TravelStream™ news feed for member adawn on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/adawn en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:25:25 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/3/1247627622/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/3/1247627622/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/3/1247627622/tpod.html Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:25:25 -0400 Houston to Java - from summer to winter to wet season in Asia

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Java, Indonesia

I should have completed this a long time ago but due to a lot of things I didn't.

Here is a snap shot of some of the things that I got up to in Indonesia and some photos.

After a very long flight from Houston I finally arrived in Jakarta. The last flight from Bali to Java was one that I feel lucky to have made as I ran for the flight, I arrived at the international terminal, had to pass through immigration, collect my bags and go through customs, walk (well run in my case) to the domestic terminal and then check back in again, all within an hour. I was doing okay until I heard over the speaker for Mr Prince to make their way to the check out in the domestic terminal and at that point I was still waiting for my bags, I did start to freak out that I was not going to make my flight.I did however make it.
The first night we stayed in Jakarta at a hotel in the city. It was not a very nice hotel, everything smelt like mouldy smoke. If I was staying there more than one night I would have moved rooms but I couldn’t be bothered. Jakarta is a city of huge contrasts, there are large shops with Bally, Gucci and every other designer and within 20metres there are massive slums sprawling under bridges and along the waterways. There is a lot of money in the city but also a lot of poverty. The air is mixed with horrible smells and smog. From the hotel room there was not a lot to see, as there was so much smog.
The following morning we took the train to Bandung. It was a three-hour train ride up into the mountains and through a few villages. The train ride was great. There are scatterings of Dutch bridges, rice fields with people hard at work, small villages and lots of people walking the train lines. We passed through the towns of Bekasi and Cikarang and Karawang, Cikampek, Purwakarta on the way to Bandung. After arriving we checked into the Savoy Homman which is a fantastic 1930’s hotel. Bandung was the “Paris of Asia” and the textile hub of the east. This hotel was the classiest and most expensive of the time. They have renovated it but kept all of the architecture. It is a fantastic place, the rooms are huge with most of them having balconies.
We spent a lot of time walking the streets taking photos, the people are so nice. Some of the excursions where going to the Tea plantations in the mountains which is just amazing. The sunsets are incredible. It was a very long drive however. Visiting sulfur pits, trekking through jungle, going on saffari and taking a lot of trains and car rides.

I was glad to be home in the clean air and peace and quiet after that trip. After seeing so much poverty I will never complain again about not having enough.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/3/1231483320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/3/1231483320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/3/1231483320/tpod.html Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:25:10 -0500 Houston to Java - from summer to winter to wet season in Asia

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Houston, Texas, United States

Today was our first big day with the new system Bullhorn. We have been configuring the system for months (those were those very late night conferences I was on) and this is the first time the regional champions were all together to test the system for the last time, train up and get ready before we go live on the 19th of Jan. So most of the day was spent in the board room together trying to put the jet lag behind us and train.

Tonight was the only night I was going to have free so my new friend Frances who is the Recruitment Manager for the Houston Office took me to the Galleria Mall. Three, three story buildings full of designer brands and department stores, ice skating rinks and hotels. I had a hit list for where I wanted to go, you literally need a game plan to shop there.

First store was Sephora (Jaime I have a Sephora card!). Jaime my sis told me all about Sephora stores and I loved it. The girls there were super nice as well. I got some things for myself and others and the lady who served me threw in a lot of freebies which was excellent. Then I headed to Victoria Secrets, again something that we do not have in Oz. I even managed to find in the candy shop here purple M&M's!

Frances took my to the ice rink and we had dinner. I was going to have a skate but I was feeling a little off from the long day and decided against it. After all of the shopping and dragging my colleague around a huge shopping centre I went back to the hotel and pretty much went to bed.
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Houston, Texas, United States

As this part of my trip is to be here in Houston for some systems training and to meeting with the other Operations Managers who will be working in the market I have not had a lot of free time to get out and see Houston. It has been invaluable to meet the team here and I am so glad that I can now put many faces to names.

One thing that tends to be common practice when ever we either have people in the Perth office or you travel to another office is that they host a team dinner. I had been told that there is only one place to have good Tex-Mex food and that is Texas, so the team headed out to Papasito's for dinner.

The food was great and it was good to get to know everyone outside of work. When the meals started to come out (the wait staff here carry a back breaking amount on their trays, some of these people earn their tips in a big way) and one dish was set on fire (right behind my Manager, freaking him out a little) everyone wondered who ordered the meal, it would so happen that it was my Flamin' Cheese. I thought the flamin bit was in reference to the spice level not a literal translation that they were going to set it on fire!

After that some of the other OM's decided to head out for a drink. We went to one place which was quiet and because a couple of the guys had forgotten to bring photo ID with them we were not allowed to go in. I know that it is illegal to sell alcohol to a minor, but there is no way any of us looked under 21.

So when all else fails, where do you go? That's right, Hooters! The place is pretty tame, they are famous for their ribs (amongst other things) and there were plenty of families and women there. The girls who work there are all just wearing push up bras and mini shorts. Hooters has nothing on the topless bars in Oz. I spoke to a few of the girls who worked there in the bathroom and they were all super nice.

We were all still jet lagged so it was an early night back to the hotel and bed. I finally got some shots (all be it bad ones) from the car. I feel kinda bad asking for people to wait for me to take photos when they are going out of their way for me and when there are other work people around.

So Houston is shaping up to be a pretty nice place.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/3/1231256460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/3/1231256460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/3/1231256460/tpod.html Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:01:40 -0500 Houston to Java - from summer to winter to wet season in Asia

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Houston, Texas, United States

After my two days in transit and my three flights to get here I am finally in Houston, Texas. At least this time I managed to sleep and eat on the plane without being violently ill. I will thank my Doctor again when I get back for the fantastic travel sick pills!

Everyone always asks how your flight was, here is the truth, they SUCK, no exceptions. Unless you are a freak of nature (and I can think of at least one person who that definition would apply) you would much prefer to be at home with family or friends or on a beach somewhere or God forbid even in your office compared to being stuck in a tiny chair with no escape, recycled air, plastic "food" and hours and hours of pretty much nothing to do. So there you have it, my opinion of flying, it is a necessary evil if you love traveling. It is the idea of going somewhere new or experiencing a new adventure that keeps me getting on the dam things. I can not wait until some amazing scientist comes up with the "beam me up Scottie" approach to travel.

Houston is a pretty nice place from what I have seen, everyone here has been super nice. They do indeed like to have everything big in Texas, are they over compensating for something? I arrived at the Hotel so happy at the thought of a hot shower and sleeping on a bed. The shower was cold, stone cold and it is winter here to make matters more extreme. But it was a shower none the less. So after working a bit and having some food I hit the hay. The beds at the hotel here are soooo comfortable.

I much prefer Hostels to Hotels, this could be an age thing, but at Hostels you can find cheap internet, phone cards, good entertainment area (depending on where you stay of course) and usually someone interesting to talk to. In hotels there is no one, all you hear is the occasional slamming door. The bar is full of middle aged business men, whom are as about as appealing to talk to as belly button lint and all anyone talks about is business or sport.

This morning went up to the breakfast lounge and had some lucky charms. They are one of the things that I vividly remember from my childhood in Canada. They taste exactly the same! I used to pick out all of the marshmallow pieces as a child and eat them without first. I also experienced what Americans call a cup of tea, which is horrid! My tea either tastes of Vanilla because they all use creamer or weak tea flavored water. I tried again in the office and have decided that I am just going to be a coffee girl whilst here.

Although this entry sounded a little whiney it is great to be in a new city and meeting all of the people that I speak to on a daily basis from the US office.

I am off to grab a cup of coffee and try to stop my head from spinning!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/2/1209448440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/2/1209448440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/2/1209448440/tpod.html Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:17:34 -0400 Ningaloo 2008

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Exmouth, Australia

To our astonishment there was blue skies in the morning and no sign of black clouds. The crew on the boat were impressed with he fact that I was game enough to come back for more. There was a really nice Italian couple that were on the boat the day before and they managed to get on with us again.

The day could not have been more different, one of the ladies on the boat asked when we were out "Is this Disneyland?" because it was just so perfect. To sum it up Sunday the 27th of April was Magic!

This time we headed to a new location for the first snorkel and we had our first Sea Turtle spotting from the boat. I was hoping to see it in the water and was lucky enough to see it, I scared the poor thing, I thought it was coral LOL.
It took off really quickly but I managed to get one photo. The water was crystal clear and with the sun over head we saw so much. I saw two of the biggest puffer fish I have ever seen, about one metre long. Again we swam around for about 40 min and then headed back to the boat.

I avoided the food today opting for the water instead. I headed to the bow of the boat and after a while the crew were talking about getting us back in the water for another snorkel when a pod of bottlenose dolphins - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottlenose_Dolphin started to bow ride the boat for about 30 min, circling around whilst Brad the skipper floored the boat it was great. We were sitting at the front and the dolphins were jumping up nearly high enough to hit our feet and splashing us. It was great.

We were all getting over the excitement of the dolphins when Brad yelled for everyone to come back into the boat. Hamish came down and let us know that they had spotted a whale shark about 20 min south of our position and to keep our fingers crossed that it didn't disappear. Brad floored the boat and we over took the other tour companies boats.

As luck would have it the Whale Shark http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark stayed visible and we got to swim with it. Sheena and I were apart of group one. The crew went in first, spotted the Whale Shark and then we got the signal to go in. I jumped into the water, swam near Leith and then saw the Whale Shark come straight at me.
Our shark was not huge, it was about 4 ½ metres long but it was really big! They are the most graceful gentle creatures. Some bastards kill and eat them and there are a few in captivity around the world, but there has been no successful breeding in captivity. When are we just going to leave animals alone in their natural habitat?

We were so lucky to get four swims with the shark and enjoy the time in the water. We were swimming in about 80 metres of water! It was tiring work climbing in and out of the boat over and over again.

The boat ride back in was great. We were the first boat back into the shallows and we saw more sea turtles, huge sting rays, a shovel nose ray and Brad thinks he saw a Dugong. It was just incredible what nature had shown us and we were all very happy.


Although I went to sleep that night still feeling like I was on a boat, it was well worth it!
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Exmouth, Australia

I read a lot of travel blogs and really feel for those intrepid travellers who take their first steps on their journey and promptly fall into a flaming pit of lava, figuratively speaking of course. Well that experience finally happened to me on this trip.

The wake up at 3.42am wouldn't have been so bad if people screaming on my echoic street hadn't waked me up several times during the night or by my over active brain freaking that I would sleep in, not hear the phone alarm, wouldn't hear the phone ring cause it is on silent and therefore miss our 6.15am flight and annoy everyone. So I got to the airport with my dad and Step-Mum on time and we headed off. There were so many guys heading off shore on the flight with us. Although the flight is only 1.45 hours, being in a plane is always hell for me, I forgot my motion sickness tablets so I focused very hard on not being sick and had numerous failed attempts to get some sleep. Don't even mention the airplane "food".

We arrived at Learmont airport to depart from the plane and walk across the tarmac, which was completely covered in dead, alive and mutilated crockets. Big buggers too, like the type you see deep-fried in bowls in Asian markets. They were everywhere. Crunchy ground!

The bus into town was slow but we got there. Of course our hotel was the last drop off. We had a 5-hour wait to get into our room so we stored our luggage and looked around Exmouth, what can I say about it, it is your quintessential WA fishing town. The houses are still asbestos, everything is rusted, rusting or will be by tomorrow. People generally have their houses that they come up to use as bare accommodation on their fishing holidays, when they bring their trucks, dirt bikes 3 or more Eskies and a boat.

There is one new flash hotel, lots of caravan parks and hostels and a few cheap and "cheerful" hotels like the Potshot where we stayed. The weather was overcast, warm, and humid with no wind. After some dramas confirming that we were going to be on the glad bottom boat tour in the afternoon, which included hiking to the visitors centre, a few phone calls and hiking back again. We got back into town and ate some lunch and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for our first tour.

The company that we picked was Ningaloo Reef Dreaming, and I will NEVER book anything again with them or recommend them to anyone. We waited all day for this tour, double-checked in the morning that it was all happening and the bastard's rock up to the hotel in the tour bus and tell us that it has been cancelled. Sheena and I, all ready in our snorkelling gear. There was no wind, no cyclone and no UFO invasion but it was still cancelled. They didn't call the hotel and let us know, so that we could arrange something else. Later on I found out that that business doesn't have the best reputation in town anyway. You have been warned.

So after that disappointment, we tried to organise something else but it was 3pm and it was too late. Sheena and I ended up going for a swim. There are so many stunning birds and lizards here. There was a large lizard drowning in the pool, which I saved, and then it promptly ran off.

I was trying out my new snorkelling set in the pool, went to adjust the strap of the mask and it broke! I paid $90 for that set and I hadn't even got it on my head. It was nice to cool off in the pool however.

The rest of the day we spent reading and then had dinner at the resort. It was interesting listening to the very colourful talk of the locals and having to go up to the counter to order and collect your food when you pay over $100 for a meal for two. Best waiting job in the world, they don't do anything.

I went to bed hoping that tomorrow would be so much better.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/2/1209448380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/2/1209448380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/2/1209448380/tpod.html Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:53:49 -0400 Ningaloo 2008

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Exmouth, Australia

Well it wasn't much better.

We woke up to another very overcast day and it looked like it was going to rain. This was the day of our Whale Shark swim with Ningaloo Blue - www.ningalooblue.com.au and the whole reason we travelled up here. If there is rain the spotter planes cannot go up and try and find the whale sharks and with visibility being poor there was a slim chance anyway.

The morning started out okay, we got on the boat, met the crew, who were awesome. We had Hamish - one of our dive masters and bus driver. Em - Another marine specialist. Ken - our Zodiac skipper, dive master and modern Pirate! Brad - our skipper and local marine life specialist and Leith - our videographer who swims like a fish and can hold his breath for a freakishly long time.

The crew took us through the safety talk and we suited up and headed off to our first swim on the reef. We swam one of the original sites and it was really nice. The water temperature was nice and warm and there was so much to see. The visibility was not crash hot because of lack of sunlight but that was okay.

After about 40 min in the water snorkelling around we got back on the boat and had something to eat. This is right about when I felt very ill! I have NEVER been sick on a boat, ever, I have spent a lot of time in the ocean and on boats and I have always loved it. Today was going to be that day when there was a first time for the experience of being seasick! The boat took off into open water to look for whale sharks.

When the boat stopped and was rolling on the ocean, I really started to feel ill. After loosing my breakfast and morning tea (LOL so disgusting) I thought getting into the water would make me feel better WRONG! I was snorkelling for all of 2 min when I started to get stingers around my body stinging me. Shortly after I thought I was going to be sick again so I got Em to call over Ken in the zodiac. After being pulled up into the zodiac very ungracefully I got sick again over the edge a lot! Poor Ken, he at least made me feel better saying that every trip people get sick and he has himself on his first season. Another girl came up on the zodiac feeling unwell. I crawled onto the boat and just sat there, knowing that if I move I will be ill again. I finally crawled to the edge of the boat, just in time to watch a large pod of spinner dolphins http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinner_Dolphin do some amazing acrobatics around the boat. There were about 50 dolphins and their calves. It got too much for me to keep vertical and I ended up leaning on the seat of the boat and closing my eyes for a good couple of hours willing myself not to be sick. I then had to pay on the floor of the boat and stay there for the rest of the day. I would have pulled myself up and gone into the water if there had been a Whale Shark but there was no such luck that day. I felt really bad for those people who had travelled from around the world to go out, but that is one of the things about Mother Nature, she is unpredictable.

Just when I thought it was all over and we had arrived back to shore I fell on the boat ramp and my bag went into the water, with my non-water camera in as well. Thankfully Sheena grabbed my gear and that Black Wolf make some great bags, not a lot got wet. We had a very early night that night. The forecast was for showers and possible thunderstorms for Sunday. We had been incredibly lucky to get on the boat for the next day, but with that weather we would have no chance. I went to IGA and got some motion sickness tablets, I was not going to let today keep me from going out again.

I went to sleep that night feeling like I was still on the boat.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/canada07/1188609780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/canada07/1188609780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/canada07/1188609780/tpod.html Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:35:50 -0400 Coast to Coast in Canada

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Perth, Australia

After 24 hours in the air, two days of no stop travel and no sleep I arrived back home to see my Dad and my sister waving through the customs doors and welcoming me home.

I was actually very happy to see the Perth city skyline (didn't think I was going to miss the place). It was very nice sleeping in my own bed. My appartment was clean, fridge stocked and car full of petrol thanks to my wonderful parents.

It still has not sunk in what a full on amazing trip I had.... I am sure it will eventually.

Things I will miss about Canada

Cheap books
Cheap food
Cheap clothes
Beavertails and the plethera of Tim Hortons ($2.01 for a coffee and a muffin SOLD)
All of the family and friends in Canada

Things I will not miss about Canada

Pennies
Tipping (I know it is the way it is but pay your people better for god sake)
Tax not being included in advertised price, you can never get your money ready
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/canada07/1188164100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/canada07/1188164100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/canada07/1188164100/tpod.html Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:23:07 -0400 Coast to Coast in Canada

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Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada

And boy do they ever let you know about it! You can go and see the concrete slab that was the foundation of the authors house who wrote it and it will only cost you $4.50....bargain

26th August 2007 - Cape Breton & PEI

This morning after our fearless leader woke everyone up we had banana pancakes and hit the road. The weather on was still really foggy and damp. The gang had been partying for the last two nights (some of the group have not slept much at all) and were very slow to get started but still managed to get in the water for a morning kayak.

After that we pretty much floored it to make the ferry over to Prince Edward Island. The weather here is totally different it is quite warm and something we had not seen in two days, the SUN! We saw some seals and some dolphins on the crossing. We headed to a beach and a bunch of us climbed the lighthouse and had a turn on the fog horn which was cool and then wondered down to the rock pools to have a look at the star fish. A couple of the guys wanted to go for a swim but found out that the water only went knee deep.

Then we wondered around the town for a little bit and are about to go out for dinner. Tonight we are staying at a university campus. Which is kinda cool.

27th August 2007 - Prince Edward Island

Today we headed off to Cavendish and went on a really nice bike ride, the weather was great and the scenery was perfect. We then headed to a beach where the sand dunes are acctually in very good condition and protected. This was the first beach I have seen where it could have been Western Australia.

We headed over the Confederation bridge and back to Halifax. We all went out that night in town to the Shoe Shop and listened to live music.

28th August 2007 - Peggys Cove & Annapolis Royal

Four of us from the original group choose the 6 day travel pass so Alan, Nou, Rachel and I meet Miles our new guide and a another group of people that we were travelling with. We headed to Peggys Cove which is very famous and has all of 40 people living there and took a lot of photos. It is a very touristy town full of little shops selling mostly crap, like santas riding lobsters WTF? It was a lot of fun climbing over the rocks.

We then headed to Lunenburg and walked around the little town which has some really nice buildings a very beautiful chruch and university building (very hogwarts). We toured the Bluenose II which is the famous boat on the back of the dime.

We stayed the night at Kejimkujik National park in Tipis which was so awesome. I went to sleep ar 9pm as I was feeling very sick and looking like a ghost, great way to spend your last night in the country!

29th August 2007 - Bay of Fundy & Halifax

Today we went to the Bay of Fundy, home of the highest tides in the world. Most people went for a hike, me dressed for the plane and still feeling dodgy went to the beach. We went to a really nice young winery and then headed back into town.

I got straight onto the shuttle bus to the airport and waited for my plane. Freakily Michael was on the same flight as me and we annoyed a few elderly people laughting so much listening to Billy Conolly on his MP3 player.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/canada07/1187869560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/canada07/1187869560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/adawn/canada07/1187869560/tpod.html Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:51:56 -0400 Coast to Coast in Canada

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Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Hi All,

Arrived safe, running out of time on the net here. Love this place reminds me a little of Freo.

22nd August 2007 - Montreal to Halifax

After again spending a fortune getting to the Montreal airport I caught my plane without any hassels and arrived in Nova Scotia. The airport is about 45 min out of the city of Halifax so I caught the shuttle bus, which I arrived in perfect time for. The bus dropped me off and I had no idea where I was but was given basic directions to get to my hostel. My only concern was how on earth I was going to carry all of my bags there. No sooner had that thought crossed my mind than another guy who got off the bus at the same stop picked up my bag and offered to carry it.

I was incredibly tired because of the all nighter I pulled in Montreal and could only manage to shower and go to bed. It was 2pm in the afternoon. I woke up with a start as one of the hostel employees was saying that my grandfather was out the front for me. I didn't get his message.

We went out to dinner which was really nice, Sonny showed me around Halifax in his black Thunderbird convertable. We walked along the jetty and had a coffee. It was nice to get to know him. I couldn't even remember the one and only time I met him, I was 3 at the time.

23rd August - Halifax

Today was a pretty lazy day spent walking around Halifax and shopping. The weather was really nice and I got ready for the next tour.

24th August 2007 - Cape Breton

Today was the first day on the Salty Bear tour. Keltie our guide for four days picked us up and after loading upthe 12 of us where on our way. Our group consisted of, 5 Aussies, 4 Germans, 1 Danish, 1 Japanese and 1 Canadian. It rained so we didn't have a picnic and kyaking was out for the day. We all got to the house and everyone just thought that they should start drinking early. We were going to have a BBQ but were out of gas so we made burgers inside.

25th August 2007 - Cabot Trail

We had a big day, out on the road for 13 hours. After a early start, a few sore heads and lots of pancakes we hit the road. The Cabot trail is beautiful, however we still had foggy weather so were not really able to see a lot. At least it was really authentic being the Highlands. Cape Breton island broke off of Scotland from Pangea so it really is very much like Scotland. I saw a Coyote in the wild (everyone else saw it too when we backed the bus back up) but no Moose. We walked through a park were there are 5000 moose and not one sighted!

We then went Whale Watching which was great, it didn't really matter that it was foggy as the whales got really close to the boat. We were the only boat near that pod of Pothead whales which was great. There was two calfs which were playing around and trying very hard to breach out of the water. After a while they realised that we were there and were spy hopping and showing off a bit.

Again that night the drinking was on and Carman (the owner of the tour company) was impressed that everyone in the group was still awake after our full day at 12.00am. There was a lot of rum and beer. Michael fell asleep at the table which was hell funny as it took Louise to shake him quite hard to wake him up.
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