http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Carry/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Carry en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:25:55 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:25:55 BST Our SPCA adopted doggie Lola is a real blessing. After only a week with her we have completely fallen head over heels in love. She is a beauty. Calm when you want her to be excited when you want her to be. She is already walking next to me on the lead and despite a few glitches here and there is overall a very easily trained dog. Some pics of our first 'child'. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington-Region/Wellington/blog-285362.html A last minute decision to go bush this weekend turned out to be an excellent idea. The Levin side of the Tararuas weather forecast was for full sun both days something that never occurs in the usually cloudy and overcast rainy Tararua National Park. It must have been the first time I have ever seen the tops so calm and clear. The pictures say it all. We hiked for 5 hours up to Waiopehu hut mo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington-Region/blog-277803.html Our original ambitious plan was to head down the Oregon coast to San Fran head east into the Yosemite national park then travel north back to Vancouver via the interior. We had planned well ahead to camp and had purchased all the right wet weather gear. We were prepared for bad weather. Needless to say I was so excited to go on this trip. I really wanted to be close to nature again away from http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Oregon/Cape-Lookout/blog-260446.html We spent one last weekend with our mate Thomas doing a big road trip in and around Washington. The first day was to be spent at Vantage for some rock climbing hiking and then head off to Stevens Pass for a bit of skiing the following day on the way back. Our trip to Vantage took much longer than expected. A 5 hour drive turned out to be like 7 hours and we ended up getting to the rock early http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-260399.html With our time running out here in BC we have been doing some extra ordinary skiing. This past Sunday we headed off to Mount Baker in the US. An early start to the day 6am and we were crossing the border getting visas before 730am. There were no cues and most importantly the US immigration officers were incredibly bright and cheerful. Passing through the border town at the so called 'truck http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/blog-253554.html These photos tell it all really. But a few words cant hurt.We headed up to Whistler on one of their busiest days. All the indications for crowds were there Presidents day in the US weekend fresh powder and sunshine we should have known. The line up for the Blackcomb chairlift ran down into the village. Nevertheless no matter how many hundreds or thousands of people were there that day w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Whistler/blog-247953.html A weekend away from the hustle and bustle of the city was just what we needed. Bowen Island is so close to Vancouver yet so far in terms of pace of life. Once you arrive on the island 20 mins ferry trip from Vancouver you are transported to another world. People bus drivers all greet you with smiles . Our BB on the north end of the island was a short bus drive away from the ferry terminal. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver/blog-246430.html Our weekends have been taken up with skiing both Saturday and Sunday we have been going up to Cypress 30min drive from Van not just to breakeven on our expensive season pass but for fresh air exercise and most of all fun Since realising that there is no future for us on snowblades we decided to buy new skis through my work. A pro deal offered to employees enabled us to get the latest sk http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver/North-Vancouver/blog-244036.html 5 days of peace and quiet on a farm outside of courtney was just what we needed and felt almost sad to come back to the city of Vancouver. We skied on Mount Washington in fresh powder one day walked around looking for truffles in the owner's backyard ate beautifull food and drank good wine. Here are some photos of our christmas on Vancouver Island. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver-Island/Courtenay/blog-238910.html Something that I have been dreading has occured.. I have turned 30. Goodbye twenties its been sweeeeeet. Its not something I can really say right now. I am ..thir...rrrr....ty The words just cant escape easily. Its like it just cant be Somepeople tell me their fourties were the best but for me so far nothing can beat the freedom of being twenty. Enough of that... What have we been up t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver/blog-227403.html Well its been a bit of a struggle to get settled here. It seems me and Benoit need to improve our decision making skills and learn not to rush into things. The North American life and our ignorance got the better of us in some ways. We are in a real country now with provinces and time differences. Our first experience of Vancouver unfortunately was the horrible backpackers in West Pender street. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver/blog-222754.html I decided to go back home and visit all the family it had been about 3 years since I was last there and felt like I needed to go back home before I head off on my next adventure Canada. Always feeling a bit unsure about how it will be like going back to SA and not too keen to leave Benoit for 3 weeks I was a bit uneasy about traveling alone again. The flight to SA was long and painful on a v http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Port-Elizabeth/blog-216502.html Our original desire to go to Morocco came after we had a chat with Jamal a good friend of Benoitrsquos. Jamal has an apartment in Fes and had booked flights in September inviting us along to stay in his apartment an offer difficult to refuse. We were not the only ones accompanying him his dad and bubbly girlfriend Julia were to join us. Luckily French is spoken widely in Morocco so at l http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-212921.html I have always wanted to travel to Brittany after hearing lots about the region and meeting friendly Bretons in New Zealand. They seem to get around the Bretons. Luckily our trip coincided with a friend from London Nicorsquos trip to Brittany so we decided to start off in Lorient Nicorsquos home town. His mum was nice enough to let us camp in her garden saving us some money staying at a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Brittany-/Rennes/blog-209842.html After London the 4 day trip to Aveyron was a perfect way of detoxing. The region we stayed in is called Aubrac in a tiny village Carrol population 50. Leaving the hot Mediterranean coast we traveled up into the high altitudes and into typical mountain weather. The change in landscape from Muscat vineyards to mountain landscapes was amazing. France is quite diverse in that way you can drive tw http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-209835.html The idea to go back to London for a couple of days came to me while we were on the neverending autoroute back to the south of France. That Red Hot Chillie Peppers song London in the summertime for some reason was ringing in my head. That evening when we arrived back I hopped onto the internet and found tickets from Nimes to London on Ryanair for 0.01 centimes. I couldnrsquot resist so at http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-185398.html Our next trip was to head up north to a little island quite close to Bordeaux called the Isle de Oleron. The thought of doing some real traveling and the idea of spending of a week on an island sounded perfect. So after 8 hours of straight non stop auto route we arrived eventually at the Chateau de Oleron which is where we were to be staying for the week. Just a note on these efficient autorou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-180831.html Today the jet lag has eased and feeling a bit less stuffy in the head I am able to now collate my thoughts a bit better perfect time to start my blog. After around 30 feels like 60hours of flying and airport hanging around we arrived in the south of France. At Marseilles airport I awaited questioning by the immigration officer to my surprise there was no customs no questioning no search http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Provence-Alpes-C-te-d--Azur/Arles/blog-169139.html