TravelStream 10 most recent entries on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com en-us Copyright (c) 2007, TravelPod Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1206422400.html http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl?tweb_entryID=1206422400&tweb_tripID=newzealand2006&tweb_UID=paulleck1975#LASTPOST Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1206422400.html Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:39:50 -0500 Paul's Most Excellent Adventure

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Sydney, Australia

I'm back in Sydney, having a couple of days rest before my body is subjected to the cold savages of the northern hemisphere again. It's a bit of a shocker that my Oz trip is over as it only seems like the other day I set off. It's been better than I thought, the whole expectations trick working wonders again as I didn't expect much after NZ. There's more to see here than I thought although another month or so and I'd have managed to see everything I'd have wanted to. As it stands I didn't get to finish off the West coast which I hadn't even considered going to but in the end preferred and there's still the Top End, Whitsundays and Great Barrier Reef on the to do list. With slightly better planning and better judgement - that train journey was a waste of time and money - I could maybe have fitted some extras in.

I've been staying in Sydney YHA possibly the poshest hostel I've ever been in. The kitchens are nice and spacious, there's no fighting over fridge space here. The rooms aren't cramped either. There's a cinema which shows free films with free popcorn every night. In fact the only complaint is that the bogs sometimes don't flush so it whiffs a bit in there. Otherwise I've never known such hostel luxury.

I've spent two days avoiding spending any cash whatsoever mainly because I haven't got any and don't want to end up with any. All I've spent is the train journey in to the city, enough food for my time here and I'll pay to get back to the airport. I was planning on doing the bridge climb, but I'm sticking to my guns and trusting those instincts I was going on about. I don't think the view would be much better than the walk across, I've heard you can't take a camera up and I'd only be doing it to say I've done it. Hold on, if I can't take pictures, you'd never know.

I went on the bridge climb today, I've climbed Sydney Bridge. Good eh? It was rubbish, I couldn't take photos and the views weren't much better than just walking across the bridge. I was right; I knew I shouldn't have done it.

Obviously I didn't really. Today I went and had a final look at the bridge and the opera house though. It's still the place, even more than Uluru, that makes you realise that you're in Australia and how mad it is. I also had a wander to look in some ski shops to have a look at the latest gear that I can't afford. Mainly to see how much the jackets are as I suspect it might be a little bit fresher over there.

Speaking of, I'm off to repack my bag so that all the warm layers are on top ready for my arrival in Canada. I'll pack my shorts and thin t-shirts at the bottom. Although I suspect I'll be wearing every single thing I own as I've become acclimatised to the Outback weather and 20 degrees is a bit nippy.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1210811400.html http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl?tweb_entryID=1210811400&tweb_tripID=newzealand2006&tweb_UID=paulleck1975#LASTPOST Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1210811400.html Wed, 14 May 2008 09:37:43 -0400 Paul's Most Excellent Adventure

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Durham, England, United Kingdom

So that's that then. Later today I'll be jumping on an aeroplane that'll return me to blighty. At this point I think I'm supposed to write something along the lines of I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed my travels.

Clearly that's utter nonsense. Frankly if that's true then you should avoid leaving the house at all costs, the excitement would kill you. All I'll say is I hope it's served its purpose for those people that fancied seeing what I've been upto and occasionally made you smile.

I should also tell you that I've learnt a lot about myself, feel I've grown spiritually and I've become a better person. Again, complete rubbish. I've just had fun, it's really as simple as that.

In case you've forgotten, here's a reminder of some bits and bobs I've been upto over the past 18 months...

- I jumped on a plane way back on December 6th 2006
- I've spent over 100 hours on planes on my travels
- In total I've travelled over 125,000 kilometres
- I've crossed the pacific 3.5 times. The ½ is to the Cook Islands and back, I didn't end up in an episode of Lost
- I watched live cricket and rugby for the first time, most probably the last
- I've floored a 2000cc Twin Turbo GT Legacy and destroyed a 2000cc Twin Turbo GT Legacy engine on a rock
- I've spent two Xmas days with sand between my toes
- I found fame in the The Press and sneaked my face on a couple of Greater Wellington Regional Council publications
- I slept in a garage for over a week, a 1 bedroom flat with 3 other people for 6 weeks, a tent for a total of over 50 nights excluding the night it was nearly washed away and learnt to sleep in some very dodgy hostel beds
- I've climbed a good few mountains
- I've been covered in sandflies
- I've seen wild dolphins, penguins, sea lions, seals, keas, alligators, kangaroos, and koalas
- I've not managed to photograph any birds of prey
- I've wandered up the world's steepest street
- I've sat in 41 degree hot springs
- I worked as a labourer for a grand total of 16 hours
- I managed to hold down a slightly more professional job for a little longer
- I've wandered on a glacier and in an ice canyon
- I've been in a helicopter, kayak, luge kart, seaplane, speedboat, canoe, an amphibious truck and an electrifying Honda Civic
- I've gambled in Las Vegas
- I've been on an active volcano
- I've drank litres of L&P world famous in New Zealand, sweet as bro
- I've surfed, snowboarded and skied
- I jumped out of a plane at 15,000ft
- I slept in a swag under the stars
- I've had a near miss with a tropical cyclone
- I travelled on a train for 2,750km
- I've been on the most spectacular road and on the best day walk in the world
- I've been to the top of too many city towers
- I've seen the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Uluru, Milford Sound, the Canadian Rockies, New York, Sydney and the Cook Islands
- Assuming an hour or so per travelpod entry I've spent over a week solid typing away

To sum up, I've taken a certain orange Tui hat on a 527 day long trip of a lifetime.

Tata, Paul
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1210730400.html http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl?tweb_entryID=1210730400&tweb_tripID=newzealand2006&tweb_UID=paulleck1975#LASTPOST Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1210730400.html Tue, 13 May 2008 22:55:17 -0400 Paul's Most Excellent Adventure

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Just one touristastic thing to tick off, a trip across to Toronto Islands which are minutes from downtown and as it was a sunny day it was perfect for a wander aboot.

I'm sat typing this in my luxury hotel suite after my dip in the hotel pool and whirlpool. I had reasonable expectations of the hostel but it turned out to be a bit scummy and even though I was lucky to be in a room with just one other person I'd had enough. I know it was only one more night but that works both ways and so I thought I'd finish my trip the same way I started it with some hotel luxury. I cancelled my hostel booking, had a search on t'interweb and found a bargain deal in a Ramada. When we turned up the room wasn't ready but for an extra 10 bucks a suite was available. 5 quid, go on, you know you want to...

So I'm sat in my living room and will soon retire to my bedroom. It's the poshest and biggest hotel room I've been in, but worth every penny as I can totally relax without worrying about any of those hostel nightmare scenarios I've been subjected to over the months.

So that's the end of Canada, the land of extremes. I think I'm a bit pink from todays sun in contrast to the freezing temperatures in Lake Louise. I enjoyed beers outside at Steve's when days before there was piles of snow ootside. I've enjoyed it, although the east could have been better if the tourist season was in full swing which doesn't happen for another few weeks. But how could I complain about the fine hosts in Calgary and the time we had there and the west when my tourist energy was still pumping. I've enjoyed listening to the funny accent as I've travelled aboot and I'm looking forward to a return to the Rockies.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1210528800.html http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl?tweb_entryID=1210528800&tweb_tripID=newzealand2006&tweb_UID=paulleck1975#LASTPOST Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1210528800.html Mon, 12 May 2008 23:18:52 -0400 Paul's Most Excellent Adventure

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Kingston, Ontario, Canada

It was time to start heading back towards Toronto but there was still time for one final stop off at Kingston near 1000 islands, which is a place where there are islands. Guess how many? About 1800. Ha, tricked you.

We jumped on board for a 2 hour scenic trip which meandered between a fair few of the 1800. We went past Boldt Castle on Heart Island which was built by George Boldt, who was owner of the Waldorf-Astoria, as a labour of love for his wife. Bit of a tragic end to the story as his wife died before the castle was finished so he never returned and building stopped. Another top, possibly not true fact is that he was involved in giving Thousand Island dressing to the world by putting it on the menu at the Waldorf. On the boat when they were talking about him I was waiting for them to mention Waldorf salads, which reminds me of Basil Fawlty, but I didn't even click that thousand island dressing might have anything to do with the place I was at until they mentioned it. I'm a bit slow sometimes.

The islands are split between the states and canada and you've guessed it, even though it's an island, if you want to visit Heart Island in the USA you have to go through customs. Do these people never sleep? The trip we were on didn't stop there so no worries on that front for once, but we did pass the shortest international bridge which links 2 islands, one belonging to each country. Surprisingly, there was no border control.

The criteria to be an island is that it has to be over 1ft square, above the water all year around and have at least 1 tree. We passed the smallest island called Tom Thumb Island which contained the grand total of 1 tree and a couple of shrubs. Most of the island have a little more including massive houses and matching yachts. It's a millionaires playground.

That's enough top facts for one entry, so I'll be off. But not before telling you we ticked off another burger chain, Harveys, excellent work.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1210473240.html http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl?tweb_entryID=1210473240&tweb_tripID=newzealand2006&tweb_UID=paulleck1975#LASTPOST Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1210473240.html Mon, 12 May 2008 22:47:56 -0400 Paul's Most Excellent Adventure

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Montreal, Quebec, Canada

By now I was thoroughly in France, although it's a strange place where the official language literally depends on who you talk to. English speakers will say hello, French speakers rattle off a bonjour, but both are capable of swapping. Which is handy as although I know a few words, my one year of 3rd year French isn't quite enough for me to attempt any sort of conversation. Yes, I'm a bad englishman expecting them to speak French, but come on, it's Canada and they should speak English anyway.

We arrived and the first thing was to solve the puzzle of what to do with the car. The onstreet parking was limited to particularly times so I left Graham who was busting for the bog whilst I headed off to see if I could find a spot down the street. He headed in the hostel and said I'd just be a couple of minutes. I couldn't find anything just down the road so thought I'd go once around the block so turned right then right then found myself on the highway and after my next right was about 5 miles back along the road we drove in on. D'oh! I eventually got back and we went for the safe option of a proper car park. We did some pottering about the old town and that was about it.

The weather was looking good the next day so we walked up the hill to the park and had a wander and then jumped on the subway to the Olympic Park or Parc Olympique as those crazy French fools call it. The velodrome has been converted in to a biosphere and as we were there we went in to look at the usual collection of animals and plants in a variety of temperatures and climates.

Umm that was about it for Montreal. The amount of tourism is slowing at the same rate as the number of trips to the pictures is increasing. We went to see Ironman (pretty good if you go expecting what you get) and Forgetting Sarah Marshall (average, the Canadian crowd seemed to like Russell Brand who was playing himself essentially).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1210287600.html http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl?tweb_entryID=1210287600&tweb_tripID=newzealand2006&tweb_UID=paulleck1975#LASTPOST Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1210287600.html Thu, 08 May 2008 19:28:16 -0400 Paul's Most Excellent Adventure

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Mont tremblant, Quebec, Canada

Or just bears, but that's good enough. Today we headed north via Omega Park or as the backward French like to call it Parc Omega. Saw lots and lots of animals, including BEARS, in a Canadian safari place.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1210194060.html http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl?tweb_entryID=1210194060&tweb_tripID=newzealand2006&tweb_UID=paulleck1975#LASTPOST Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1210194060.html Wed, 07 May 2008 17:52:57 -0400 Paul's Most Excellent Adventure

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Today we're in Ottawa, the party capital of Ontario. It's non stop. Actually I've firmly past the travelling reins over to Graham now; I've lost my travel mojo. I've just lost the energy for tourism and I'm finding myself counting the days as I'm nearing the end of my trip.

Today's excitement was a fire alarm when we were waiting to check back in, apparently there was a bloke welding downstairs. I'm only assuming that he was meant to be there. Once we had our bed for the night sorted we wandered about the National Gallery and then got rained on. That's as eventful as it got. The hostel here used to be a jail so tonight I'll be sleeping in a cell.

As Ottawa is really close to Quebec it's all starting to turn a bit French. I'm not sure I like it.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1209936900.html http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl?tweb_entryID=1209936900&tweb_tripID=newzealand2006&tweb_UID=paulleck1975#LASTPOST Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1209936900.html Wed, 07 May 2008 17:41:44 -0400 Paul's Most Excellent Adventure

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Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

After having a peek at the falls yesterday it was time to experience them and the only way to do that is on the Maid of the Mist. We gave The Journey Behind The Falls a miss as it's a lie, it's a journey alongside the falls so looked a bit rubbish. We paid for our ticket from the cheery soul that didn't seem too chuffed I was emptying my pocket of all the shrapnel I'd accumulated and headed off. As always we were forced in to posing for a naff green screen photo and as always I pulled a stupid face and then the ticket went straight in the bin. We headed to collect our stylish ponchos and donned them immediately as it was drizzling. We headed to the front and prepared for the strangest shower of our lifetime.

There's not really much to it as a boat trip, you head up the river, get very wet under the horseshoe falls and head back. It does exactly what it says on the tin. From continually adjusting my hood so I could see I ended up with a fair amount of waterfall up my sleeves which I was wringing out for a while afterwards. After that and a walk up through tacky central we had a couple of games of pool in an arcade to kill some time before the IMAX film started. It told the story of how the falls were discovered, about the maniacs that did stunts and some that went over accidentally. After the film there's an area dedicated to the nutters and their various barrel contraptions. Some were successful, some didn't have enough padding or air and succumbed to the power of the falls.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1210021260.html http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl?tweb_entryID=1210021260&tweb_tripID=newzealand2006&tweb_UID=paulleck1975#LASTPOST Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1210021260.html Wed, 07 May 2008 17:38:09 -0400 Paul's Most Excellent Adventure

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Maynooth, Ontario, Canada

The next day was much brighter but we couldn't spend another day looking at some water when there's other water to be seen. We drove up to Huntsville but there's nowt there other than somewhere to sleep on the Westside of Algonquin Provincial Park. We were promised wildlife and we managed to see a Moose backside and that was pretty much our lot. We did a loop walk to Bat Lake which meanders through some trees, past a lookout, through a bog and past the lake. The lake is acidic and for a while they were wondering if it had been caused by acid rain but research since has shown that it's naturally like that and it's not been getting worse. We stayed in Maynooth on the east side of the park which is a tiny place and so our tea consisted of soup as that was the best option from the garage which was the only place open.

Yesterday we journeyed back in to the park to Opeonga Lake and hired a canoe for a paddle. We were advised due to our vast experience in canoeing that heading down along the creek would be the best option. It was a bit windy on the lake and would have been hard work so we headed south and spent a pleasant if uneventful time paddling about. The excitement was provided by a natural phenomenon that I've never seen, in fact, maybe it was aliens and we've been the only people in the world to see it. We saw a halo around the sun. At first we thought it was some sort of refraction trick from our shades, but it could still be seen with the naked eye and through my camera. By the time we'd reached the bloke fishing at the bottom of the creek and started heading back it was gone.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1209776400.html http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl?tweb_entryID=1209776400&tweb_tripID=newzealand2006&tweb_UID=paulleck1975#LASTPOST Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulleck1975/newzealand2006/1209776400.html Fri, 02 May 2008 22:35:42 -0400 Paul's Most Excellent Adventure

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Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Time to hit the road and so we picked up a Pontiac G6, a bigger version of the car that I drove in America. It was cheaper than the smaller ones for some reason, but as ever they tried to upsell us to an even bigger shinier car. Will they ever learn? We've headed around the corner to Niagara to check our some water falling over a cliff. There's a lot of it apparently, although it's hard to tell as a lot of it is mist and means that you can't actually see anything at all.

Earlier in the day we drove to Niagara on the Lake and went to a small dull museum before a drive along the Niagara Parkway to Niagara Falls. As mentioned it's very misty and rainy and miserable at the moment. In fact, how's this for a live travelpod update, we're just back from a night time trip to see the mist lit up in the light. Nothing to see here. Other than Blackpool Illuminations. There's two sides to the Falls, the American and Canadian. One side has a collection of tacky brightly lit garish tourist tat, all designed to leech cash from you in one way or the other. But which side. The Canadian? What's gone wrong with the world.

Hopefully the weather will clear up a bit and the forecast for rain will prove folly. Not that it matters as we'll get wet anyway, but there's more chance of seeing something on a clearer day.
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