Today we were leaving the country and heading into Canada for a week. Our first stop was Vancouver. On the border we were all granted access into Canada and we stocked up on duty free alcohol spending well over $200, hopefully it would last us a while. We arrived in Vancouver around 3PM and first we went to see some Totem Poles. Took some photos and from here we had a good view of the city skyline of Vancouver. We then headed for our hostel which was quite busy, it was a popular place, we got a free beer as well! Tonight I shared a dorm room with Dave and Ben. We hung around the hostel for a while and did some much needed washing while we watched Lucy dye her hair. I headed down to ... read more

We drove to Oregon Coast today to do another optional activity, which everyone participated in, a Sand Dunes tour. We arrived at our campsite to find they didn’t really have anywhere for us to camp so they threw us in the corner near the storage sheds and tractors. It wasn’t a big deal, we set up our tents and got our gear ready for the Sand Dunes. Jon warned us that if we do take our camera, to put it in a bag because sand is going to get everywhere, he wasn’t kidding. We arrived at this fun park place which had things like mini-golf, boat rides etc. We bought our tickets for the tour and had to drive down the road to the starting point. I was so excited this was going to be awesome. ... read more

Today we were heading for Redwood National Park, most of us had never heard of it so we didn't know what to expect. We got up and got ready, meeting the rest of the group in the hotel lobby while Jon went to get the van. We threw our stuff into the trailer and drove....and we drove for miles and miles. In fact nearly all of today was driving to Redwood National Park so there wasn't too much else that happened. We didn't get to our campsite until late afternoon, at this particular campsite we were setup right next to the other trek group. We unpacked, put up our tents and setup our campsite. We were here for two nights, our first camping stop more than one night. Also tonight was our first night that we ... read more

Another early start today, we're getting used to them now. We made breakfast, got ready and packed our tents up, ready for our next stop, San Francisco. My legs were still very sore, but there was no time for complaining about it now. We first drove to the Yosemite National Park visitors centre and waited 10 minutes until it opened. We had a quick look around some of the stores nearby for souvenirs then went back to the van to leave. We soon stopped at the Yosemite National Park sign and got some photos with the group then got back in the van for the drive to San Francisco. Most of the way we were playing card games or sleeping from the massive day we had yesterday. We arrived in San Francisco and went straight to ... read more

Woke up early this morning and we all made breakfast and coffee. We went to have showers and get ready then cleaned up our mess and learned how to pack our tents, which we would have to do most mornings. Soon after we were ready to go, everyone jumped into the van and we were off to our next stop, Yosemite National Park. On the way we stopped off at a famous saloon called "Iron Door" which was established in 1852. We walked inside to find hundreds of dollar bills pinned to the roof which was a strange sight. The idea was to get $1, the guy behind the bar would give you a pin then you throw the bill into the ceiling. Easy enough, Dave did it first try, mine on the other hand taken ... read more