Jaguar

For those that have been around Fitzroy, VIC or Newton, NSW some parts of Toronto will be familiar. The area of most interest was Queen street West. This is the side of the city I got to see on the first few days in Canada. Toronto's much celebrated multi-cultural population is fairly evident, but not dramatically different to Sydney or Melbourne. I do like the Canadian accent and the smiles of many of the people who are both friendly and outgoing. With only a short time in Canada and with a keen need to see more of this country, I decided to head into the wilderness. This led me to the Algonquin National Park, one of the closest parks to Toronto. It was about 3.5 hrs north. One of my limitations was that I was not ... read more

From New York I took the Amtrak train to Boston and made a direct escape for the nearest beach. I have now walked the beaches on the west (Santa Monica, CA), north (Lake Michigan) and east (Revere Beach, MA) borders. I also went up to Salem and spent sometime with the local witches who tried to cast a spell over me. I have enjoyed meeting new people most are easy to get to know and just curious as to why an Australian would be passing their "little town". One of them I could swear looked just like Bridget Fonda. Nevertheless after a short history lesson on the 1692 witch trials and coffee, I moved on. For a region known for being the birthplace of the American revolution, it is interesting to see how much of England ... read more

Can you believe that this trip is only just half over? The first half went very slowly and it has taken me some time to adjust to the life of travel, but I am sure you all believe me, when I say that it is not all that hard. With a little bit of time and money I could really achieve anything I wanted here. There is still a full month left, but I already feel like time is running out. Things are moving much faster now and over the next few weeks I will be going to Boston, Toronto and San Francisco (at the very least). For those that have noted that my original intention was to spend a large amount of time in Toronto and the wilderness of Canada, this is still my intention. ... read more

The destination for this trip was Big Bend National Park, Texas. Located right on the border with Mexico its landscape is a mixture of mountain, extinct volcanoes and desert and low semi arid vegetation. To my surprise the park has recently enjoyed significant rains, so much so, that the landscape appeared to be changing. The national park is a good eight hour drive from Austin, probably too long for anyone to do on their own, but in the end we made it. To share in this trip I had a local friend who was looking forward to going back to the park after almost ten years. It took us more than one hour to drive through the park to the motel. The last several hours of the drive were dominated by larger and larger mountains and ... read more

On arriving in NYC I decided to rough it and stay at one of the Manhattan hostels. Where ever I go I am trying to find accommodation that is relatively close to the action. With no where to relax in the dorm, I jumped on the train and headed to Time Square. My first few moments in the square were rather disappointing. This part of the city is nothing like I expected and its not a great place to visit, except if you escape off the side streets into a thearte or bar. In all the cities I have travelled I noticed that there has an excessive amount of civil construction work being done. With summer being the only time most of the cities have decent weather I have come to expect a little chaos. This ... read more

As I passed through to Chicago, I stopped off to meet some friends in Pittsburgh. It was good to meet some familiar faces. I am travelling in the middle of one of the country’s hottest summers and while it is still safe, the sun is very intense. (Sorry for those back home, suffering in the cold HaHa!) Pittsburgh has long moved on from its steel history, but the buildings and character remain. I am sure it will continue to develop and become more of city with a vibrant tourist industry. The old steel rail network has been converted to some awesome bike trials. I wonder do these trails get used as cross country ski paths in winter? ... read more