Check, Check, Check!

So, I am proud to say that I have checked another thing off my list making it three in total so far. Well, three if you include the ongoing album of all things beautiful and awesome. The lucky entry today was............Angela McNamara! Her entry was to go to the Auckland Zoo and have an animal encounter! So today I did just that!

When I woke up this morning it was beautiful and sunny! Were were originally supposed to get rain today, but it turned out to be the most gorgeous day since I have been here (all 5 days). It was so sunny, hot and beautiful that I even got my tan on while I was at the zoo. I didn't notice until I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror and voila there were my freckles. I took the bus over to the zoo nice and early, and I figured I could do it today before the Easter break kicks in and the place would be teeming with children. The Auckland zoo is actually pretty small compared to some. There are some really good animals there too, and I love the way they have their enclosures set up. There are very little 'cages' at the zoo, and a lot of open enclosures. It made it feel more open, and it sure made for way better pictures. I can imagine the animals like it better too. So I walked around looking at all the zoo had to offer and I made sure to stop into the Kiwi house. I mean I am in New Zealand, I should probably see a kiwi asap, and it is on my list to kiss one. Well I went through the kiwi house, and everything was dark. Apparently they are nocturnal animals I guess. Well I looked and I looked and I looked a little more but I still have not seen a kiwi! I don't know how many were supposed to be in there and where they all were but I didn't see even one of them! Oh well I guess, I will have to wait until I go on my trip to see a kiwi.

So after seeing the majority of the park I headed off to my animal encounter destination. I wanted to be there nice and early to secure my spot in the line. As it happens I was the very first in line, first in front of all the children! To that I say, honey badger don't give a care! I really was first in line, and the rest seemed to be children and Asians but I was super pumped. I chose the Giraffe for my animal encounter! Giraffes are my absolute favourite! They always have been and most likely will always be my favourite. So I was pretty pumped I got to feed one, I have never done that before! The zoo volunteer gave me a stick of celery just before it was my turn and the guy was still yapping about giraffe facts. Then it was my turn! I stepped up, held out the celery in one hand and my camera in the other. Then I took a picture just as he wrapped his big blue tongue around the celery. I also snapped another one after the celery was already in his mouth and I reached out for a little pat. Then it was time for me to step aside and let the children have their turn. It was all very quick! I took another picture of a girl feeding the giraffe and then stepped off the platform. Then I looked back at my pictures of me feeding it. I was pissed when I flicked back to the picture of when the celery was still in my hand and my camera just had a black screen! That has happened to me before but never on something as important as this! Luckily I did take the other picture sans celery but my hand is still in the picture and you can obviously tell it is close up. It was a very cool experience though, so thanks Ang for adding that to my list!

I have said it before and I will say it again, I LOVE this list. I think it is such a great idea and I am so much enjoying trying to check things off!

Also side note, if anyone wants my address or phone number I have both of those now so please feel free to message me on facebook or e-mail me for the deets! That is all for now, enjoy the zoo pictures, tomorrow is Auckland Domain and possibly the art gallery.

We're Not In Kansas Anymore Rangitoto.

Today's adventure was hiking to the summit of Mt. Rangitoto (Rang-e-toe-toe). Mt. Rangitoto is Auckland's newest volcanoes in the volcanic field. By new I mean it is only 600 years old whereas the other volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field are several thousand years old. 600 years ago Mt. Rangitoto erupted from the ocean and formed an island just off the coast of Auckland. To get to the island you first have to take a ferry from downtown Auckland. I, for one, found it to be a bit pricey but then again so is everything down here. So I paid my $27 and hopped on for my 30 minute ride across the harbour. It was good to see the Auckland skyline from the harbour, and the view of Mt. Rangitoto as we approached it.

After disembarking from the ferry it was very apparent that we were on a volcano. The shoreline was black rock dotted with air holes. There was lots of vegetation but it was trees and bushes and very little grass. Before taking the ferry I knew they were predicting rain for the afternoon so I took the first ferry out and wanted to race the rain to the summit. That way if the rain started then it would be on my descent from the top. I started the walk and the guide said that it was about an hour to the summit from the wharf. I started onto the trail and on both sides there were huge patches of volcanic rock and little vegetation. The trail was also like walking on small charcoal briquettes because it was made up of the bits of  volcanic rock. The start of the trail was pretty easy going then right around the half way mark it started to get steeper and steeper. Since I was racing the rain I was rushing a bit up the path, that all stopped when the grade got higher. Before long I was at the top, it didn't take an hour. The crater was very big, much bigger then Mt. Eden, but in this crater there were lots of lots of trees. I didn't expect the trees, I kind of expected it to be rocky like the rest of it. I think I would have been much more impressed if it was rocky.  Then it was another few minutes to the lookout on the crater rim track.

The look out was most impressive and the view was amazing. I am using a picture from the look out as my something beautiful today because it really was breath taking! It also started to rain just as I reached the look out, but it was just a sprinkle anyway. I had a look around, and was debating on stopping for lunch there but then the crowd of people from the ferry started reaching the summit so I ate my lunch as I was walking back down towards the Lava Caves. If I can avoid large groups of tourists on activities like that I always do. The rain ceased for the rest of the hike by the time I was leaving so that made the rest of the day much more enjoyable.

The lava caves are formations made from when the volcano erupted. The lava came pouring down the side of the mountain and the outside of the flow cooled before the inside. Leaving a tunnel like formation of rock. There is a lava cave circuit to walk, but I will fess up right at the beginning I was too chicken to walk the whole circuit through the caves. I took a light as the pamphlet said to, but those caves were scurry! They were creepy, cold and pitch black. I tried my hand at one, but soon decided that caving was not in the cards for me today. I think if I had been with a hiking partner it would have been more bearable, but I was by myself and there was no one else around. So I did the track on top of the caves and had a peek inside each one. Then I went back to the wharf to catch the ferry. I thought walking up the mountain was a bit difficult, walking down was actually pretty hard. The loose footing combined with jello legs made it slowish going for the steep parts. I made it back to the wharf with time to have a seat and relax.

After a half day of hiking I went to buy a pair of rubber boots because we are expecting a lot of rain for the winter months and I don't have any waterproof shoes. The good news is, I am a 10 again! In one style of boots I was even a 9! That right there is enough for me to stay in New Zealand!

Starting The List

Right out of the gate I am starting to check things off the list on day two. I know some of you are wondering what I did first?? Maybe you are wondering what was added to the list? Well I will let you in on all of it soon. First I will tell you the additions to the list since the last time I posted it. I must say, I am loving this list. I am hoping to complete everything on it before I come back home. Instead of rewriting the whole list I am just going to put the additions, so they are as follows:

• Visit the Franz Josef or Fox Glacier
• Shower under a very tall waterfall.
• Catch a trout at Lake Taupo.
• Visit Waipu, a Scottish settlement and the founder was from Nova Scotia.
• Go Skydiving.
• Go cage diving with great white sharks
• Ride a sheep.
• Find the lake with no bottom, throw a rock in and make a wish.
• Find someone that has had a close encounter with a Moa.
• Visit a geyser
• Go see Flight of the Concords

Needless to say I will be kept busy! I am grateful for all the creative additions to the list, and if you think of anymore please feel free to message me and I will add it on.

So, you are probably wondering what I started with! Did I go base jumping?? Did I jump out of a tree and scare a random person? Maybe I visited the Auckland Zoo.....The winner of the first ever To-Do List check-mark is.............Draga!! Draga's addition was to visit some old volcanoes in Auckland, take pictures and post them to facebook so that she could feel like she was there too. Yesterday I visited Mt. Eden, a very old and very extinct volcano in Auckland. I walked right up to the top and took some pretty awesome pictures for Draga! I also learned that Draga's addition will be ongoing as there are about 20 extinct volcanoes just in Auckland! I tried to go to another one today, the newest of the old ones, Mt Rangitoto but I just missed the ferry. If the rain isn't too bad tomorrow I will go back and try again in the morning. I am going to try to go to the top of all 20 in Auckland.

Yesterday was my first time on a volcano and it was very cool! Of course Mt Eden is a few thousand years old so it is very grassy and lots of trees on the way to the summit. Once we got to the top it looked like a bomb went off, or maybe it was hit by an asteroid. There was a huge crater in the middle, and you can't really tell from the pictures but it goes down quite deep. It was hard to imagine that some thousand years ago it was spewing molten lava. Mt. Rangitoto is the newest volcano in Auckland and is just a baby at 600 years old. Julian told me that it is much more 'volcano looking'. I am really looking forward to it, but unfortunately there is only one ferry that goes and comes back from the island it is on. If you miss the last ferry off then you could get stranded there until morning. I could have caught a ferry over this afternoon, but I wasn't confident I would make it back for the last ferry off. We are supposed to get a week of rain, so I am hoping it won't be too bad, and I will still be able to get some exploring done.

I almost forgot about Dawn's entry in the list, an album on facebook that has a picture a day added of something beautiful. I have tweaked this a bit and decided to to an album of awesome because somethings that are awesome might not be 'beautiful'. So I guess I better get started on that too! So check out my pictures and my ongoing albums on facebook for The List!

Before I go, I am leaving you with a question. I ask you, my followers, why do I attract the crazy!? It seems to me that no matter what province, country, continent or hemisphere I am in the crazy is drawn to me like flies to a shit pile. Just today, and it is noteworthy that today is only day 3 in New Zealand, I was walking down to the ferry to see about going over to Mt. Rangitoto and just after I crossed the street a small Asian fellow came running up to me. He asked me where I was from, to which I replied, " Canada." Then he asked me if I would talk to him. Yea, just like that he said, "Rill you talk ris mea?" I gave the young fella a puzzled look and said that I didn't understand what he was asking. Then he said that he said that he was Korean and he was studying English and he was hoping I could talk with him while we walked down the side walk so he could practice his English. What do you say to that!!? So I said sure, but made sure he had his own destination as to not get sidled with this guy for the day. Then I had a 10 minute walk and talk with this guy. I never did find out his name.........

Then after finding out I couldn't make it to Mt. Rangitoto I decided to take the train to Newmarket, and have a look around there. I wanted to figure out the train system so there is no better way then to just do it, and ask people along the way. I boarded the train and was sat waiting for the guy to some take my fare when an older gentleman got on the same car as me and sat across from me. I don't know if they have group homes in New Zealand, but I am pretty sure this guy lived in one. He then started to tell me about school kids being angry because the buses were full, and something about the minister of education and lord knows what else! It is a good thing that Newmarket wasn't far because, even though I did not engage, he just kept talking! So why, WHY does the crazy flock to me????

Kia Ora New Zealand!

So after a trying arrival at the L.A. airport and a bit of yelling and two beers later it was time to board the plane. I got on the plane and headed down the aisle past all the well to dos in first class (which I am seriously going to look into for my next long haul flight) and I neared my seat. Now, on a huge air craft for long haul flights there is a row of three seats from the window on both sides and a row of four in the middle. I was sitting second from the aisle in the middle set of four. I was nestled between a fat Samoan guy and a weirdo from New Zealand that smelled bad and may or may not have been touching himself under his blanket. I was very much hoping for an empty row or something, or possibly that my episode with William would make him inclined to bump me up to first class or something. But no, I got to spend the 13 hour duration of the flight jammed in between these two. Usually I never ever sleep on planes, I have a very hard time, although this time around I actually slept quite a bit. It is amazing what a little wine and Benedryl will do for you! The wine and beer are free on the long haul flights over international waters, so a few glasses of wine and a few Benedryl later I was fast asleep. I also did like the touch screen on the back of the headrest in front of me. Instead of the crappy in flight movie being played for all I got to choose my own crappy in flight movie. I had my choice from several movies and TV shows to watch as well as a number of interactive games like; Who Wants to Be  a Millionaire, Pac Man, Tetris, Bejeweled etc. The part I liked the most was when you wanted to order a drink or snacks or something you just put your order in on your touch screen and in a few minutes someone was there with your order. It was much better then having to call over the stewardess, ask her for whatever and then wait for her to bring it back. I am seriously considering trying to save enough money for first class on my next long haul flight though. It is on my bucket list to fly first class, and it would be a great investment for a long haul like 13 hours.

I arrived in Auckland just after 6am on the 31st, loosing the 30th all together. I cleared the New Zealand customs without a hitch and proceeded to the arrivals where I was met by my new families father, Julian. It wasn't a super long drive from the airport to the house, and in no time I was at my new house. I surprisingly wasn't too tired right off the top, but I did desperately want a shower. So I cleaned myself up a bit and got settled in. The place where I am staying is a little shed type building in the garden. Basically what it is is a bedroom with a bathroom and then I come inside to eat. It is all legit, and not shed like at all, and it is nice to have my own space. The only thing that takes some getting used to is the toilet sink. Yea, I know what you are thinking, but here's how it works. The toilet tank has a tap on the top so when I flush the toilet the tap runs. I have a pee, then flush the toilet and wash my hands with the running tap water and sometimes brush my teeth etc. Then the waste water fills the back of the toilet and that is used to flush the toilet. It is a green way to save on water consumption. Once the Au Pair that is there now leaves, I will move into the house and the bathroom is regular in there. Although the toilet takes some getting used to I do really enjoy having my own space for now.




After settling in I decided to go exploring in Auckland. Isabelle, the current aupair, said she was headed in to town later in the day, but I didn't think I would have the energy for that later so I opted to go it alone in the morning. We live only 2kms from downtown Auckland, so it was a nice little walk into the city. It seems to be such a green city with lots of parks, trees, and vegetation all around. I am looking forward to exploring the many parks and extinct volcanoes around the city in my time off. This also makes for great times for Tia and I around with lots of places to see and do. I walked around the city centre and got a good feel for the place, and I also went to the Magic Bus booking office. Isabelle told me about this tour company, and I had never heard of it before. I had looked up some tours before I came and had planned on booking one. I looked up the Magic bus online and it had a great deal on a national bus pass that expired at midnight that day. This tour is 17 days long and I got it for $499.00. That excludes my accommodation, but all in it will work out to be about the same as the other tour that was just of the North Island. Then when I return it will be the end of April and I will start work shortly after that. Luckily for you guys I will be able to hopefully knock off a fair amount of my to do list!

I walked around downtown for a while exploring different areas. At one point I was standing waiting to cross the road at the lights and when the light changed the intersection exploded with people walking this way and that! We have them in parts of Canada too, but I always forget about all cross intersections. This is where all the lights switch to cross allowing pedestrians to cross in whatever direction they like, even diagonally. Also I kept almost bumping into people and then I realized the same thing happened to me in Australia too. I was walking against the flow of traffic because I am from North America. We drift to the right side where people down here drift to the left. I would catch myself drifting to the right and have to remember to go back on the left. These are all things I have to get used to again.

So after my first day of exploring I came back to the house and was home along for a while. After a skype date with my favourite cousin Amy, I decided that I should just give in to the jet lag and take a short nap. I went to my room and laid down at about 5:30pm. I set my alarm for 6:30pm because I didn't want to sleep straight through and be wide awake at some silly hour. So I went to sleep. At 10:46pm I woke up in a daze wondering where I was and realized it was dark out. I looked at the clock and I saw the time so I got up, brushed my teeth and climbed back in bed. I think I put myself into some sort of jet lagged coma. I slept through until the morning and got up around 7:15am only to realize that I had arrive on the eve of time change day so it was actually 6:15am. Since then I have been up all day and now it is 8:00pm, I will be going to sleep very soon. After I post this I will be posting pictures from my first few hours in Auckland.

Also, I started checking things off my list today, so once I can see straight I will write and post pictures of what I did on the list :)

Laying Over in L.A.

The Rockies from 40 000 ft

Well as many of you know I safely arrived in Auckland this morning. I felt pretty good this morning, but am now feeling very jet lagged. I am trying to force myself to stay up and customize myself to the time zone here. I might grab a nap after writing this one, and do the one about today later. This one is about my layover in Los Angeles.

I left Calgary good and early, but not at the crack of dawn. My flight left at 10:30am so I was there about 8ish. It is a good thing I was there so early, security was backed up and it seemed like it took me forever to get through all the customs crap. The flight down to L.A. was good, it was only 3 hours so it was a decent time and I was able to catch a quick sleep on the plane. I am getting better and better at that sleeping on the plane thing. I arrived in Los Angeles just after 12 in the afternoon, but my flight for New Zealand didn't leave until 9:30pm, so I had lots of time to kill. I collected my bags and went in search of a visitor information booth or someone to tell me if there was anything close enough I could go do while I waited for my flight. I found an information booth and the lady there told me that there was a tour leaving at 1:00pm from the Hilton hotel and that I could take a free shuttle from LAX to the Hilton it was very close. By this time it was now 12:40pm so I ran back down the stairs ("ran" as best I could with my life crammed into two backpacks) and caught the shuttle just in time. Made it to the Hilton at five to one and headed straight for the concierge.

He told me that they could store my bags for me, the tour was $65 and left the hotel at 1:30pm and returned at 6:30pm. Knowing that I had to catch a flight after the tour and that security at LAX may be a little time consuming 6:30pm was the latest I could be. I said to the concierge, "Are you positive it gets back at 6:30?" He said yes, if not before. I told him that it was very important that I not be back later then that because I had to catch a flight, and asked him if he could guarantee it would be back by 6:30pm. He said it absolutely would be and that the shuttle back to the airport ran every 20 mins. So I told him to book it. I waited outside in the LA sun for the bus to pick me up. It did come by at 1:30 and I got on ready for a tour. The driver, Mark, welcomed me and told me just to have a seat. We drove around and picked up a few others before we stopped at the tour company's office. We had to hop off the bus, pay for our ticket then get back on to start the tour. There were also some people waiting at the office already. So I went in to pay for the tour and I asked the woman at the desk I said, " The concierge told me that it will be back by 6:30pm are you sure it will be back by then?" She assured me that it would be fine and that they would be back, but just to make sure she would check with the dispatch guy. She called him over and asked him if they would be back by 6:30pm. He said that he couldn't guarantee to be back on the dot, but it would be shortly thereafter if not. I explained to him that I had a flight and if they didn't think they could make it back then that was fine, I just wouldn't risk it and not take the tour. He assured me that it would be fine and to relax and have a good time on the tour. He took me out to the driver and told him what the deal was too. The driver, Mark, told me he would stop at the hotel and grab my bag and have it on board and drop me off right at the airport after the tour. This put me at ease and they were very focused on accommodating me and the other people on the tour that were catching flights.

Venice Beach

The tour started on Venice beach. We drove over the marina canals and he told us it was because of the canals that the area got its name, like the Venice in Italy. Venice beach is very famous for a number of reasons and has been featured on a number of movies and TV shows. It is the beach where Baywatch was filmed. Well Venice beach is a little sketchy in some places, and I was pretty happy that we were there in the day time. The walkway is lined with vendors and people begging for money. The beach is nice though, light sand, rolling waves sunshine, it has all the ingredients for a great spot. It has just, over the years, become plagued with vagrants, street kids, etc. We didn't have too much time to hang out at the beach then it was back on the bus for the next stop. The next stop was Santa Monica beach. This is another very well known and famous beach in California. It has the pier with all the rides and things on it right on the water. This end of the beach is much nicer then Venice, and it very high end. The celebrities stay at the Casa

After Santa Monica it was off to Beverly Hills. Talk about rich and high end! Beverly Hills was crazy with rich people and designers. We drove up Rodeo Drive but we didn't get out and look around, just from the bus. The streets were lined with designer shops like Louis Vitton, Jimmy Choo, Micheal Kors etc you name it they had it. We even saw a Bugatti parked on Rodeo Dr. Apparently those cars are over a million dollars. On Sunset Blvd we saw a guy driving a red convertible Ferrari with his daughter in her car seat. The people that live in Beverly Hills have no concept of real life. That city is filthy rich! It was fun to see all the famous places though, and the driver pointed out a few places along the way where stars lived, or filmed movies. We drove by a lot of places from the movie Pretty Woman. From Rodeo Dr we headed down Sunset Blvd. This had less high end shops but was littered with places the stars go to hang out, expensive cars and shops and billboards. Tons and tons of billboards. From Sunset Blvd we went on to Hollywood Blvd.

Hollywood Blvd is the busiest craziest street in Hollywood. It is home to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, The Kodak Theatre (Where the Oscars are held), The Chinese Theatre (Where the Stars put their hands and feet prints in cement), and a view point for the Hollywood sign. There were so many people on that street! It definitely made for good people watching, that’s for sure. There were people performing street shows, people dressed up like stars that you can take their picture with for money, and tourists as far as the eye could see. The driver told us where he would be parked and told us to be back in an hour. My first stop was to go see the Hollywood sign and grab something quick to eat. I went up to the viewing platform to see the Hollywood sign, but you could just barely see it. I took a picture but it is in the distance. Some day I will go back and get a closer picture of the Hollywood sign. Then I looked around a bit, and grabbed a bite at Johnny Rockets. It was really good, but expensive in my opinion. However, with that many tourists wandering around you would be crazy not to charge through the nose for stuff like that. Then I walked a good section of the walk of fame. I didn't take pictures of all the stars I saw, for two reasons. One, it would have taken forever, and two, because my camera battery was dying. I walked up past the Kodak theatre and up to the Chinese Theatre, and saw all the hand and foot prints. Walking through the crowd is like walking through an obstacle course! There are people dressed as characters and stars wanting you to take their picture with them, people trying to sell you things, and crazy people just yelling things at passersby. Someday I will go back there and spend more time looking around. Because of the tour we were short on time, and hour is no time at all in Hollywood.

We met back at the bus and we had one last stop at the Los Angeles farmers market. When we arrived it was just after 6:00pm and the Mark asked me to hang out for a second when he stopped. So we stopped and everyone else got off. Mark said that we wouldn't be back at the time I wanted and that he was going to try to have me at the airport at 7:30pm. I was so mad, I could have slapped a bitch. Him and his assistant Caroline said, “Oh just ask them to take you to the front of the line, they will if they know you have a flight soon.” When I told her that I somehow do not believe that Homeland Security was going to bump me to the front of the line because I was late, she seemed surprised. Then I told her that American security wasn't about to do any favours for anyone. I was livid! I had asked several people if I would get back in time and now, at the end of the tour, NOW he is telling me I won't be. I asked him what my other options were as far as taking a taxi etc. He said that as of then no mater what transport I took it would be the same because of the traffic. I asked him if my $65 was so important to his company that he was willing to completely fuck me and my trip! Ol Marky Mark hadn't expected me to be so upset I don't think. So at that point I had no choice, I couldn't get to the airport any faster. All I could do was hope that the lines weren't too big and I would make it through in time.

After the farmers market, which if I hadn't been so pissed would have been way better, we headed back to Santa Monica to drop of one passenger and then to LAX. He kept saying that Terminal 2 for Air New Zealand was going to be the first stop, like he was doing me some kind of favour. Which only fuelled my fire. Caroline said, “Oh don't worry, last time I got through in an hour and I was so panicked. I know how you feel.” To which I replied, “ Now look! I don't give a shit about what you did last time you went through the airport, and for the record this feeling I have is both panicked and extremely pissed. This feeling could have been avoided but you all chose to lie to me and have put me in a position where I may miss my flight. At the start of this tour I thought it was going to be a great experience and you two seemed very accommodating. Now, because of you two people and this tour company L.A. Has left a bad taste in my mouth!” Caroline didn't say anything after that I think she realized I wasn't in a chatty mood. We pulled up to the Air New Zealand terminal just after 7:30pm. I grabbed my bag a jumped off the bus, refraining from telling Mark to go fuck himself! So a word of advice if you ever go to L.A. Don't bother using the services of VIP TOURS, tell your friends!

Luckily for me there was no line and I ran right up to the check in counter. William, the agent waiting on me asked how long I was going to New Zealand for and I told him I had a working holiday for a year. Then he asked if I had it in my passport, and when I told him it was electronic and I didn't need a stamp, he said he had never heard of that before. Awesome! So he had to go get someone smarter then him and ask about my visa. The other guy said that it was true, and verified I had a proper visa. So William checked in my bag and at the last minute asked to weigh my carry on. I threw it on the scale and he said it was to heavy. I was surprised because it was just fine for all of the rest of my flights. He said they had a 7kg limit and mine was 8 on the nose. I lost it! I opened my bag and started pulling stuff out and I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I pulled out a few things and hurriedly chucked it back on the scale. I knew I had to hurry, because of Williams stupidity, it took extra time to check in! The scale read 7.6kgs. The tears broke free and I looked at him and yelled, “ I don't know what the hell else you want me to take out! There is nothing in there!! A change of clothes and my friggin computer!” The TSA guy that came for my check baggage said, “7.6 is fine.” I looked at him and said, “ No! This guy is telling me it has to be 7, and I have nothing else to take out! What do you people expect us to carry on!!” Then William grabbed an approved luggage tag and threw it on my bag saying it was fine just to carry on. Oh yea, and I forgot to mention that upon checking in William told me they had a full flight and I was in a middle seat but if they could they would move me. Awesome! 13 hours squeezed between two people! I got through security fairly easily and lucky for me I could see my gate from the airport bar. I had enough time to pound back 2 beer before boarding, and that seemed to calm my nerves a bit.

I am going to leave the story of my flight for the next one, and my first in Auckland. Enjoy!

The Day I Survived The Avalanche: Vancouver Day 2

Our trip to Seattle proved to be sunny and interesting and then it was back to Vancouver for one last day of awesome before heading back to Cowtown.

We slept in a bit and got up ready for a day of adventure. Although it wasn't supposed to be sunny the good news was that they weren't predicting a lot of rain for our last day o the west coast. Our first stop in the morning was for breakfast at some crappy diner in English Bay. It took them three tries to get Amy's right and I had an omelet with canned mushrooms in it.......yum? After that we struck off for the aquarium! We were surprised when we went through admissions and they took our picture against a green screen for a souvenir  photo. I have a cop of it to take with me, but don't have one to post on here. The aquarium was really cool despite being crawling with bawling bratty kids. One of my favourite parts was the jelly fish tank. They used a blue background and great

lighting to really highlight the jellyfish. We toured around looking at all the interesting creatures and taking in the sights. We were also waiting for both a Beluga show and the Dolphin show. When we went to get our seat for the Beluga show the rain started a bit, but we weren't scared! There was one area with an awning, but it was labeled clearly with 'Splash Zone'. That tells me that that even though it might be raining, I would be better off in the spitting rain then in the way of a splashing Beluga. Some other people obviously didn't see the signs because that area filled up mighty quick. Before the show started the fella on the mic said to be warned that those people might get wet. They didn't listen....tisk tisk. The show was okay, not great but okay. It was mostly information about Belugas and they did some things while the guy was talking. Then at the end of the show the Beluga gave a huge splash to the crowd! It sure was funny watching that from the dry zone!

Next up was the dolphin show. It was certainly more exciting then the Belugas and the dolphins impressed us with their height flying acrobatic moves. They were very well trained and really impressive to watch. After that show we did the rest of the aquarium and hit the road in search of a food truck.

Amy and I are both fans of the food network and the shows, Eat Street, You Gotta Eat Here and Man vs Food. So before we travelled we looked up online if there was any food trucks that were featured on Eat St. in Vancouver. We found out that there were actually 4 different trucks featured on the show from Vancouver. Amy has the Eat St. app on her phone so we thought we would look up where the trucks were and then just go and find one. Turns out......the Eat St. app is crap! We spent a good amount of wasted time looking for the food trucks where the app said they should be. We went the whole time in Vancouver without eating from and Eat St. food truck! We did however have a great burrito from the Red Burrito on Robson. We were headed to Robson to go to Beard Poppas. They are supposedly the best cream puffs around! We bought some and took them back to Calgary with us. They were pretty good, but not life changing. I really thought they were going to be so good they would change my life.

After a bite to eat we hit up Cyprus Mountain before jumping on the highway and heading back to Abbotsford. The drive was shorter then we thought to the first look out and it was a really great view to downtown Vancouver. Not to mention there was a truck full of fellas that just got done mountain biking in the mountains :).  After snapping a few pictures we thought we would head up the mountain some more and see if there was a higher look out. There was in fact a higher look out but it wasn't nearly as good as view as the first one, so we didn't stay there very long. We did take a little drive up to the top where they had a ski hill. There was still lots of snow the higher we got on the mountain. At one point there were banks along the road that were taller then the car. Amy said, we should stop and get a picture of you next to the huge snow banks. So we did. The whole drive up the mountain there were caution avalanche signs along the road. We didn't pay to much attention to them until we got up on the road with the high snow banks. I was standing in front of the snowbank posing for a picture while Amy stood in the middle of the baron road taking my picture. As I was standing there a chunk of snow rolled off the snowbank and onto the ground beside me. There must have been 4-5 centimeters in that chunk........ For half a second the feeling I felt was sheer terror! When the snow hit the ground I thought it was the start of an avalanche and my face reflected that. I jumped out of the way just in time to see Amy doubled over laughing. Obviously there was no avalanche and Amy could see that from where she was standing, but mama didn't raise no fool. I was always taught to never turn my back to the snow bank.

After that we headed back to Abbotsford to return the car and fly back to Calgary. I don't know how many of you have been to Abbotsfordmins and early for our flight so we decided to go to bar and have a beer or two while we waited. The waitress just brought us our beer when the announced that our flight was actually early and that they would be boarding in a few minutes. Amy and I had to chug our pints of beer before boarding! The flight was short and painless, and we were back in Calgary in no time.

So there it is, my west coast vacation. Now I am relaxing and all packed and ready to go. It is a bit surreal that I am moving to New Zealand tomorrow morning! I hope all goes well and I am sure I will update you all once I arrive.

Amuurica, Amuurica! My Trip to Seattle Washington.

After a pretty eventful day one of our three day vacation we got up early and packed up the car for a day trip cross border in Seattle. This would be another first for me, because although I have passed through the United States several times, I have never actually visited any city in the states. Vancouver is only about a 3 hour drive away from Seattle so it made for the perfect day trip.

It was pretty easy to get out of Vancouver and head straight for the border. It was raining when we left Vancouver but we were headed south on the promise of sunshine in Seattle. The drive was okay, not greatly scenic but lots of things too look at for sure. Now, I don't know if any of you have every driven through Surrey BC but Amy and I have recently re-named it to Surrley. This is because boy is the smell there ripe! As we approached the exits for Surrley a waft of shart seeped in the car vents near gassing us death. It was just rancid! As we began coughing and gasping for air we wondered to ourselves what it was about Surrey that could cause it to smell so bad!? Luckily we weren't stopping in, just passing through so the smell was temporary but enough to give us a lasting impression of Surrey. Our border crossing was painless, and pretty quick and we were on our way! We jumped on the I-5 and headed towards Seattle. We stopped for a bathroom caffeine break in Skagit at the McDonalds where I had the most delish iced Carmel mocha (that we can't get in Canada). Then it was back on the road.

We got into downtown Seattle around 1:00pm and navigated their diagonal streets and one ways to park the car in a lot and travel around downtown by foot. We didn't have a really set plan of stuff we wanted to see while we were there. All we really had on the list was Pike Place Market, so that was our first stop. The Pike Place Market is pretty famous and has 5 floors of market vendors including the famous Pike Place fish mongers. They were featured on travel and tourism sites. They toss the fish around to each other and have whimsicle chants. It was very entertaining to see them in action that is for sure. Amy and I strolled the market stalls upstairs, downstairs, mid stairs and all around. I pressed some american pennies to send to the boys, and we had lunch at Lowells with a view on the water. We visted the copper piggy bank, and the first ever Starbucks. It was a very very interesting market and I really liked the atmosphere  there. We spent a few hours winding our way through the market and enjoying everything they  had to offer. After we saw all that we could see we walked out a side door that came out kind of in an alley way.

When we came out I looked to the right and saw and interesting looking wall and a few people looking at it. From the distance we were standing it looked very colorful and seemed to have some sort of finish on the brick wall. We thought we would wander down and have a peek. As we got closer Amy said, "It's the gum wall!!" She had previously been to Seattle and heard about the gum wall but had never gone to see it while she was there. When we got to the wall the sight I saw was both one of the most interesting and disgusting sights I had ever seen. A section of wall about 50 feet was covered in chewed gum several inches thick  and extended up the wall about 15 feet! There was all colors, stringy gum, balls of gum and some coins stuck into the mix. From the window sill long strings of chewed gum hung down like tinsil. Some people had taken the time to spell out their names, messages, initials and pictures out of gum! Apparently it started 20 years ago when for some reason people started sticking coins to the wall with gum as they went into the theatre.

The owners tried scraping the gum off but people persisted and it has turned into quite the tourist attraction. Even though the sight of all that chewed gum gave my stomach a vomitty feeling I knew I wouldn't be leaving that wall without adding to it. Luckily I had some gum in my bag so Amy and I started chawing while we were looking at all the gum. After a few minutes our gum was chewed enough that we were confident it would stick, and we could add our own contributions to the Seattle gum wall. I took a Canadian penny that I had in my pocket and proudly stuck it to the gum wall, maple leafs face out. I was very careful not to touch any of the millions of pieces of gum stuck to the wall, and then Amy did the same. So now, stuck forever, our DNA can be found stuck to the Market Theater Gum Wall.

After the gum wall we walked around downtown a bunch and visted my first ever Walgreens. I was shocked at all the flavours of things they had there that we don't in Canada. Lots of flavours of chips and chocolate things I had never seen. It was awesome! I bought some turtle chex mix and some reese whoppers to take with me. Before we left for vacation we had looked up things to do in Seattle that were off the beaten track. One of the things we came across was the troll under a bridge. We asked the woman at Walgreens if she knew where it was and she said she thought it was part of the underground tour. We knew for sure it was not part of the underground tour but we thought it would be interesting to see. We walked around downtown in the sunshine for a while taking in the sights. One thing we did notice was that Seattle has an abundace of beggars everywhere downtown. I gave one of them a few reeses whoppers. As we were walking we tried to keep our eyes open for someone that looked sane enough to ask if they knew where the troll was. We were walking through the park and there was a guy sitting on a stone and he looked sane enough to ask and hip enough to know where it was. So we asked and sure enough he did!  He told us where it was and how to get there, and that we would need a car to do so. Perfect! We planned that after a bit more walking around downtown we would head out and see the troll.

The troll was actually pretty easy to get to and in no time were were in Fremont to find the Aurora bridge troll. The troll was made out of mostly concrete and was very big. So big that in his hand he is holding and actual volkswagon beetle. He has one shiny eye made from a hub cap that shines among the dusty sandy concrete. The troll was sponsered by the Fremont Arts Council and has recently been becoming more popular among tourists. Amy and I took turns climbing up on the statue and getting our picutre taken. Don't mind the 'Keep Out' sign, we were actually allowed to climb on him, it was just an old sign someone left lying around under the bridge. After the troll we were headed to an American Wal-Mart for some cheap goods then b-lining north for the border so we could make it back to the hotel before too long.

American Wal-Mart is worth noting. I know that many of you may have travelled to the states before and this is nothing new to you, but I know many of you have not. I am here to tell you that you think Wal-Mart in Canada is cheap, you ain't seen nothing yet! Everything there was soooo cheap! And like the Walgreens, there were walls of several flavours of different things. Then we came across the alcohol section. There was a bottle of wine for $3.97 and a bottle of Yellowtail for 4.87! No wonder they are alcoholics! I would be too at that price! The boxes of wine were huge and cheap too. We all know that Carlo Rossi is a cheap wine but there it was in a 4 litre jug for $10.88! Amy and I bought a few things and then headed home.

We got back into Vancouver around 10:30pm and had a glass of wine before hitting the sack to enjoy our last day on the west coast.