furniture. Its slowly becoming home. Need to hang some photos on the walls etc.

By the way, I took those 3 on my new phone, a Google Nexus One!

I suppose there is a bit of time for last weekend’s snowshoeing trip…

I don't get tired of this view

Nor this one!

That's Grouse's Wind Turbine on the right - generates 25% of their power needs when it's turned on! Vancouver looking spectacular as ever!

Meh… why not upload a video of me sliding down and it going wrong:

I told myself I wouldn’t be making this all photos… but here I am… I suppose it’s because I mostly blog about travel.

Hopefully with Spring I’ll put a bit more time into this, since I’ll be doing more noteworthy stuff… It’s no fun blogging about day to day I tell you!

The last photo is one I took on the Nexus One just this morning

That's the Vancouver Downtown skyline from Lonsdale Quay... I can see the same thing from my office window! I think I'm onto a winner!

Keep in touch everyone!

Which I now own! I might write a big blog post to sum up life out here… but for now… here is the view from the SeaBus

I’m still in my flat and still on the inflatable bed, and I’m still doing the Grouse Grind, but I can’t for much longer as the snow is coming. One evening I was sort of trapped at the top. You see, descending on the trail is far harder than ascending. It’s better to download on the Gondola. But the line was 45 minutes long! So I went sight seeing.

Quite a summit!

Up on a chairlift for the first time in ages

Bears! Grisly Bears no less

Burnaby and South East Greater Vancouver

Now that's quite a shot. The great sky, the summit downwards, Stanley Park and Vancouver! You can also see the US!!

Not many places in the world where you get this

This is the other side of the mountain. On one side of this mountain I have a large city, on the other...

A little closer to the Grizzley Bears this time

The backstory

A 5 shot Panorama

The weekends and weeks have gone back to being a bit quieter now that I’m not properly travelling any more. I’m still making friends here but they are coming along, being in work helps. I’ve started planning quite a few things, for example, I want over the next 12 months:

• Permanent Residency
• New flat, to myself, not living with anyone unless they are my significant other!
• New furniture for that flat
• New PC
• New car
• Holidays everywhere!

Hardly easy but I’m back on London money and living here!

There is one more batch of photos to show you, these ones shot on the BlackBerry. All of False Creek.

The colour here does NOT do the real thing justice

But the skyline is worth it

One of the many marinas

Art

BC Place

The Aquabus!

I don't know why that was there

The Cambie Bridge

This van caught my eye

Anyway, I’m still alive and still enjoying it.

I won’t be updating the blog as much while I’m just living day-to-day here… but trips away, significant stuff etc will still go up. Keep reading and subscribe by RSS or Atom folks!

So, I have a house to stay in now, moved in a few weeks ago and I’m glad to see the back of hostelling for a bit (no offence to the Samesun, it’s good at being temporary accommodation and I miss it in some ways… e.g. a bar downstairs).

Thing is, I’m still broke, so:

This inflatable mattress is my bed, the sleeping bag has since been replaced with a proper blanket that my housemate lent me and I bought some pillows from IKEA

The house is a 4 plex (4 flats in one building), we have the lower one facing the left

Nice area, isn't it?

So I’m moved in but had no job… no amount of doing the Grouse Grind would help that.

However, my tireless (uh… tiring and arduous) searching of Craigslist paid off. The day after I moved in I got a call setting up a phone interview for a company in North Vancouver. So I do the interview and it goes well… I get a call to come in and have a chat. Suit on and away I go. Bus, Seabus, Bus again.

That goes well and I get called back for a 2nd interview! I can’t go immediately as I was already due a trip to Whistler!

I'm back! I'M BACK!!

In Southside Diner for breakfast the next day, we see this

Most seasonaires recognise this!

Bike Park in full swing!

Whistler!

Me, Steve and Shane spent most of the time partying it up. Went back up to the old Finance building that I used to work at to catch up with those who remain (not many… strange thing was that we didn’t see Flora but we did see her dog, Buddy).

The view from the old office

But lets not forget the main event, the meat!!!!

Bring forth your meaty goodness!

What a great caravan!

The Bottom of Peak to Creek... I remember this run well and could litterally visualize skiing it now

Took this from in the pool we had use of the whole weekend! Look at that sky!

Shane drinking his favorite size beer

Another shot to give you an idea of the atmosphere

And yet another!

The next day I popped to the village for a while to do a bit of shopping and just see the place again… can’t neglect Blackcomb afterall!

VANOC should thank me for that shot!

Another classic Bike Park shot

Later that evening, we were out to Bills… cougars everywhere! But before we went in, I snapped this.

Wow!

However, Steve was quite annoyed when I necked a $16 Grey Goose vodka that the girl he had met bought herself. Sorry Steve!

The next day…

Bring on the samples!!!! Had to queue a lot

Tasty!!

Even more tasty!

But after breakfast, I had to go to the Whistler Farmer’s Market. This was a fantastic event back in 2006… and hasn’t changed! I bee-lined for Sargent Poppers Kettle Corn. This is by far the best popcorn on the planet.

Tasty as!

I had the urge to go hiking for a bit… there was one place that just had to be done!

Lost Lake!! Bring it!

On the way I stopped by the Lost Lake XCountry Ski Hut

Another great one with great colour!

A panorama of Lost Lake (from the South)

Whistler and the main "“beach”"

This should give you an idea of what it's like. Its like any other beach on the planet, but no sand.

I even decided to hike back to Whistler Creekside… stopping by Alta Lake’s shore for a while

The Whistler Golf Course

Alta Lake!

Whistler again!

Another lake, but I can't find the name

Back at Dusty's I hiked up to get a good look at the BBQ Champs!

We had use of a pool for the weekend, chilled out in there for a bit. It’s fantastic! Later, me Ken, Gav, Steve and Shane headed to Tommy’s for a while… Jagers were on special… ouch!

The next day I took this advert for BC

I hiked up the bike park for a bit. That's how they get the bikes up in case your wondering

The Village

I only had a few hours left up here now. Was going back that evening. Only one place to go.

I went back to Lost Lake again!

Then it was Greyhound back.

Was a great laugh of a weekend, big thanks to Steve for putting me up and to all of the new Finance Crew + Friends to making me feel welcome.

There is more to tell folks!

I’ve found a few new addictions… the first of which has to be the Grouse Grind!

Its a 2,830 steps up the side of Grouse Mountain. You gain 853m over 2.9km. That's an average incline of 30 degrees.

It's known as Nature's Stairmaster and is described as particularly harsh. The average time is 90 minutes, I did it in 68 on my first go!

It's known as Nature's Stairmaster and is described as particularly harsh. The average time is 90 minutes, I did it in 68 on my first go! The very fit can do it in 45 minutes. 100,000 people do it every year!

What I look like half way up it!

You do it for views like this!

I took this one on a later attempt. North Van looks great!

As does the Capilano River (please ignore the lift tower)

I might have to give this a go!

My legs have become like rock again thanks to doing that a few times. My friend Noriko introduced me to it and hopefully it will become a Sunday afternoon regular thing!

There was also one more thing that I just had to do during summer. You see I never did the perimeter of Stanley Park last time… so off I went.

The Boathouse and my starting point

There is a 8.8km path round the Park

HMCS Discovery on Deadman's Island

Canada Place with a few Cruise Ships

The Port of Vancouver Look-out

Now this photo I like!

Lion's Gate Bridge

The Girl in the Wetsuit

Not sure where it is but I just like this shot!

I suddenly got a new habit of cargo ship spotting

It's hard to spot, but that's Grouse Moutain with the Grouse Grind... look for the cable car. The apartment block in the lower right is a lot closer.

Another one of the Lion's Gate Bridge

I was walking anticlockwise, and was now on the sunny side of Stanely Park. That means only the right hand side of my face was getting sun (burned)... so I looked like Harvey Twoface

One of the beaches... can't remember which

But I can tell you this is English Bay Beach

All of these have to be distractions from the job hunt and house hunt I’ve been engaged in. Ages spent on Craigslist and Workopolis every day while trapped in the Hostel Lounge gets to you. Fresh air is always required.

Good news is, there are plenty of places to get it!

I think thats supposed to be the Olympic Mascot

Now the barge of Fireworks looks interesting...

Those barges would later be used for the Celebration of Light Fireworks Display!

Now remember, I’m out here with SWAP. They organised quite an interesting day trip out to Lynn Canyon, which has a suspension bridge… that’s free! Saving me $35 vs. the Capilano one.

This thing had a habit of rocking

As always, the view is the reward

It's just a pity these cables get in the way

Digging a bit deeper into the forest we find this!

Probably the best shot I've taken since landing!

Changing the white balance to good effect!

Does that water look cold? It was.

But it's photogenic

Very photogenic!

A bit more walking later we make it to this spot where you can go Tombstoning (which by the way is a stupid idea if the depth isn’t known. Here the depth is known and there are park rangers on hand).

It's called 30 foot drop! You see those folks in the top of the photo? Well that's about 30 metres of jump!

Somone doing the big jump!

Doing flips as he does

I don't think I fancy this (although there are smaller jumps)

Nah, not for me.

This is the last shot the camera took, but I'm pleased to say he straightened out again for landing

I’d gotten talking to a group of Brits and 2 of them did decide to do this. I’ve got a video I need to edit of it all.

The sort of rocky picknick site...

From the top of that huge arse jump!!!

Still, there were some other good places that you can only see up here!

After that we headed for English Bay for more chilling.

Everything above can be accessed easily from Downtown Vancouver by Bus or the Seabus! This is a great spot!

Now, the other big news is that I have finally gotten a place to stay. It’s near Cambie and West 17th Ave. Looks like a great area and I have a pretty cool house mate. The job hunt goes on though.

Hope you enjoyed all 45 photos!

I’ve updated the posts to include (some) of the photos that were missing and remove the links to the old galleries:

• 18th October 2005: Got some more photos for you all!
• 28th October 2005: Snow is Coming!
• 30th October 2005: Last night in pictures
• 3rd November 2005: The first heavy snowfall
• 23rd December 2005: Hockey!
• 31st December 2005: Urrrgf!
• 15th January 2006: Hypnotised, not just by the new skis!
• 25th January 2006: 7 day update
• 27th January 2006: Something quite amazing from Alan
• 26th May 2006: Now I’m a snowboarder too!
• 27th May 2006: This could be bad for the laptop!
• 29th May 2006: Dad sent some photos of the dogs from home!
• 20th September 2006: Henry!? Where the hell have you been?
• 27th February 2007: Whistler London Meetup Weekend

It seems that I’ve lost the photos from Big Mike’s 30th Birthday or these ones from a night on the lash?

Took quite a while to edit them in but I think it was worth it. Enjoy!

Then I met Steve for a catch up since he was down. Good to see him.

Then it was the start of job hunting, which has taken up most of my life this week. Craigslist, Workopolis, IT-Careers.ca’s Job Board, BCJobs.ca and many others have been trawled over. Job hunting here is very different to the UK, this BritishExpats.com article explains it well, but essentially I’m doing a lot more legwork rather than fighting recruiters off left and right…

The househunt has also started too.

Anyway, got (another) headache so I’ll finish off with some photos I took today

Burrard Street Bridge

Wow there are a lot of boats near Granville Island Markets

A Totem Pole in Kits

Summer is great here!

I slept the night on Dallas Fort Worth airport’s floor, before security so there were no shops or benches. I watched Long Way Down to keep the spirits up then eventually fell asleep. I woke up in the night to find someone had put an American Airlines 1st Class Blanket and Pillow by me, that was great of them! Had 2 Breakfast Burritos the morning after and I regret the second one quite a bit!

Still, 4 hours on a plane full of OAP Cruise Passengers and I was in Vancouver. Promptly had the Work Permit Issued and jumped on the bus for Downtown. Checked into the Samesun and then ran off to get my SIN number reactivated as fast as I could! Then I chilled out with some Kokannees and watched BC Lions vs. Saskatchewan!

Today I’ve been on Skype most of the morning then headed to Metrotown for a look around, then I came back and realized I needed to get a phone… but I can’t decided between Fido and Rogers (even though they are owned by the same company!)

Anyway, here are the customary photos!

Robson Street

North Vancouver

The Skyline!

The Seaplanes!

It’s GREAT to be back!

I did my dives in Hol Chan Marine Reserve with Big Fish Diving and had a great time. The first suprise was that my air and depth meters were in PSI and Feet rather than Bar and Metres as I had been trained… so had to get a quick conversion done to work out the max depth and the warning air levels.

On the way I finally clap eyes on San Pedro. I think I made the right choice with Caye Caulker

The gear!

When we got down to Hol Chan I also realised this was my first roll entry as well. Fortunately this came naturally!

Down there the highlights included my first:

• Turtle
• Nurse Shark (and lots off them)
• Stingrays that I actually saw (I have been on dives with them before but didn’t spot them when others did)

Was just great to be back in the water, banter with the Canadians I was diving with and have a little fun under the sea! When I got back I found that Vancouver is also excellent for diving so I think I’ll be doing some when I’m on my feet properly!

Anyway, the remainder of the day was chilling out!

The Hostel Yard - isn't it great!

Looking out to sea from the end of the Hostel's pier - the surfline in the distance is the Belize Barrier Reef - another contender for the best island scene shot

Tina's Hostel

That's the Caribbean!

And that's what the Caribbean can do to a harbour wall. A hurricane helped out

Chilled that evening and the next morning. In fact the only thing waking me up the next morning was the wind. It’s normal for higher winds in the evening but it was strange. That morning it was much higher!

Those palm trees are normally palm tree shaped!

One of the hostel dogs

It was then time to jump on the water taxi and head back to Belize City. Caye Caulker has been one of the surprises of this trip. So chilled and laid back!

Belize City on the otherhand, was still Belize City. Lots of taxi guys looking for attention, beggars and needs more cleaning. I found a great lunch though and got some cash before heading for the airport. I bought a few souvenirs, some Firey Hot, Belize Heat and Beware hot sauces from Marie Sharp’s! Oh they are going to burn!

Belize is worth a visit let me tell you.

I wondered around wondering what to do most of the day but eventually booked a couple of fundives for BZD190 with Big Fish Diving Centre. Doing Hol Chan Marine Reserve, exactly where I wanted to go! The Great Blue Hole is a bit too expensive, I’m not qualified/insured to dive deep enough and people have told me that the thing that really makes it worth it is seeing sharks there… in that case I would rather go to Hol Chan and know I’ll see loads of everything.

In the mean time, I’ve checked into Tina’s Backpackers Hostel since the Tropics was fully booked. Just BZD22 a night!

The WiFi is slow… but I’ll try a few photos

Still looking for that perfect island scene

I think they need bigger versions...

Golf cart taxis on the prowl for the newly arrived boat!

Hows about this for the perfect island scene shot?

Another quick water taxi ride!

This one is even quicker than the last

Looks like a great spot to live!!

You can see all the way across the island!

I had jumped on the water taxi to Caye Caulker. It sounded good on Wikitravel so why not? I thought I might be able to get an afternoon dive in. First job though was to roam around until I found a decent looking hotel, eventually I found the Tropics Hotel. BZD45 a night/USD22 wasn’t bad for a private room!

Then it was island roaming and photo time!

The main street - the island is mostly a small town, more buildings than you would expect for one in the middle of the Caribbean!

That's a bit more like it!

This is how I sometimes have to carry the kit. Bag in Backpack mode on back and smaller backpack on the front. It gets very hot when your in the tropics!

This looks low key! I came here later and found a lot of folks get married here!

Ahh, now that looks more like an island scene

And this!

Chilled isn't it?

I think we may have found the best island scene here - why are all my comments about this?

People sunbathe on these jetties, even if they don't have raised boats!

Hahah! I love the home made drink adverts on this trip

Now that is where you should have your dive shop!

I looked round the dive shops, including the one above, Frenchies,  as I was exploring, but none had afternoon dives. I didn’t book a dive for the next day (stupidly). Instead I went off and got a snorkelling tour from my hotel for BZD45!

3 hour tour and totally worth it! Saw a Nurse Shark hiding under some rocks, loads of Stingrays, an Eagle Ray, plenty of Damselfish, a couple of Moray Eels,  the works! Friendly group too! Pity I didn’t have an underwater camera.

Chilled out that evening with Ribs for dinner and a few bottles. This place is very laid back… in fact, a bit too much in the evenings! You need to be here with friends, but I did get talking to a few people none the less.

The next day I thought I would get up at 8 and go to the dive shops… uh, I slept in till 9:20 and the latest dive boats leave at 9:30! Great. Missed those despite trying. I’m now chilling at the hotel trying to decide between staying the day and going diving tomorrow or going to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye… hmm…

Off the plane and I made straight for the next gate as I only had 50 minutes to connect… it was only down the hall so no worries. Found a Pulled Pork Sandwich for lunch then waited… and waited… the flight was delayed! This is the first flight out of 19 on this trip to be delayed and American Airlines takes that sad award. Oh well, it was only 30 minutes.

But in the air, while I was sleeping again, we were delayed a further 30 minutes, landing 1 hour late in Belize City.

When there, I found there was not a public bus to take me to town so I had to get a taxi, which I hate doing. But when I got to my guesthouse, The Seaside Guesthouse, I thought things would be better… and they were! I got a private room, since I just wanted one after hostelling it and could have it for US$25. I then went out and explored the mostly closed Belize City.

That's the tourist bit I was not in

There were a lot of friendly dogs around. This particular one was constantly play biting my hand

The local crazy wanted a picture

This looked nice - nothing to say about it though

I went back to the hostel and got talking to a few people, eventually ending up having a curry for tea and then going to the casino to loose BZD15! (that’s only USD7.50)

The next day though, I wanted out, so I headed to Caye Caulker! I think it was the Metro system that put me off city life:

Hmm

Wow that's quite big

I was getting on it at 13:05 on 24th June 2009… I would land 09:45 on 24th June 2009. This would prove to be more of a mindjob than I thought. I suppose I’m obliged to link to the Quantas A380 Site.

But, it seems that my asking for an emergency seat didn’t do the trick. I was stuck in the middle of the plane, middle seat of the middle row on the left wing side. Furthermore, there were a concaphony of kids to make plenty of noise. But, the Inflight Entertainment System was the best I have ever seen. I didn’t get my laptop out for the whole trip even though I had in-flight power (they even had an at seat USB port for charging your iPod/BlackBerry which I did use).

Didn’t get much sleep though, I kept getting up to go to the walk up bars you could use. That was great to have a reason to get up and walk around. The crying kids didn’t help though.

Anyway, landed and started reliving the 24th June! Strange.

I followed Wikitravel‘s advice on getting to Santa Monica, only cost $1.25 from LAX! Laughing!

First thing I noticed getting off the bus was the number of British shops there were there, i.e. places selling British food etc. I figured James and Katie thought I was missing home… I was ok!?

I left my bag at HI Los Angeles/Santa Monica and walked the 2 blocks to the beach!

Santa Monica Beach and Pier!

The Pier

It doesn't show it, but this beach is HUGE! 50 metres wide easily!

Don't fancy them

The beachfront again!

3rd Street is pretty impressive!

This might not be healthy... but delicious!

Fatburger was noted as a dinner spot. James would later recomend it to me as well. I also found La Salsa was pretty cheap for Mexican!

I explored Santa Monica for the rest of the day, caught up on emails etc in the Hostel after checking in, spent quite a while on Google Talk with James, then headed to La Salsa where I got talking to a couple of holiday makers from the East Coast.

After that I went on a hell of a pub crawl with the hostel! 5 bars, lots of free shots and deals. Wound up getting into bed at 01:30! Thats a 44 hour day!

The day after I slept in quite a bit, then I decided it was time to go and explore Hollywood. On bus 704 there was a loud beeping sound from the front. The driver announces “It says Code 1: Attention all Michael Jackson Fans, it’s true. Michael Jackson is dead.”

Most of the bus was talking about that when I got off. I connected to another bus and made my way up to Hollywood.

The first one I recognised

Haven't thought about him for a while!

The sign!

When I arrived I noticed one of the streets was closed to traffic, near the Chinese Theatre. I headed back to see what was up…

Looks like some sort of premier!

Ah... so it is!

It was Sasha Baron Cohen’s new flick, Bruno. I decided to hang around for a bit. Tried to get in but the guy who was picking people decided a few folks down to me we’re better random choices… well I didn’t want to get in anyway! We all had to move from this pretty good vantage point to another point on the other side of the street because apparently we were blocking it… rubbish!. Anyway, after 2 long hours (some of which we were kept entertained by the keep the crowd warm guy)…

The curtains opened and this appeared!

He's just on a disco ball style tank!

However, the view was mostly blocked and it felt like a lot of waiting for nothing really… bollocks! Oh well, I got to see Borat’s Sidekick!

Went back to the hostel for a slightly more quiet one this evening, but I did go to Fatburger for a rather tasty burger! Very American if I say so myself!

The day after it was one I had been looking forward to, that evening I would see James and Katie and in the day it was time for the Getty!

The tram up to the Getty, and the first interesting "on the tracks" shot of the trip!

The main square... I appear to be in Starfleet Headquarters

The main fountain was good!

The main view that everyone comes to see is pretty amazing too!

This is what stops you walking off the edge in awe!

This is place is great! Still like Star Trek thought!

I wish this was big enough to be a maze

This is one of the few places I have been where I like random bits of art about the place

After all of that I decided to stop in Westwood on the way back for a look around. Then I headed to the hostel, made some Skype calls and met James and Katie for another tour of local bars! Vastly enjoyed too! We did about 5! Highlights included showing James the British rules for Pool, getting proper chips at the British pub and going into the “quiet wine bar” that was heaving!

The next day we met up early and headed to James and Katie’s for lunch (with a tour of Downtown on the way). Remember the only bottle of wine I bought on Waiheke Island? Well I took it a few thousand miles round the world since it made a great gift! They also introduced me to the game Ticket to Ride, in this case, the Europe Edition. We then explored Burbank and Pasedena all day! I realised that this was the first home cooked meal I had eaten in the USA!? Wow!

Thing was, I realised at the end of the day I had forgotten to take any photos! So that’s why I’m using the written word for this day rather than just a load of photos as I normally do! Great day though and great to catch up!

Anyway, that evening I found out that:

1. A hostel is still $35 even if you only sleep for 3 hours (so I didn’t stay in it)
2. I would be unable to get to LAX early enough for my flight on Public Transport
3. The last bus was at 23:15, and I would be taking it

I had to spend the night in LAX (for free though) because of the transport rubbish. Oh well, made flying easier, you could just pass out that easily!

However, this is not to say you won’t get a few photos

Lake Macquarie again!

The rest will be arty shots!

This took ages to get the shot right

Then on Wednesday it was time to get up and head to the airport.

One thing I will say about Aus and New Zealand is that there is no doubting the people down there. I’ve stayed with friends most of the way and had loads of offers to stay with connected friends/relatives/people I might like. I was blown away! What a great place! I will be back!

A direct link to it on YouTube if anyone is having trouble

While I was out on Stockton Beach in a 4×4 a few weeks ago I shot a video. A lot of editing later and we have this! The best bits start about 2 minutes in I would say.

EDIT: Ok, it’s been pointed out that it’s not a Toyota Land Cruiser after all, it is in fact a Nissan Patrol.

The queue when I started!

I’ve got all the New Zealand posts up now, phew! I didn’t get a single post about NZ, other than complaining about the lack of internet access, up here while I was in NZ!

The new posts are, in order of writing:

• Auckland
• Waiheke Island
• Thames
• Tauranga
• Rotorua
• Taupo
• Hamilton
• Back in Auckland again

There are so many I have (temporarily) increased the number of posts visible on the front page of the blog to 15. Wow, what a lot of writing I do.

Anyway, I did a little exploring and took a few snaps

  Now that’s a station!

Looks like Harrogate!

I then went an found a Warehouse store so I could get Tracey a few bags of Pineapple Lumps as that was her only request from NZ! Ended up getting 4 bags of the things… I wonder what AQIS will say.

Anyway, again I didn’t really want to do too much that evening, so I had the NZD7 BBQ meal + pint at Fat Camel and then chilled out watching tele and sneaking additional pints up there since you were not supposed to take them out the bar.

Remember how I forgot to pack my parents? Well Fat Camel stepped in to help:

This morning I was up at 5:30 checking out of Fat Camel (which by the way doesn’t look very clean compared to all the other hostels I’ve been in in NZ) and getting the Airbus on the way back to Sydney and then Newcastle to see Tracey! Yeah!

On the way, for the first time since Thailand, the bus stopped at an out of town, sort of captive market service station place…

Why was it near a circus I do not know, but I started thinking about random scary clowns

Anyway, got to Hamilton and got straight to the iSite (which I must admit have been a great help while I’ve been here) and found a hostel, one that does Free WiFi!? Hooray!!! The rarest of beasts!

It was Forty Winks Hostel, a converted family home which still had a lot of charm and was very comfortable. When your on a trip like this you really appreciate it when you find a place that’s very homely rather than just a filing cabinet.

GEEK STUFF ALERT! They had Zenbu doing the Free WiFi… as far as I can tell these guys use Linksys WRT54GL Routers with custom firmware to do captive portal things. Very clever and cheap, but I think the poor hostel was having to pay 10c a megabyte for my free usage! The guy at the front desk was happy to give me four codes (although some were used) adding up to 138mb! END OF GEEK STUFF

Anyway I then went out for an explore. I point out I did no research on Hamilton (as usual) so I didn’t know where to go.

Ahahaha! Didn’t they realise?

Anyway, I had flapped around a bit so it was getting late. I headed for the lake for a few of the arty shots

After that it was dark. I went looking for some dinner and ended up in Nandos, which is pretty different to its UK counterpart, you can’t get a Double Chicken Pita, and no bottles of hot sauces? Still, they did big servings of chips and quite a good feel good salad!

I ended up just chilling in the hostel as I didn’t fancy much else that night. Thank god this place allowed you to use your own linen, as the room I was in wasn’t very well insulated and it was freezing outside.I had the sleeping bag zipped up, head hole pulled closed round my face and I woke up facing downwards!

The next day I went to Kathmandu again for their sale. I ended up getting a few more of those ridiculously useful packing cells that have been the only reason I have a neat and tidy bag for all this time.

Then it was back to Auckland!

They appear further down the page as I have the post dates as when I wrote them rather than posted them.

But the rest will have to wait as I have limited bandwidth avaliable. I was given 50 megabytes of usage about 10 minutes ago and this is what I’m at now:

Wow, that's going down fast

I suppose I should give a little credit, I’m at Fourty Winks Hostel in Hamilton

I’m in Taupo but moving on now, been staying at the Taupo Urban Retreat and enjoying it.

Plenty of posts, with photos are coming soon.

I got here yesterday afternoon, went straight to iSite to find a hostel and settled on Urban Backpackers, mostly because they gave you free Internet access and I had to send an urgent email and make some Skype calls.

But, first things first, there is a day out there to enjoy. I got checked in, grabbed some maps and then headed off on a hike to Huka Falls. This is about a 16km round trip. I had been doing a lot of walking in the last few days, my legs were quite sore when I set off…

Surely this will just be a walk in the country?

Still reminds me of Yorkshire

You know, I don’t fancy bungee jumping… ever

Getting to the main part of the walk now

Ah, that must be the Hot Water Stream then!

I popped my hand in there, it’s like bathwater!

I cracked on down stream. Great water!

British Rivers would not look like that. They are very strict on keeping water based pests and weeds out. You have to clean your kit a lot.

Finally I get to Huka Falls – this is the upstream view from the bridge

And the downstream one

After it’s raced through that canyon, it ends up here. 68,000 litres per second

This was my walk back… what sort of name is Kevs Track for a track?

Still, the Redwoods looked pretty cool

Who left that?

Anyway, I was quite tired on the way back so stopped at Pak n’ Save for a few more of their Rock Cakes which I’ve become addicted to. I also grabbed a dinner I would have in London, pre-pack pasta and microwave “fresh” sauce. Upon eating it, it filled me up more than the pizzas I had the 2 nights previously!?

I then got talking to a few folks in the hostel, including my roommate, Cliff, drank a bit at the bar until it closed, then we went to another bar playing pool until that closed. Have you ever noticed that you get worse at pool as the night goes on?

Today I didn’t feel like getting on the road again so I checked in for another day. Cliff informed me I had been talking in my sleep! Something about TF2? Dunno what was going on with me.

Today has mostly been spent roaming, unsuccessfully trying to find another decent walk. Should have just rented a bike. I started a on a trek west around the lake, but soon realised that there was no path in sight.

I then headed for the mountains that overlook town… they didn’t seem that far away… turns out they were far away. I ended up near enough the base of them that I could have reached them, but I realised I didn’t have enough daylight left to do anything proper, so I turned back and did the other side of the lake as I headed back to the hostel.

This is a great little competition. If you get a hole in one in that from the shoreline you win NZD5000! $1 a try. It’s about 20m out.

You know what, I’m mighty impressed with this McDonald’s playground! That’s a DC3!!!! They also had a normal playground but you could hear the kids scrambling into that plane from miles away

And now I’m back in the hostel trying to decided on Fish & Chips or another Self Catering wonder for tea. I also need to work out where I want to go next. Oh well, will use some of my free internet time to determine it. You’re probably wondering why I’m not using that free time to do these posts, well, it’s not wireless for one and I’ve got the backlog on Windows Live Writer, and if it’s limited time, believe me, you use it wisely.

Update the day after: WHAT? Firstly I couldn’t easily get to Waitomo, then Intercity cost me NZD48 to Hamilton? If Hamilton sucks I’m going back to Auckland

— Time passes —

Well that was a monumental failure! As you will see from the short post I was able to put up, Global Gossip let me down. I was able to put up the text only post about getting back to Newcastle, but the others remain imprisoned on my laptop until I get back to the wonderful WiFi of Warner’s Bay Hotel near Tracey’s place.

Anyway, Rotorua. I got here just after 11am yesterday. Immediately made for the iSite Tourist Info and found a hostel (I’ve nailed down the “turn up without any accomodation” jig now). Headed for BASE Rotorua Hostel as it had a pool (which the YHA also did, but I’m not a member). NZD27 a night and I had a real bed, rather than just a bunk like I’m used to.

I then promptly headed out to check out the town. Found a Kathmandu and they have a sale on the day I leave NZ! Pity, their gear is good, but you need to get it when it’s on sale! I had to hunt high and low for more batteries for the GPS! When I found some the camera battery had run out! No photos of Lake Rotorua for me!

I went back to the hostel, got one of the backup batteries and headed for Kuirau Park, just outside the hostel.

Looks like a normal park in winter… but there is sulphur in the air

There are bubbling mud pits and volcanic lakes everywhere

You know, I don’t fancy a dip

This looks like where you expect dragons to lay eggs

The best steam shot of the day…

For some reason some vents were not fenced off

The better version of the view

Actually, is this the best steam shot?

Or this?

Anyway, after this I took a quick look at the GPS… oh bollocks. For some reason it had turned itself off? The battery is usually to blame for that but in this case it was fine… what is going on with me and technology now?!

I roamed town for a bit… ended up in Pak n’ Save to get a couple of their GREAT Rock Cakes! I then headed for Government Gardens to see what was there…

If only I hadn’t accidentally chopped half the NZ Flag off this one!

Strange that that lake looked really good!

This reminds me of Britain

I can see why they wanted to move it

After all that walking I wanted to chill out in the hostel pool, because it was a pool at a hostel and that doesn’t normally happen!

I get in this thing and it’s like a bath! Fantastic! You don’t really want to put your head under as it sucks to have hot water on your eyes, but this is just what you want after doing 18km on foot the day before and quite a bit today as well! Ended up spending more than an hour in there as I got talking to a few other people in it.

After getting out I decided I couldn’t be bothered with going back to Pak n’ Save to get my own tea to cook as for only $2 more I could have Dominos do it for me. I put a couple of beers in the hostel fridge, went off, got the pizza, came back, beers had disappeared! What the thief doesn’t know is that they tend to give you a bit of a hangover!

Anyway, I then bought my $5 of WiFi time… and used all of it trying desperately to get at least some of:

• PicasaWeb Uploads
• YouTube Uploads
• Skype Calls
• Queued Emails sent
• News and Google Reader Checked
• New emails downloaded for offline reading
• Important emails replied to
• Getting the details of how Tracey can call me to her

Out of those only the email related things were properly done, news was checked briefly, one Skype call made (and it wasn’t good quality) and (admittedly my fault), because I didn’t know that my phone had turned itself off in my pocket, I didn’t see Tracey’s reply text so I couldn’t speak to her! Global Gossip got a clear email off me outlining the problem that I had just paid for poor service and I was not pleased.

I was even less pleased when I couldn’t find an a phone that wasn’t my UK Mobile and would take an incoming call! None of the payphones around here list numbers!

I decided to go get a couple of beers at Lava Bar next to the hostel. It was supposed to be a PJ Party, but no one turned up in it (that didn’t stop the bouncer acting as if it were the most exclusive club in town). I did get talking to a couple of Kiwi guys who were a good laugh and they had skiing on TV!

Today I’ve decided to head on to Taupo, so I had better go get my bus!

It seems Global Gossip WiFi internet access at the BASE Rotorua Hostel doesn’t have a good enough internet connection for blog posts with pictures and bearly a good enough one for Skype calls!

You’ll have to keep waiting.

What a let down

Anyway, I arrived at 5ish… which is well and truly night time down here! Remember it’s winter. The iSite Tourist Info was closed and I had done the usual of not booking accommodation. I wondered round aimlessly looking for an internet café or a backpackers place… eventually finding a tourist information terminal thing that was essentially a computer on a street. Phew, it directed me to a backpackers place! Of course, on the way I found another backpackers and leads on 2 others!

Anyway, checked into Tauranga Central Backpackers, which on the outside looks like a retail unit that had been converted into a nice backpackers spot. The owner, Tony, did a great job at getting me checked in and providing everything I needed. Once again, I had the whole dorm to myself! NZD26/£10.20 a night for a private room essentially, schweeeeeeeet! The rest of the place was OK. Coin-op internet PCs (but they really need a lot of updating!), TV room (someone put Jackass 2 on), decent kitchen, comfortable beds, great location!

Anyway, went out and had a Lamb Shank with all the fixings for NZD15! Figured I was in NZ , I had to have some!

Next day I decided I would stay for another day before heading on to Rotorua, but because I bothered to have a bit of foresight, I got my bus ticket there for only NZD14 rather than $24. Then I looked at the local map and decided I’d walk to Mount Maunganui.

Doesn’t look that far away…

I have to cross that!? The convergence of about 3 main roads

One of the views from the Harbour Bridge

The path was diverted so I had to walk through an industrial estate!? It was a rubbish diversion

I carried on like that for quite some time. I later found out that I had walked at least 6km! Should have gotten the bus as the weather kept changing. Still, I did find quite a good snow sports place on the way.

Eventually, I arrived at Mount Maunganui, which is a much more developed place than you’d expect if you haven’t done any research!

There it is! Looking ominous! Beach was nice though

i think the money flows a little easier round here

Arty shot and look how much the weather is changing!?

The view from the bottom, looking up

The view down, towards the beach… which I prefer

I cracked on with the rather pedestrian 232 vertical metre hike. In order to boast about this, I was keeping up with the mountain runners in some cases (i.e. not the really fast ones). As I got higher, the photos got a better.

This is what I mean about pedestrian

Finally at the top!

Look at those waves!? Why am I obsessed with waves?

This reminds me of Wales!

But, on the way down, things turned for the worse… you remember that changeable weather?

Oh crap…

It was great fun running down the mountain at full pace trying to minimize time in the rain…

When I got back to the bus stop I was soaked. I had put on new jeans that morning so I was really annoyed that I didn’t have another fresh pair! It took ages to get back to the hostel and when I got there I spent about an hour in the shower warming up.

Went out again at about 3:55pm… found I had 5 minutes of looking in shops before they all shut!? On a Saturday!?

Meh, lost the will to live! Had Pizza Hut and a 6 pack for tea while watching Batman Returns.

Now, the day after, I’m on the way to Rotorua!

I want to go skiing.

I’m in Tauranga, New Zealand and am writing away on Windows Live Writer, but they might stay queued until I get back to Aus or even to LA!

Well what is there to say about Thames? This is really a summer destination if you have a car.

I checked in to the Hotel Imperial (which is better imagined as rooms above a pub). NZD20 a night is very good and Room 4 was comfortable, if a bit far from the toilets and it could do with a little more heating. The best thing though? I was the only one in the dorm room!!

I went out for an explore but had a small panic when I realised that i needed to get a letter off to the Student Loans Company ASAP and I had forgotten to print it back on Waiheke Island. That took up more time than you’d think and cost me NZD5 to print and send it internationally.

Err… I went exploring and found the following views…

This is … the town

This is low tide?

I went and got dinner from Central Seafood, a place with quite large “traditional takeaway” signs on it. However, when I got in there I quickly saw that what I thought would be your standard chippy was a mixture of gastro-chippy (multiple choices of fish, muscles, oysters and other fancy things available) and mc-chippy (burgers and other fast food that has no place in a fish & chip shop)!

Anyway, went back to the hostel to eat that then parked in the bar for a pint. I was the youngest in it by 20 years so I finished up and went for another wonder to find a younger spot… there were none!?

Went back and had another pint and listened to some live music but decided it was time to escape tomorrow as soon as possible. Alarm set for 07:45!

The next morning I wake up at 10:30 (only 30 minutes past the check out time), immediately want food so go to Pak n Save for a change (the scones are quite nice!) and then headed to the iSite Visitors Information and Bus Ticket Place… only to find I was stuck here until 3:30! Furthermore I was told I would basically have to go back to Auckland if I wanted to go anywhere interesting… errrrr? Ok, bought a ticket.

I went on the internet myself, found that I could get to Tauranga after all, so thankfully could refund and exchange the ticket! I have to say that I like Intercity Coaches policy when it comes to that! As I write this I’m sat just outside the Visitors Centre trying to keep out of the rain.

So, folks, if you ever fancy coming to Thames take this advice:

1. Come in the summer
2. Bring a car
3. Do better research than me

These Speed Cats go a bit quick!

The best sort of forward facing view I could get

Of course, standing there resulted in the odd spray in the face

Waiheke Island sighted!

Apparently this is a popular spot with the rich

I believed the sign that said it was 20 minutes to Ourora Village so decided to walk it instead of spend a whole NZD2.50 on the bus! Maybe I should have just gone with it for ease…

Remind you of Wales? Was a great way to see the place!

Ah, civilization!

I asked at the iSite Tourist Information place for backpackers and thankfully there was one! The Hekerua Lodge. This one was family run and when I finally got there after taking every wrong turn possible, it was fantastic! Mark, was DJing as it was the afternoon off but still happy to give me a wine tasting map, and let me leave my main bag in the sitting room. There was a pool, spa, plenty of outside areas (although it is winter so I didn’t fancy it) and inside the lodge part you had a decent kitchen with 2 range master style cookers, several microwaves, plenty of pots and pans as well as clean bathrooms etc! But the best thing was that the sitting room you could use really felt homely. Bit TV, wood fire (like my Mum has back in the South of France), comfortable sofas! It’s great! Top marks!

Anyway, I went back out and headed of for a fairly long walk around a couple of the local Vineyards.

The first one i found, oddly the further one away, Kennedy Point

Sort of felt a bit more like a farm until you got into the tasting room, I liked that a lot! And the lady who did the tasting was very knowledgeable!

And the view they had was pretty spectacular!

This seems just what you would expect from a bay down here

Well, I didn’t expect quite so many boats

One of the arty shots

And I just liked this one

Anyway, I hiked back up the peninsula past the school that was kicking out and eventually came across the first vineyard I had intended to go to…

The Goldwater Estate

Hope that sums it up

This was inside the tasting room. You see those 3 cases in a row (just below the standing bottles) – well that’s a bottle from every year this place has been open showing the evolution of the taste

I liked the Waiheke Red so much from here I bought a bottle (I really need to watch my money more!). I then hiked back to Ourora and checked the village out. There didn’t seem to be much in the way of nightlife for backpackers, but I did see a nice looking Fish & Chip place that I decided I wanted for tea (but it was 3 in the afternoon). I then headed to the beach…

But the best thing about this beach? There was an open WiFi network I could use to catch up on emails, get some PDFs of Wikitravel for my onward journeys and advise Alan on how to set up his new website!

Once the battery was depleted I headed back to the hostel for a bit and enjoyed that sitting room. I then decided to go back to Ourora, to find that the restaurant part of the chippy was closed this time of year. I decided to go have a look around, found nothing else so I decided to get some beers in  and then go get a takeaway Fish & Chips. However, by the time I got back there the takeaway part was also closed!! At 7:30pm!? What?

I wound up hiking across the island back to Surfdale where there was an excellent pizzeria, but NZD25 felt like a lot, as great as it was! But they let me drink those beers I bought so I was happy.

Then I went back to the hostel and had a night in essentially, and one where I felt right at home. Watched Man vs. Wild, The Colbert Report (which is currently in Iraq with the USO, and is hilarious). Slept pretty well.

This morning I decided to head to Coromandel, but discussing it with Mark the Lodge owner, it seemed there was not a direct ferry back after all. However, he did me a massive favour by giving me a lift to the ferry back to Auckland! Great guy. If your ever on Waiheke, be sure to stay at there! It’s great!

I’m sat writing this on a bus to Thames! Think I’ll be based out of there for this part then perhaps hit Hot Water Beach tomorrow. Who knows when this post will see the light of the blog though, I have 5 queued ready to go!

Also, just an aside, while writing all of them I’ve been listening to Adam & Joe’s podcasts! Funny, and a great way of hearing from home!