A fantastic trip. All I can say is that I am in love with Jordan and want to move there and live in the desert! I floated in the Dead Sea and became Dead Sea Mud Monsters. Did a hike through a desert gorge into waterfalls - yes, in the middle of the desert Played Indiana-Jo in the carved rock faces of Petra. Had a brilliant Turkish bath (in Jordan) much needed after a day of exploring Slept under the stars of Wadi Rum ('Valley of the Moon' desert) and took a jeep safari to watch the sunset over the mountains [View Full Entry]

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I've made it and everything has worked out wonderfully. I arrived safe but very tired and straight away was able to unpack in my own room in my new home. Its a great place and I live with 4 other lovely Brits. Although one girl is an old highschool friend (which is how I found the place) who has been living in London for the past 6 years so her accent is well and truly gone! The location is great. East London, home of the 'cockney' but its close to a tube station and getting to work and to the rest [View Full Entry]

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What was meant to be 6 months turned into 18, a second visa, a home in Banff for 14 months, seeing almost all of Canada and some of the USA too. I've added some of my better photos of Banff - now that I finally have said goodbye! [View Full Entry]

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Cascade Mountain, Banff, Alberta Canada That's right - i finally climbed a mountain!! 2,998 metres (9,836 ft) No. of hours estimated for average hiker: 7 - 9 No. of hours for us to reach the summit: 7.5 (it took us 12.5 total) No. of hours I cried on the way down: 2 (i was really over it!) No. of days I was sick with flu before doing: 3 No. of years I turned that day: 25 [View Full Entry]

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The Battle of Alberta So it finally worked out that on my one-year anniversary weekend in Canada, I got to see some ICE HOCKEY! Canadians are quick to point out that no-one says 'ice' - its implied because apparently its the only 'real' hockey. Dont even try and tell them that Australians are olympic gold medalists in field hockey - its not worth the ridicule. Anyway, we headed into Calgary (the closest city to Banff about a 1 1/2 hour drive away) We were lucky enough to have some friends with some sweet hook-ups and got discounts on really nice [View Full Entry]

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Celebrated over 2 days, for Australia time and Canadian time, Australia Day 07 was filled with bundy rum, coopers and VB, a special broadcast of Triple J's Hottest 100, heading downtown with the rest of the aussies in Banff (and there's a LOT of them) dancing into the early hours to a Ministry of Sound DJ, an outdoor winter bbq and a traditional game of cricket... and a lot of 'Aussie Aussie' calls! [View Full Entry]

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A White Christmas... Christmas was definitley a different experience being away from home. Martha's family invited me to come with them for the traditional tree hunt so I could experience all the winter Christmas traditions. So Mum, Dad, Daughter, Dog, Gramma and token Australian went hiking into the forest out of Canmore to find the perfect, well rounded tree. Then it was a matter of cutting it down and Martha and I dragging it back to the car to tie on the roof. Really was great fun but strange Martha who has no christmas spirit didnt want to decorate the [View Full Entry]

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Quebec City and Montreal Yes Poutine was eaten and arteries were hardened. I forgot everything people told me about THE place to eat poutine so think i may have missed the best version of this dish... when you think about it the chips and gravy is not a strange concept to us Aussies its the cheese curds that throw me. I couldnt get over how 'french' the province of Quebec really is and it kind of makes more sense of the whole French separatist thing here in Canada. But is is beautiful So much like being in Paris itself. Old buildings, [View Full Entry]

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I Love Newfoundland Its like a big Irish fishing village with multi coloured timber houses and a harbour and old pubs and the accent is fantastic and Steph lives there! (Hi Steph :) Got screeched in. Old sailing/drinking tradition which involves - the bar tender ringing a bell so everyone knows someone is about to get screeched in - taking a shot of screech (tounge numbing rum) - saying an un-sayable Newfie tounge twister (no good when tounge has decided to quit on you) and - kissing a Cod. There was no cod around so I had to kiss a Puffin [View Full Entry]

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Im going to cheat a little here and give you a very quick run down of my maritime adventures... After NY I headed back to Toronto for a night and then it was a quick flight into Halifax. A pretty little harbour city with a lot of hills. I guess it was a bit of a shock to the system after the sights and sounds of TO and NY but it was a nice change of pace none the less. I made a spur of the moment decision to do a tour of Nova Scotia, Capre Breton Island and Prince Edward [View Full Entry]

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