http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/MacCallumWorldTrek/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from MacCallumWorldTrek en-us Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:20:05 +0000 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:20:05 +0000 Caledonia is the Latin name given by the Romans to the land in today's Scotland north of their province of Britannia beyond the frontier of their empire. Modern use is as a romantic or poetic name for Scotland as a whole. WikipediaWhen the weather forecast is given on BBC radio one of the locations in the UK that is mentioned is The Butt of Lewis. Now you would think that the Butt would be http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/blog-440011.html There are supposedly 284 peaks in Scotland that are over 3000 feet above sea level. Sir Hugh Munro was the first to publish a list of them in 1891. Since then people have been climbing or bagging Munroes. There are people who have bagged them all...and it is becoming very popular these days to make it a life goal. So we picked out one that is in the top ten at 1214 m 3983 feet from whi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/blog-436053.html We are planning to go to Scotland in AugustIt's only a 15 day trip so we are not sure whether we'll do a travelblog that depends if we have any interest from you If you want one we'd like to hear form you. Just hit the comment button....In the meantime if you'd like to learn about how to save money or live greener check out our other blog at httpthecanadiangreencoach.wordpress.com http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Peterborough/blog-419734.html Plymouth Rock is tiny It could fit under a picnic table. We were told that we would be surprised how small the Mayflower was. We weren't mainly because we had seen the Hector see previous blog and the Mayflower is no smaller. But the rock surprised us. It has worn away over the past almost 400 years and is estimated to be about a third of the size it was when Degory Priest et al jumped o http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/blog-192413.html The Hector is the little ship that brought 189 Scots to Nova Scotia in 1773 forming the first Scottish settlement in New Scotland. The Mayflower most of you will know was the slightly larger ship that brought 102 people to Massachusetts from England actually 2 were from the Isle of Man Myles Standish and his wife. Just as the replica of the Mayflower can be seen and boarded in Plymouth http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Massachusetts/Plymouth/blog-189967.html It's hard to say where the St Lawrence River ends and the ocean in the form of the Gulf of St Lawrence begins. In the whole world this may be the river for which this question is the most contentious. We're told the water becomes noticeably salty as far inland as Ile d'Orleans but many locals will tell you they consider it a river all the way to CapGaspe right at the end of the peninsula. Pr http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Quebec/Miguasha/blog-188669.html The family MacCallum have been Habitants too long We will be taking the teepee down this weekend and returning to our Voyageur nature. Destination Ocean. West side of the North Atlantic to be precise. Down the St. Lawrence Valley around the Gaspe Peninsula across New Brunswick and into Nova Scotia Latin for New Scotland for over a week . Then after a daytrip to Prince Edward's beauti http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Peterborough/blog-174311.html Visited Countries MapArrived in the land of Leprechauns on Sunday July 17th. Met up with Grandma Joan who arrived from Montreal an hour or so before picked up the rental car and drove south down the coast to Arklow. After a few minutes of going around in circles we found the cottage we had rented on the internet back in December. Turned out to be a fully functional three bedroom bungalow in a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Dublin/blog-15272.html Ah the cool breeze that hit us when we got off the plane in Stockholm made us feel at home right away. All the coniferous trees lakes and familiar wildflowers that we saw a few minutes later just confirmed our feeling that Canada was somewhere right around the corner. Not that any of us was really homesick it was just that it felt so energizing to unexpectedly feel at home so quickly.Landed i http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/Stockholm/blog-12801.html We have now felt a good crosssection of the summer weather the Swiss Alps can throw at you from barely above freezing blustery rainy days to clear skies with highs above 30 C. Uncle Thierry and Aunt Helenrsquos chalet is in Gryon half way up an Alp in the Dents du Midi range in the southwest of the country near the Italian border and even closer to the French border. The majority of the S http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/blog-14073.html It's been almost 2 weeks since we updated this blog. Needless to say we've been busy My old friend Kevin Beveridge met us at the Hong Kong airport and took us to his place. The next day he took a day off work and toured us around showing us how to navigate Hong Kong by train subway ferry and taxi. Kevin and Patty and their two children live in the New Territories as they are called basic http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-11262.html Impressions of Japan crowded safe orderly modern.The Japanese love good food. Osaka is especially wellknown for great food. Historically this is where farmers brought the greatest variety of good produce to market so it became a bastion of great chefs and the populace grew quite discerning. Yes there are fast food places in many places but there are many times as many good Japanese an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-10189.html First of all as promised here are pictures of somebody's kids snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef and some family of permagrinners sailing through the Whitsunday Islands. Left Airlie Beach and made the trek up to Cairns Cans apparently the i and r are silent to Aussies. Turns out we spent a lot of our time in Australia driving. I must say the driving habits of Aussies are amazingly g http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-9684.html At 830 this morning it was already HOT like midday in July in Canada. Yesterday we took a sailboat cruise and snorkeled on the great barrier reef. Spectacular Not only the fish but also the coral comes in an amazing array of colours shapes and sizes. The kids were spoiled as they were the only children on the expedition and hence got lots of attention. Went on a hike through the rainf http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Airlie-Beach/blog-8973.html An octopus right on the beach We were on the beach at Mt. Maunganui on the North Coast of the North Island and Renee and Bill decided to go for a walk down to the end of the beach. They were looking at the starfish and crabs and various typical things trapped in the intertidal pools among the rocks when Renee pointed out something in the sand by a rock with suction cups that looked like an octo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Waikato/blog-7778.html The sun came up Thursday morning and our spirits went up with it. We got into Yosemite by 9am and hiked up into the Mariposa Grove of ancient Sequoias in kneedeep snow. The kids did really well both were very determined to see what was billed as the oldest living treeestimated to be between 1800 and 2700 years old the Grizzly Giant. The hike was 3.3 miles oneway. Renee didn't complain ab http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Monterey/blog-6129.html Feels like wersquore time travelers. Even though we are more than 500 km north here in Vancouver than we were at home in Ontario it feels like May. Or June. The white snowdrifts up to the windowsills have been replaced by an almostascomplete covering of yellow daffodils. This west coast climate is not hard to take.Perversely we seemed to be magnetically drawn to the only snow in the great http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver/Stanley-Park/blog-5380.html Been here a week now. Overwhelming impression of the New South Wales countryside is that everything is sunbleached. The locals say that they desperately need rain but that doesn't account for the earth which is ochre at its darkest the sand which is unremittingly white and the rock which is beige or lighter. The rangeland which is what most of New South Wales is is brown no more like tawn http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Great-Ocean-Road/blog-8249.html Impressions of New Zealand and it8217s peopleAmazing variety of landscapes and sceneryCourteousCalmExpensiveEgalitarianCleanFriendlyUnpretentiousOldfashionedRefreshing to seeTrucks and slower vehicles pulling over onto the shoulder to let you past even if there is almost no shoulderWomen who are secure enough not to wear makeup.People being paid decent wages so that no tipping is necessary http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-7276.html Thousands of hours of research and planning has come down to the last few days. Here's big tip number one for any other families planning on taking an extended international backpacking trip Talk to someone who has already done it. Kathryn Young Bill Davies and family of Kanata Ontario were the friends of friends who were our experts. They answered all our questions and even gave us their p http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/blog-4646.html