E&T's Pacific Holiday 2003

Jan 27/04 - Ottawa, Canada - We are home visiting with family in the Ottawa area. We will be up to visit folks in Peterborough and TO soon. We may write a little summary about our experience and what it is like to come home, or we may just have to chat about that in person. See you soon.

Jan 20/04 - Hat Yai, Thailand - Well with our shopping done we are now just anxious to get home!! Starting tonight we begin the long journey with an over night train to Kuala Lampur for the day, then another overnight train taking us to Singapore for the first day of Chinese New Year... hoping that our guesthouse remembers to sasve us a room so that we can nap before looking into any festival activities...and then we begin our 28 or so hour flight back home to Canada, jumping over the date line to arrive home in just 11 hours from our beginning time, not so bad eh. Well gotta go eat our last thai meal before getting on the train.

Jan 18, '04 - Hat Yai, Thailand - Beach holiday was great, if anyone needed assurance of that. We went to see live Thai Boxing before we left the island. Quite impressive, we've got photos. Congratulations are due to Tina, her CWS boss wrote to say the editors are finally satisfied with the revisions to her article, and it's going to press, with Tina as Head Author! Hooray!

Jan 15, '04 - Ko Lanta, Thailand - Well, we're back on the beach in Thailand. Not as stimulating as some of the things we've done, but it's sure hard to beat this lifestyle. We snorkel as much as possible, try to avoid sunburn, and mix the local rum with fresh coconut shakes. We get a total of 6 days of this before we begin the ridiculous voyage from here to Toronto. We should be well rested and relaxed before spending days on buses, trains and planes to arrive home. Plan to spend a couple days in Hat Yai (largest city in southern Thailand) to do some shopping before we train to Singapore. We also want to allow margin for error in the travel time from Ko Lanta (Island) to the Hat Yai train station. Oh yeah! yesterday while snorkeling we saw a shark that was really quite large, had to be longer than I am tall, unlike the one we saw in Aussie. The sharks here are all supposed to be harmless, but it's still quite a chiller to see such a beast in the water with you. Tina and I were right side-by-side when she saw it, which was good. Tina was unable to cry out "shark!" cuz her voice didn't work, but she was able to prevent me from swimming after the thing, which was my gut reaction for who knows what reason. Fortunately, this happened on our last plunge of the day so we didn't have to go back into the water right away. Home in 8 days!

Jan. 10/04- Georgetown, Panang Island, Malaysia -Eric and I have been having a great time in Malaysia, such a diverse country. Since we have been here we have visit Chinese temples, Muslim mosques, and Hindu temples. Yesterday we visit a Hindu temple outside of Kuala Lampur that has been built inside a huge natural cave. Despite the renovations, which are busily preparing for the festival on the 18th where 5 million penitent worshipers are expected to visit in a matter of 3 days, the statues, paintings, and temple do not take away from the grandeur of the main cave. While we were noticing some sculptures hidden on the wall of the cave the local monkeys began their decent into the cave for some routine eating of coconuts and peanuts (which are for sale at the bottom of the 200+ steps at the entrance to the cave). Our days have been packed the last few weeks and although it seems that we have spent the last few days running away from our old creepy crawly friends, the bed bug, so we are in need for some decent rest. I think that we should get a good night sleep tonight as we have found a wonderful guest house "Lovers Lane Inn" with a very nice and helpful and experienced man, Jimmy, as the owner. We will take a full 9hour tour of Penang from him tomorrow and then he has booked us on a shuttle directly to our holiday beach island of Koh Lanta for some snorkeling and skin colouring fun. Home in less than 2 weeks....

Jan. 06/04 - Melacca, Malaysia - We arrived safely in Singapore, and set out for Melacca, on the east coast of Malaysia, the next day. Singapore seemed familiar; we're old hands at travelling now, and have had no trouble making our way around. The Malaysians have been friendly and most speak good English: it's the language the Malays, Indians, and Chinese that make up most of the population use to speak to each other. The pollution, heat, and population density still take some getting used to, but we're having a great time visiting the sites in historical Malacca, and eating like royalty as usual while in Asia. The selection of food here is outstanding with either Chinese, Indian or Malaysian (which is often a mix of the first two). Eric and I just ate at this great Indian restaurant "Restauran Vini" where we were served cooked spinach (or chinese cabbage), chutteny, little cucumber salad, and rice served on a banana leaf with curry side dishes. The food and our cute little indian hostess were worth far more than the $4.50RM (~$2.00CAN)we payed... even without the free refills, which we eventually had to turn down due to the diminishing capacity of out bellies. Our guesthouse is in a very old heritage house downtown, in the oldest Chinatown in Malaysia . It's new, not in our guidebook; the "Samma Samma Guesthouse" was recommended to us by an Irish girl, Hazel, we met in NZ. It's got a beautiful courtyard in the middle, and very nice proprieters. In the evenings the locals come by to have beer and sit around at the cafe out front. We covered alot of ground today, which is good, cuz we plan to head to KL tommorrow. We have still saved some time for the sound and light show tonight where we can learn more about the history of Melaka. Try to remember that internet cafes are sometimes hard to come by here, and we'll try to update this and answer e-mails as often as possible.

Jan.03/04 - Auckland, NZ - Well last I was in touch we were stranded in National Park waiting ever so patiently for the weather to clear for our attempt at the Tongarriro Crossing. In fact the weather did not clear, but Eric and I decided to try to go up the back way, last hopes of catching a few glimpses of the famous scenery without actually crossing the most dangerous areas. Expecting the rain we continued along the track, the wind did prove stronger than expected as did the decreasing temperature with altitude, but it was the snow storm that turned us back. Reaching the first hut and meeting the group of Israilis that were stranded up on the crossing for days waiting for a change in weather to continue on, we decided to go back down the hill with very little accomplishments besides knowing in our hearts that atleast we tried. Luckily we turned back before the cold settled too much into my toes, it would be very difficult to explain getting frost bite from the North Island of New Zealand in the summer time. Being turned away from a mountain, Mt. Ngauruhoe-Mt.Doom, due to weather was truely a needed lesson to be experienced before leaving New Zealand.

Moving on we did head to Lake Taupo where we headed North entering into the active geothermal area of the country. Hiking from Spa Park to the Huku falls along the Huka Falls Walkway, then to Craters of the Moon and the charming Wairakei Natural Thermal Valley where the ground becomes unstable with steamimg vents, boiling mud pools and acid pits, opening up from under the ground everywhere. After arriving in Rotarua the Geothermal capital we hitched back to the Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland for some of the most amazing displays of evil deadly toxic land (like the hissing "Devils Home" and burbling "Devils Ink Pot") to the most beautiful natural colour displays that I have ever seen in nature(like the yellow "Sulphur Caves", blue and red "Champange Pools", yellow-orange-pink-red-green-blue "Artists Pallet", and the unforgetable neon green "Devils bath"). Geothermal activity was not all that Rotarura had to offer as it is also an area known for its Mauri villages, and cultural heratige. The Whakarewarewa Thermal Village "Waka" was a wonderful place where you can spend the day among Mauri arts/crafts shops, entertainment (song and dance) and education about their culture, and first hand experience seeing how a thermal environment can be incorporated into everyday living through bathing, medicine, and cuisine. Not to mention where I got my first glimpse of an active gyser, a very good end to our "New Zealand Geothermal Experience".

Now we are back where we started in Auckland and are headed out to Singapore again tomorrow morning. We are slowly making our way home. We will give another update from Malaysia. Till then....

Dec. 28/03 - National Park,NZ - Wellington was a nice city, we were able to get some rest, develop our film, have access to a phone (with chair)for christmas, eat good food, and watch the Lord of the Rings in the Embassy theatre (EXCELLENT!). It proved easy to Hitch out of the city, taking a train to the outskirts and then getting a ride quickly by two very nice Kiwi's. It was here in National Park that our amazing luck has taken a bit of a turn, having a prolonged rain and cloud period over the Volcanoes that we came to climb, suiting for mountdoom but not suiting for tramping. We are still hopeful that if we stick around for one more day we will find better weather as a new front is blowing in today (supposedly with refreshed rain...oh yeah, it has started again). The reason that we are waiting ever so patiently is because the Tongariro Crossing is clamed to be one of the most beautiful day walks in the world. Here are a few links for some pics if you don't believe me:

In New Zealand everything is extreemly dependant on the weather, being a very narrow continent with mountain ranges down the center, and because it is in the roaring 40's a latitude famous for its winds. Some people we have met travelling have only has 2 sunny days in the 2 weeks they have been here... so when we look at the photos of the amazing places we have been on this New Zealand tour, we don't mind sacraficing a few days to the rain. We do not exactly expect to get the best day with blue skies but I do hope to climb it (safely) and get a few nice views before we head onto Lake Taupo and Rotorua for some geothermal mud pools and geisers.

We hope that everyone is enjoying a relaxing holidays season at home, we are thinking of you always.

Dec.25/03-Wellington, NZ- After getting lost in sand dunes and farmers fields on our bikes trying to get a sneak peak at the yellow-eyed penguin, only to make us late for our booked penguin-viewing tour, we did actually get to watch the strange creatures, a pre-Christmas present. Waiting for the bus on the way back to town (planning on waiting the night out until our plane ride to the North Island) we got picked up buy a Speight's Beer delivery truck, and got a free tour ... and a tasting... of the brewery by the driver (they actually fed us some leftover Christmas feast as well...I knew we'd get our Christmas ham one way or another). Moving on we headed to a pub for pizza and some live accoustic music at an all-night pub, but eventually got too full and topsilly to stay awake much longer. Instead of camping out at the airport where we thought we could save a few bucks, after realizing it was not open all night we gave in and started looking for a backpackers hostel. Luckily for this Mary and Joseph there was room at the inn as the owner just happened to be passing by to find us on his door step. With 5 hours sleep, a quick "Merry Christmas" kiss and coffee, we got to the airport in time and arrived in Wellington, passing through some of the "Lord of the Rings" movie set displays...getting us quite in the mood for our christmas present...a viewing of "The Return of the King" at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington: the official Lord of the Rings theatre. Well that's all for now, most of you will hear from us soon after we have settled into our room.. till then MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Dec.22/03-Dunedin, NZ- Well we had no trouble walking the Kepler Track, and arived into Te Anau with smiles on our faces. The skyline track gave us the New Zealand views that we have been trying to get, layers and layers of breath taking mountain ranges and lakes as far as the eye can see. After 4 days on the trail, we stayed just one night in town, and caught an early bus to Dunedin. We went straight to a holiday park on the Otago Peninsula once we got there, and will get in lots of wildife viewing over the next couple days. Gotta go on a timer...6 more seconds....

Dec. 17-03 - Te Anau, New Zealand - We have had a nice tour down the coast and thru Haast Pass. Took many photos, spent all our nights in the tent (some in campgrounds, some not) did some nice walks and one gruelling one. All training for the Kepler Track, which we start tommorrow. Its one of NZs great walks, and is part of a World Heritage Site encompasing Fjordland. Its about 60km long. The next 3 nights will be spent in huts along the trail. The first two days look and eating very well.like tough walking, but the last two are mostly slow descents and flats. The days are very long in Southern NZ right now, so we can take our time the whole way, and arrive to the huts late if we like. There is some kind of attraction near each hut (caves, beaches, I forget what else). We,re healthy, well-fed, and super excited to start the walk. More news from Dunedin when we get there. We,ll spend most of our time there out on the nearby Otago Peninsula, one of NZs prime wildlife viewing areas. In case we dont write again soon....MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Dec. 11/03 - Franz Joseph, New Zealand - G'day all! Tina and I have finished work in Christchurch, and are 4 days into our NZ holiday. It's been fantastic so far. We spend all our time outside in awesome countryside, and sunny weather follows us even to the rainy west coast. From Chch, we took a bus to a trailhead in Arthur's Pass. Our little map said there was a "shelter" but no "hut" at the halfway point of the hike up into Temple Basin. We carried all our gear and food for a week up to this "shelter" to find it a building like a mini ski chalet, with running water and huge windows looking back into the valley. We left our gear there and scrambled up as high as we could go towards the top of Temple mountain, but couldn't quite reach the summit to see the ranges beyond. set up our tent in the shelter that night. Heard and saw Keas (world's only alpine parrot) up close on the way down in the morning, and hitched to Punakaiki on the west coast (hitching is by all accounts very safe in NZ). Not much time to explain our 2 days there, but more awesome hiking and camping in a completely different natural setting. Look up Punakaiki, or Paparoa NP, to learn more about this place, or wait for Tina's description. In case you find something, we camped a night at Ballroom Overhang. A bus picked us up at the trailhead, and we rode it to Franz Joseph, where we had a hostel and a guided glacier hike booked. Finished that today. It was very impressive, and not at all tame, for a guided hike. We have nothing more scheduled till we start the Kepler on the 18th, but there's lots of nice country between here and there, and we've restocked our camping supplies. Sorry but there will most likely be no more pictures posted 'till we get home, which is in about 1 and a half months!

Nov. 16/03 - Christchurch, New Zealand - New Zealand falls to Australia in an upset in the Rugby World Cup Semi-Final. Gloom and despair grip the land.

Nov. 12/03 - Christchurch, New Zealand - Well, we've been doing some serious touristing over the last couple of weeks. Right now we're both sunburned about the face and neck after our trip to Kaikoura . We went by an early bus about 200km north along the coast. Some nice views and treacherous curves along the way. The day we arrived we walked around the little peninsula South of Kaikoura. The peninsula is home to breeding colonies of fur seals, red-beaked gulls, and terns (black-capped ones, I think). We saw plenty of all of these, and got some great photos, to be posted soon. The fur seals were massive, it's the time for the large bulls to stake out territories on the rocks. They were also excellent communicators. If you failed to notice them, lazing on the rocks or on piles of seaweed, they'd give a breathy bark to let you know they were there. If you ventured too close with your camera, a deep rumbling growl was sure to start you backing off. On the return trip, we walked along the top of the cliffs, rather than along the shoreline. Clifftop walk turned out to be through farmers' fields, and Tina triumphed over her fear of cows as we were forced to thread our way through them, or went around "huge and scary" ones blocking the path. The next day we set out at 5:30 to go swimming with the wild dusky dolphins - one of Kaikoura's most popular attractions. The company Dolphin Encounter kitted us out with heavy wetsuits, complete with hoods and booties, and took us out near the edge of the submarine trench that makes the area a haven for marine life of so many kinds, and marine mammals in particular. The dolphins were not as eager to play with the swimmers as they sometimes are, but still many of them came very close to check us out. Some would whiz past at high speed, others would circle us, or look us in the eye, and make their laughing calls before swimming down. Visibility in the water was only about 10 feet, so the grey and white dolphins seemed to materialize out of nowwhere as they approached. Again Tina triumphed over a fear, this time by staying in the water despite the overwhelming emptyness of deep water below her. We hitched home from Kaikoura later in the afternoon, after we'd warmed up, and had another look at the great mountain views around Kaikoura. Hm. not much room here to talk about the Akaroa trip of last weekend, but it was kind of similar in a less spectacular way, walking, and a boat trip out to see wildlife. Today we're going to see a pro basketball game after work - New Zealand has one team in the Australian pro league, and I got free tickets through work. Love to all...

Nov. 4ish/03 - Christchurch, New Zealand - erg! I'm late for work, but wanna tell everybody that we've been having some fun in between work weeks here. Tina's doing rewarding stuff at the university and I'm taking it easy at work at the restaurant. We'll have pics and stories about our day trips around Canterbury in the next few days. Other than these, we've made a few friends here, so arent' bored. We went to an awesome brew pub called the Dux de Lux last week. Really excellent house beers there, including a ginger beer that makes yer eyes water. They had a pretty good punk band playing, but we sat on the patio so that was in the background. One of the guys we went with is in pilot school here. He has to build up his flight hours, and has kindly offered to take us up with him one day! That would be so lucky, scenic flights are a very popular, but very expensive tourist activity around here. More soon (maybe later today) about more interesting stuff...

Sept.19/03- Christchurch, New Zealand - Well we have finally found that city where we just feel at home. Christchurch strongly reminds us of Peterborough (which is even the name of one of the Streets here), with Ottawa's classic touch. Here is a link to the cities official web site? See Christchurch for yourself. It really is not as cold as people have been warning us about,the days are warm and the nights are still a little too cool for camping, with our summer gear that is. From here we have access (within a 3hr drive) to most of the most beautiful places (ocean, mountain ranges, skiing, lakes, forests, and cities) that New Zealand has to offer... now all we need is a job so that we can stay.

Sept.17/03 - Auckland, New Zealand- We have finally made it to New Zealand, 13898km away from home (roughly). Although we are in the city of New Zealand which looks generally like many of the other cities we have been in, besides the bright purple Tower (the highest in the southern hemisphere now that they added an addition to beat the one in Australia... yet it still does not touch the CN tower) that looks as if it was made out of lego, and the fact that you can barely get through a conversation without it turning to bungie jumping (invented here in New Zealand). To get into the New Zealand mood Eric and I visit the Auckland museum where we could submerge ourselves in Maori culture and New Zealand's natural history. Next we are moving on to Christchurch in the south for some real winter weather ranging in between 10 to -2 degrees C, some beautiful landscapes, and hopefully employment as without being able to camp in this climate our resources are depleting quickly. Miss you all, Tina

Sept. 4.-Townsville, Queensland- Well Our Australian vacation is winding down as we are flying out to New Zealand from Sydney on Sept. 15th, and let me tell youEwe are ending it with a grand finale. Eric and I just spent the last 5 days on Magnetic Island where we spent a lot of time touching up our tans. We stayed at a resort called Coconuts (funny that even though we have learnt that the coconut tree is a terrible invasive species that has been placed along the coasts all over the world to convince holidayers that they truly are on holiday... we could still find them not only appealing aesthetically but delicious as well) where we camped beachside of a section of the great barrier reef. The snorkeling off of this island saved my impression of the health of the great barrier reef, having a huge diversity if bright healthy colorful corals and fishEabsolutely spectacular. The view over the ocean while sipping wine in the company of a bush tailed possum last night may have been our wildlife highlight of the trip, but the rock wallabies and koala bears were something very special to Magnetic Island. The island has great hiking through the hills on paths surrounded by eucalyptus and pine trees so we did not lie on the beach wasting our island holiday sunbathing. Between hiking, swimming, and mountain-biking (sometimes being married to Eric is a little like dating a triathlon trainer) we had plenty of exercise to go along with the fresh air and sun. Heading down to Fraser Island by bus will give us about 15 hours recovery time for the next 3 days camping adventureEe’ll make sure to let you know how it goes. Till next timeE

Aug 16th. Since the last update, Tina and I spent a week at BatReach - a rescue and rehabilitation centre in Kuranda, which is on the edge of "the tablelands" in North Queensland. Once again, we were working for our keep, mostly by talking to tourists about flying foxes, trying to encourage them to make donations. Our funny accents and big smiles brought some $ in, and we got to see our friend Flo again, who we met at the Research Centre in Cape Trib. Went to see the Barron River Gorge, and other sites around Kuranda. Also made friends with a beautiful squirrel-glider named Jesse, who'll be released soon, a common brushtail possum, and more flying foxes. We left Kuranda a few days ago, caught a bus out of Cairns, and got dropped off on the side of the highway at the closest possible point to the Eastern approach to Mt. Bartle Frere: Queensland's highest mountain. We had an 8km walk from the highway to the parking lot at the base of the mountain, so we camped the night there. Leaving much of our gear at the Ranger's station, we set off for the summit early the next morning. Mt. B-F is 1622m high, forested almost all the way to the top. There was a marked trail to the top, but it was VERY steep, and narrow and rough throughout it's lenght. It's not a high mountain by Canadian standards, but the trail gains over 1.5 km of vertical height along a 7.5km trail. We arrived at the summit tired but proud of ourselves in the early afternoon. We made camp 1/2km down from the summit, and were well rewarded for our effort with spectacular views to the west: first we had a clear view of the land around, and later the clouds moved in below us, so we watched the sun set on a cloud horizon. Woke the next a.m. at 5:30 to see the moonlight on the clouds, but we were out of stove fuel, could not make coffee, so skipped the sunrise veiw to the east (which would have required some more hiking) and went back to bed. Got back to the parking lot early afternoon, with sore knees, caught a lift to Innisfail for a couple of days of recouperation (sp?). And now are in Mission Beach, which is lovely. Cheap reef trips from here, so we'll do one soon. More later....

Aug. 4th. Most recent update seems to not have saved, so alot has happenned since the last one... but the reason I'm doing this update is to talk about today... After waiting all month to see if the water would clear enough for us to snorkel for free of the beach, today we went out on a boat, 20 km offshore, to snorkel on the outer Great Barrier Reef. Can't believe how it was and what we saw. Snorkelling in Thailand cannot compare. We moored in about 12m of water, and had a 50m swim towards a sand island to get into shallower water. There were colourful fish and mounts of living coral as soon as we hit the water. As we moved into shallower water, the number and variety of animals went up quickly. Every few meters we entered a new community with different species and shapes of coral and new fish assemblages. Parrot fish were ubiquitous and are still among our favourites. Too many different fish to keep track of, of all colours and ranging in size from schools of 10cm little shiny guys, to smaller schools of half meter silvery fish, to schools of 10 to twenty larger reef fish, some of which were well over two feet long. Most of the fish would flee into the forest of coral if we swam towards us quickly, but they mostly ignored us if we just drifted with the current. Beneath shelves of coral we saw even larger and more interesting; we were able to identify a baramundi cod, and other more colourful members of the (i think) grouper family. None of these were big enough to be scary, and most retreated further into their hiding places when we dove down to look. Managed to spot 2 species of ray: a blue spotted, and one other. All this would have made the cost of our boat, if not our airfare, well worthwhile. Highlight of the day was an animal I never expected to see in the wild. Casually soaring among mounds of coral was a Green Sea Turtle. This endangered and strangely mystical animal was completely unconcerned about us. We followed it slowly, venturing within a couple of feet to get a great look at it under bright sunlight in only a few feet of clear water. We had to leave it to avoid straying too far from our boat. Oh yeah, we also saw a shark, nice little reef shark (5 feet long or so, maybe less) which passed beneath us in deeper water near the boat. I (Eric) dove down and gave chase for a few seconds, but the reef shark was wary and much too fast. I expect we'll pay for another trip to the reef later, if we can't find a cheaper way too get out there. Too amazing. We're leaving Cape Trib tommorrow, heading just across the Daintree River to Karunda NP, in the Atherton Tablelands. The website update that seems not to have been saved described (among other things) the sightings of Cassowaries (3rd larges bird in the world, after ostrich and emu, and much more colourful than either) and Carpet python. Photos of these are included in the 5 rolls of film waiting to be developed. Can't say when we'll be able to get more photos uploaded. Miss you all (as always). Our trip is more than half over, see you soon.

July 16th. We arrived at a biological field station in the jungle of north Queensland. Cape Tribulation Tropical Research Centre is ideally located at the junction of two World Heritage Areas, where the Great Barrier Reef is just offshore, and Daintree rainforest extends upwards and westwards from the water. We are working for our room and board, learning quite a bit and doing some outdoor manual labour, which is a nice change from our Sydney jobs. We've made friends with other volunteers from France, the US, and Slovakia. Seeing alot of wildlife, waiting for better weather conditions for snorkelling, and generally having a great time. Sorry to have been out of touch for so long; phones and e-mail are a bit hard to come by here. Type the name of the field station (above) into google to see a description of the area, and get our phone number (for near emergencies only) and approximate address. We miss home, friends and family but are pleased with ourselves for having found this place, and will probably stay here for another 3 weeks at least.

July 5th??I think (as we are on holidays again the days are all becoming a blur here in Byron Bay)-Arts Factory-Byron Bay, NSW--- WARNING THIS JOURNAL ENTRY AND THE FOLLOWING ENTERIES FROM NOW ON AS WE TRAVEL UP THE EAST COAST ARE NOT FOR THOSE WHO ARE AT RISK OF GAGING OVER OUR GOOD FORTUNE. Well, If you have not already heard Eric and I are on the road again. Sydney was great and we will miss it. We are especially missing our co-workers/friends and are thinking of you all as we are sitting on the beaching watching the dolphins out surf the surfers in the waves that roll into Byron Bay. Byron is all we imagined it to be concentrated by 10. As we heard that the scenery was beautiful and people layed back, after our 13hr train ride from Sydney we did not expect to be serinaded by live music and greeted by a classic Californian surfer dude who would drive us to the hostel were we could add our tent to the hippie tent city (by the way I will get Eric to edit this later for my multiple spelling mistakes-there is not always a spell check at internet cafes). For the past few days to recover from the booming hospitality industry of Sydney, we have slept in, gone for hikes around the Cape, saw one of the most powerful lighthouses in the southern hemisphere which protects sailers from Australias on-land most Easterly point, swam with dolphins (even though we could barely see them over the gigantic waves that we were trying to survive), and then hung out in hippie-ville where there are more dredlocks and layers of clothing per capita than even Bangkok. After watching the sun go down behind the mountains across the bay, Eric and i treated ourselves to a bottle of $5.95 red wine, 500 grams of giant prawns, and 200 grams of mussles... we thought that we deserved a little treat for a change. Our coastal Australian adventure has now officially begun. We are heading to Cairns (a 30hr bus ride) tomorrow where we will continue on to > Cape Tribulation on the 8th. Check out there website for more information (click on the words "Cape Tribultaion" high lighted)

June 10th or so --Sydney, Australia--- This past weekend was a long weekend here in Oz. We managed to get to Royal National Park, as we'd been planning to for awhile now. Timing was just about perfect. We had beautiful weather (though it was a bit chilly at night) and our trek along the coastal trail coincided with the northward migration of humpbacked whales. We were able to spot a couple of whales' backs, and their exhalations, but were told the acrobatics won't start for another month or so. Still a big treat to be able to sit in the sun on a cliff on the edge of the Pacific and watch for them to go by. Saw quite a bit of other wildlife too along the trail: eagle, pelicans, peregrine falcons (I didn't even know they had them in Aust), some of the introduced deer, herons, cormorants...though we passed through much of its habitat, we failed to spot one of the planet's two monotremes: the echidna. The trail was fantastic. Not too hard to follow, pretty rough with lots of ups and downs, but the rocks were cut and steps were built where the slopes were really steep. On Saturday we got our provisions (high class camping food, including fresh tortellini, yuppie dried fruit, vacuum-packed salmon...) and took trains to the south end of the Park, bought our camping permit, and didn't start really hiking 'till after 3:30 p.m. Still managed to cover quite a few kms before dark. Couldn't make it to the official campground, so after walking over some open ground by moonlight, we pitched our tent at a spot called "burning palms". Sunday we really covered ground, hiking throughout the day, with a few stops to look for whales and munch. Had to make a side trip to refill our water bottles, and it was a good thing we did, cuz we found no source of drinking water along the entire trail. Camped at an amazing (also unnoficial) spot on Sunday night... the beach extended back from the water and formed huge dunes, through which snaked a small river packed with wildlife. During the night, the tide came in, flooding the lowland with warm air and mist. We were up at 5 a.m. on Monday, had a quick bite, broke camp and made it to the top of the next headland in time for a spectacular sunrise. Got to the north end of the park around lunchtime, and had fish n' chips in Bundeena befor catching a ferry, train and bus home. In all we covered well over 26 km in less than 48 hours but were not in too bad shape for work today. Only 3 more weeks in Sydney, looking into travel arrangements to Cairns and New Zealand. Bye for now...

May 26/03--Sydney, Australia---PICTURES OF AUSTRALIA ARE NOW POSTED-- Sorry we have not kept in touch lately but besides rain, rain, and more rain, there is really not much to report. We are working dilligently and saving money for some more beach holidays up North. I can not stop thinking about snorkelling in the great barrier reef while I wade my way to work. Updates about future plans are...we may have found a field station with a fabulous location that will put us up and expand out knowledge of Australian wildlife... and the volunteer work in Townsville observing the amazing Bower birds may turn out some cash after all. Wellthatisallfornowasthiscomputersspaebardoesnotworkverywellandisdrivingmecrazy.

April 28/03--Sydney, Australia---O.K, we've got this Sydney thing down pat now. Niether of us work weekends, so those are free, and we keep finding things to see and do here in town, and ways to get out to nature from town. We eat on the cheap at Eric's pub and from Paddy's market in chinatown, and Tina has our hostel room feeling like a home. Here in town, we plan on going to the Australian Museam, which currently has a special exhibit on early civilization in China, and the Maritime Museum. Also, we want to check out an old underground jazz club called "Soup Plus" right near Tina's work, and another place where for a reasonable price you can have all-you-can-eat vegetarian Indian buffet, then watch a film in their theatre. Two weekends ago, on Easter Sunday, we took a day trip to Blue Mountains NP. "Blue Mountains" because eucalyptus mist rising from the forest creates a blue haze over the whole place. Tina and I took the suburban train into the mountains to the town of Katoomba. We went straight to Echo Point Lookout: a very touristy spot right at the edge of town, from which you can look off the edge of a huge escarpment and see across alot of the Park. From there you can also see the Three Sisters, which is a nifty rock formation (Tina's scanning the photos as I write, up soon, if not today). As is typical in National Parks, we had only to walk for about 20 minutes away from the car park before we left all but a few tourists behind. Had more great views while descending the "great stair" into the valley. The great stair is 900 steep steps down the escarpment, to the edge of a valley, the name of which escapes me. Once at the bottom we walked (on wobbly legs) an amazing trail through Federal Pass. We walked past rough tree ferns, huge gum trees, turpentine trees, parrots, hanging swamps (mini-wetlands clinging to the cliffs), and waterfalls (inlcuding one called witch's leap where the rock was eroded to give the appearance of a huge face with water falling in front of it). Another long stairway brought us back up into Katoomba, where we had dinner before taking the train home. Last weekend we went with new friends Jeremy and Jemma to Murramurrang NP. Jeremy, a Canadian, now a permanent resident of Australia, is another cook at the Paragon (Eric's pub), and Jemma is his girlfriend. Super nice people. They drove us about 200 km south of Sydney to this secluded coastal park. It's just deserted beach after headland after beach after headland. We arrived in time to set up tents on a raised clearing about 100m up the beach from the waterline, and have a meal before the sun went down. Stayed up late chatting and listening to the waves. To our initial fright, then delight, a very large grey kangaroo hopped past our campsite, pausing long enough for us to get our flashlights on him! The following morning Tina and I went for a swim, and had a blast standing at the point where the waves broke and getting pummelled and tossed around by them. Our Aussie hosts could only stand amazed at this behaviour, and told us later that you're supposed to dive under the waves, not let them slam into you. The weather didn't really co-operate with our camping, so we had our coffee and breakfast out of the rain in a hollowed-out part of the headland, right on the edge of the water. On our way back to the freeway, we saw more kangaroos lounging on someone's lawn, and got an up-close look and some photos. Eric got to drive Jemma's car part of the way back. Driving on the left was less confusing than having to change gears with the left hand, signal with the right hand, etc. Torrential rain on the way home slowed us up, and we didn't stay up late once we got home on Sunday! Next trip out of town will likely be to Royal NP, which we can reach by ferry and train, and which has a popular coastal hiking trail. Send us e-mails! We miss you! P.S. the pictures we're trying to load today go all the way back to Thailand, so take a look!

April 12/03--Sydney, Australia---Well things are finally picking up in Australia...yeah!! Eric and I have found a nice, roomy, and clean (well now it is) room with all the luxuries of home like a well equiped kitchen, our own dishes and cutlery, tv, table and chairs, shower, sink, and no cockroaches to be seen...yet. Not to mention excellent perks such as free rice, coffee, toast, and great security. Eric and I both have work in the hospitality field, Eric at a pub and myself at a busy cafe. We are working with some really great people and are meeting new people everyday to keep us company in this strange place. We are also getting conected with the universities marine research centre were we can log in some volunteer hours.... very exciting. We are thinking of everyone at home everyday. If you would life to send us a letter we can pick up mail from the post office here but remember that we will only be here for a few more months and that it takes a while to get here... things sent this month should get to us before we move on.

here are a few links for pictures of things that we see everyday around Sydney (we'll post our own pictures soon)

April 07/03--Sydney, Australia---Took me (Eric) less than a week to find work...cooking at a decent pub in a great location. Not ideal, but stems the flow of $ leaving our accounts. Still waiting for a good room in the hostel we're currently staying at. It'll be nice once we have a double room, instead of having a room with 4 bunk beds, each of which is only 2' wide. Had to leave a cheap hostel room that had a 3rd floor balcony and view of the Sydney skyline (we had the hammock and deck chairs all set up), due to innordinate numbers of 6-legged parasites and scavengers. Sydney is a beautiful city, much spruced up for the Olympics and full of parks and modern public transport. After first week of work, had a great day trip yesterday: ferry through the harbour to Manly, and a 10km scenic walk through bits of national park and in front of high-class suburban neighborhoods. Still optimistic that we'll get a chance to work or volunteer doing biological stuff in a natural area, but have been too focused on finding work and a nice place for the time being to search for gov't jobs, field stations, etc. Will need to buy a mobile phone soon, when we do, some of you will get a quick call.

March 28/03--Sydney, Australia---And just like that we are in Australia. Amazing!! Back to westernized society with a little kick. With the comforts of home comes the higher cost of living and therefore we are looking madly for a job. By searching the local news paper and talking to other travellers temporary labour jobs are abundant in Sydney, so we should be able to find something to pay the rent while we look for jobs more related to our field. Sydney is a beautiful city surrounded by National Parks and beaches...can't wait to explore after we get a little settled.

March 24/03--Bangkok, Thailand---Much like our Chaing Mai Trekking adventure Eric and I experienced a Bangkok City Extravaganza last night (same, same, but different). Included in the package was a 2 hour local city bus ride through Bangkok traffic to "Future Park" Rangsit, a 2 hour "Oishi" Japanese, Korean, and Chinese buffet (new record: 8 plates of food and a soup, and an ice cream, an iced tea, and 2 espressos for Eric while Tina focused on consuming what would have been an equivalent of $50 CND worth of excellent sushi), the movie "Gangs of New York" watched in huge red plush reclining "special" seats (exactly what the doctor ordered for bloated crampy gluttonous pigs), topped off with a last resort (after madly searching to find a bus that would take us back at 10:30 in the evening) taxi cab ride across Bangkok to our home sweet home Merry V guesthouse for a nerve calming beer. We are leaving Thailand tomorrow.

March 21/03 - Ayuthaya, Thailand-- We took only enough time to do laundry, e-mail, and change some money before heading from Khon Kaen to Khao Yai NP. We took the 3rd class train from KK to Khorat and walked to the bus station in Khorat to hop the local bus to Pak Chong. Good thai food is always served on the non-touristy public transport by people who jump on at each stop. From PC, we took a "sawngthaew" which is a truck whose back is filled with benches, to the gates of Khao Yai. We got to the gates around 4 p.m. to find out that the only means of transportation within the park is hitchkiking. Our map indicated 14 km to the visitor's centre, and another 6 or so to a campground, with a cobra crossing, a tiger zone, a gaur zone, and an elephant crossing along the way. Fortunately we got a ride from the 2nd vehicle that came along, and rode into the visitor's centre in the back of a pick-up. Had to slow down for a large troop of pig-tailed macaques sitting in the road, and also saw sambar deer and barking deer before we ever got to the visitor's centre. We made it to beautiful Lam Takhom campground in time to set up our tent in daylight, and have dinner. Stayed 6 nights at the campground, and did pretty long hikes almost every day. At the visitor's centre we were able to buy a hornbill guide, a mammal guide, and a good trail map, so we were well entertained and didn't need to hire a guide or rent any form of transportation. Made friends with the woman who ran the restaurant (nicknamed Dang) at the campground after the 2nd day or so, and she took good care of the gluttonous farangs. Highlights of the park included the beautiful song of the white-handed gibbon (we got a good look at a family group of these as well, while they took a long leisurly look at us from up in the trees), spotting monitor lizards, 3 of the park's 4 species of hornbill , and going to the waterfalls (pics to be posted). Other highlights were failure to spot any cobras or tigers. Visitors centre had 2 stuffed tigers, both of which were killed after making multiple attacks on people. Lowlights included a very crowded campground on Sat and Sun nights and especially...terrestrial leeches!!!.

Got a lift from a very friendly Thai couple (a baker and a cooking instructor...we should have got to know them better!) from the park to Ayuthaya. Naturally we arrived in A dirty, tired, and a bit sick of walking, so have been taking it easy. Yesterday took a day trip by train to Lop Buri, home of some of Thailand's oldest temples, a great museum, and one temple absolutely overrun with half-tame macaques. Went a little overboard with the camera there, but who could blame us? Very soon we'll have to finalize plans to get to Singapore. Sad to be leaving southeast Asia, but looking forward to Australia, and some of the creature comforts of the western lifestyle. Photos will come when we can get to a scanner and CD Rom (there are lots). Love to all...p.s. we are safe and healthy and would like to remind everyone that we are very far away from Iraq, so no worries.

March 11/03- Khon Kaen, Thailand-- After our visit to the temple on the hill overlooking Chang Mai, Eric and I decided to head off of the tourist path and venture into some of Thailands National Parks. The park we stayed at for the past 3 days was Nam Nao National Park ( for information see last journal entry). Funny enough, the park that we chose just happens to be a rare Thailand forest... deciduous forest in the lowlands, but dominated by tall pine trees on the hilltops... we felt right at home. Althought the trees were familiar the rest of the forest was unlike anything that we have at home. Within the three days in the park we saw many beatiful species of orchids and butterflies, 2 feet long flying squirrels, a large weasel, the hind end of a teasing monkey, many exotic species of birds, and hiking trails lines with piles of wild elephant dung. Unfortunately Eric and I did not see any of the deer and luckily the tigers did not see us. There was a wonderful family environment at the park with very patient people who seemed to enjoying teaching us a little about Thai food. Today we are in Khon Kaen (big city) and can not wait to heading down south by train for some more camping in Khao Yai. Miss everyone at home.

March 5/03---Chaing Mai, Thailand--Well our organized jungle trek adventure was everything that we could have hoped for. While hiking along narrow mountain trails and paddling down the rapids we felt very much in our element. Once our muscles recover we will be packing up and leavingthe cities behind for some more camping adventures. Nam Nao National Park looks interesting with many hiking paths through pine forested mountains and camping. We are also looking at Khao Yai National Park . We love you all and will be posting some new pics of the North soon.

Feb.29/03---Photos are now up and running. Proof that we are really here and enjoying ourselves (despite the appearance of the scowling caused by squinting into the sun).

Feb. 29/03---Spent 5 days in Ayuthaya, it was great to get off the tourist track for awhile. Stayed for a couple of days at a guesthouse, then joined the crowd of Peterborough folks crashing at Clays. It was great to stay at a home for a change, though a bit of a challenge to get past the street dogs in the residential neighborhood. We had a couple of nights on the town with friends, a couple of days of relaxing and doing errands, and also found time to visit the majority of Ayuthaya's temple ruins. Design of these was similar to what we saw in Angkor. They're less grand and newer (Ayuthaya was the capital of Thailand from late 1300's until 1767, when it was sacked by the burmese) than the Angkor temples, but are situated in beautiful parks within the city, making for a very enjoyable walking tour. Got some good shots too, but not developed yet. When we decided to push north to Chiang Mai we discovered at the train station that only 3rd class seats were available for the 13 hour overnight trip. So, we saved some baht, and got another good look at aspects of the country the tourist routes generally avoid. Again, we were the only "falangs" on board, and people seemed to find us a bit of a novelty and were very kind. The train filled up in the first few stops after leaving Ayuthaya, then standing room got filled up with young members of the military, who partook of many beers and bottles of Thai whiskey, but were friendly and polite nevertheless. While the trip was very interesting it was pretty uncomfortable. Slightly padded bench seats which did not decline or get any softer after 8 hours, crowded, & noisy. Also it went from very hot when we got on, to suddenly surprisingly cold at about 1 or 2 a.m. Figure we must have gained altitude fairly quickly as we neared Chiang Mai. We arrived in Chiang Mai at about 5:30 this morning, and allowed ourselves to be coaxed into a tuk-tuk and driven to a guesthouse. Before we even got a chance to shower and nap, we were booked on a 3-day jungle trek. These treks are one of the main reasons people come to this city, and I think we lucked out with the tour we're getting, even though we didn't shop around at all. We head out tomorrow a.m., we'll spend about 5 hours hiking each of the first two days, stop in at hill tribe villages twice (one for lunch, and one to sleep), and spend the 2nd night camping out on the mountainside. The first leg of the hike is covered on the back of elephants, which I'm sure will help on the steep slopes through dense jungle. We'll also get a chance to swim in a waterfall, and see children performing traditional tribal dance. On day 3 they give us a break from walking, and we return to our vehicle transport by whitewater rafting, then bamboo rafting downstream....Sounds like a lot of fun, no? This was all related to us by the owner of our guesthouse ("Julie") who is Thai but speaks English well and VERY quickly, in about 45 seconds. Two other nice couples (one Aussie, one English) signed on at the same time we did. Should be great. We'll get in touch again soon after we return (i.e. within the week). Oh yeah, we've decided we'll have to skip our trip to Laos, because very quickly running out of time. Camping in national parks in northeastern Thailand is what we're now planning as a more economical alternative. Should also give us a chance to do more hiking, and more the kind of hiking we're used to, i.e. sans elephants, rafts, and hill tribes! Love to all....

Feb. 22/03---Sorry that we have not been keeping up with the updates. Cambodia left us speachless. The culture shock between Thailand and Cambodia was just as strong as the difference between Canada and Thailand. The temples of Angkor were more inspiring that anything that I have seen in my life time. These mountain temples are not only striking due to their size but the ornate decorations, sculptures and reliefs, decorated every inch of every section of most temples including the walls. Climbing to the tops of the temples of Angkor started to catch up with us on the third day when we decided to see the temples on bicycle covering ~30km. So did the feelings of helplessness from constant bombardment of small children selling souvenirs and asking for money for school. Eric and I been using the last 3 days for a little down time from travelling. Bangkok with its population ~10million people, did not seem like a typical place for a rest but it surprised us. The tourist district, Koa San road area, has everything that you need within a few blocks. Delicious food (pad thai, stewed meats on rice, fried sea food, fruit, and chicken hearts on a stick were among our favorites), shopping (although we plan to wait until we see what Laos offers), and entertainment (ripped movie, portable karaoke artists, mini-van bars, people of all shapes, sizes, and cultures, and temple visiting). We have got our pictures of Koh Chang and Cambodia developed but we are waiting until Ayuthaya, where we will be visiting Clay, to get them scanned. Until then...

Feb. 15/03---Although we'd planned to avoid Cambodia for awhile, due to tensions between Thailand and Cambodia, it occured to both of us that every tourist in Southern Thailand was postponing a trip to Cambodia in favour of Chiang Mai Province in Northern Thailand. Hence, Chiang Mai would be overun, and the temples at Angkor deserted (relatively speaking). So, from Koh Chang we took the ferry to Trat, where we spent a nice day exploring the large day and night markets, and stayed overnight. The next morning, we travelled by the cheap local buses, avoiding Bangkok and the frozen, expensive tourist buses, to Aranya Prathet at the Cambodian border. We were the only non-Thias on the local busses. By constantly repeating the name of our ultimate destination, we were kindly directed from one bus to the next (at a run, chasing porters who were carrying our bags). We crossed the border into Cambodia without any problems. The difference in affluence and culture between Thailand and Cambodia seemed, to us, as large as the difference between Thailand and Canada. Along the way we saw carts full of grain being drawn by donkeys, large groups of locals gathered around the community TV watching soccer, "no digging-land mines" signs, as well as several large birds of prey. The main highway from the border to Siem Reap is still under construction/repair. The 150km journey by minibus took 6 hours. Naturally, the drivers pulled directly up to a particular guesthouse. It turns out to be very nice and no more expensive than the rest. We slept late today, and have been exploring the town, which is beautiful (parks filled with flowers, and hawk-sized fruit bats, large open markets full of carvings, jewellery, and interesting food, friendly English-speaking people). Tomorrow, we'll get our first look at the Temples of Angkor...VERY exciting. We'll be taking photos and sending postcards, but likely few direct phone calls or e-mails 'till we're back in Thailand (about 4-5 days). We miss everyone back home, when we get a chance to think at all. Love to all.

Feb.08/03---Happy huts, Koh Chang Island, Thailand--- Since Alya nad John have departed we have changed resorts to a more quiet relaxed setting with a beach front hut, hammok, and fewer people. Tina is now 27 and had the best birthday as Eric gave me hammok privileges all day long. Internet is becoming too expensive...journal entries will be fewer... but not much is expected to change for a week or so. We will keep you posted when we get to the mailand... until then...

Feb 03/03---Koh Chang Island, Thailand---Although lying on the beach is very relaxing, Eric and I are in for more eco-adventures. Interested in seeing the local wildlife we headed out for the trek inland to one of the islands waterfalls. The water was low as it has not rain here for months (being the dry season) but was a wonderful delight at the end of a 3 hour hike up and down the mountains along the main road in the high noon sun. It is really very very hot here and there are no trails developed around the island for those who would like to get out of the sun (white/sunburnt Canadians), and bushwaking here is completely unacceptable without a guide (dense brush and cobra snakes). Eric and I are now considering hiring a guide for a three day hike through the interior, which I am sure will satisfy our jungle desires... it would also be a great opportunity to learn alot about jungle treking. For now we will just have to stick to the beach and seek shelter in the shade of the palm trees. We miss you all.

Feb. 01/03---Siam Beach Huts, Koh Chang Island, Thailand---Koh Chang is all we could have hoped for. Relaxing, swimming,

THERE HAS BEEN SOME SORT OF PROBLEM WITH OUR WEBSITE JOURNAL RIGHT HERE MIGHT BE MISSING A FEW WORDS OR SOMETHING

Today had a spectacular snorkeling trip through the archipelago South of the Island. Tiny islands with rocky bottoms and shelves virtually covered with corals, surrounded by colourful fish, urchins, anemones, sea cucumbers... Needless to say, we'll be staying for awhile yet. Still havent' been in the forest on the other side of the road from the beach, maybe tommorrow. --- You may have heard in the news about the burning of the Thai embassy in Cambodia. Borders were closed, and some tension, so we're now planning to go to Northern Thailand and Laos after visiting Clay in Ayuthaya. We still hope to see Angkor before our flight to Sidney, but safety first.

Jan 28/03-Hait Yai, Thailand---We are having a great time, though some culture shock and a bit tired. We are travelling at night to save dollars. We arrived in Thailand this morning, and head on to Bangkok tonite. Looking forward to the hut on the beach, but very much enjoying what we've been able to take in so far.... Singapore food courts, squat toilets in Malaysia, Buddhist temple in Thailand...

Jan 24/03-Arnprior, ON---All our bags are packed and were ready to go... just have a few last minute things and then were off. Our plane ride is going to be 26 hrs long and then it will take a few days before we get to Koh Chang... so talk to you sometime around the 1st of Feb. Love you all and we will miss everyone tonnes...as we lie beneith palm trees in between snorkles.

Jan 22/03-Arnprior, ON---Our adventure has officially begun. This week we are travelling to Arnprior, Ottawa, and Barrie's Bay to see the folks before we head off. Already we are learning how to excersize our reactions to unexpected events... like being stranded in Marmora at 40 below wind chill, when our car gave up the ghost... when I realized that had made mistakes when applying for the Thailand Visa ... and then later realized I had made the same mistaken assumtions with the New Zealand work visa. Today we are borrowing mom's car and heading out to the embassies, then on to Eric's moms for visiting and last minute shopping. Until next time...

We will be leaving January 25th for Singapore. From Singapore we will be catching trains through Malaysia to Bankok Thailand(~ 2 days). From there we will catch a bus to the province of Trat (5.5 hr bus ride) where we will take a ferry (1/2hr) to meet good friends Alya and John as we will be staying on a Pacific Island.

The island is called Koh Chang and it is every thing that I have every imagined a pacific Island could be. We will be staying on Lonely Beach at the Siam Beach resort. Alya is booking our hut for the 29th, I can not wait. We will be staying for ~2 weeks to make up for the planning chaos.

After our Island holiday we plan to travel as much of South East Asia as possible (Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore). We have a friend that lives near Bankok which is very fortunate as Bankok seems to be the center for travelling.

click on the Lonely Planet images in tables below for more information of countries of South-East Asia:


Singapore Trains	Thailand Treking in Thailand ">Dio Suthep Trains

Laos	Cambodia Angkor photos and history more links to pics and history of Angkor

Vietnam	Myanmar (Burma)