I made it to the Cook Islands and had a day and a half of the hottest and most humid weather of my life. The island of Rarotonga is a tropical paradise island only a quarter the size of Niue, but with 15000 people. After that glorious day and a half however, the weather turned to stink. 4 days straight of nonstop downpour, and no glimmer of the sun. I still rented a scooter and drove around the island, which took 40 minutes, but the things to do are severely low when the weather is so terrible. It was my first [View Full Entry]

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I have just returned to Auckland after my week in Niue and still can't really comprehend everything I saw. Niue is not a part of the Cook Islands, but rather is a self governed nation in free association with New Zealand. That pretty much means that they do their own thing, but still rely on New Zealand for a lot of aid. The island is 260 square kilometers, and is not the typical South Pacific island. There are no sandy beaches and thus the reason why it's not a typical tourist destination. Niue has a population of 1500 people, but there [View Full Entry]

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I spent my Wednesday in Taupo going for a long walk to a geothermal area called Craters of the Moon and then back through the forest to the Huka Falls again. The weather was decent enough with little rain, and the long walk showed me a lot of what New Zealand is. Vast forests covering valleys and rolling hills, along with small powerful rivers roaring on by. Thursday was the day I left Taupo, but before I caught my bus I heard something calling my name. There was a golf challenge on the lake which is run by a local guy [View Full Entry]

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My first good views of New Zealand came on the train that took me across the South Island from Christchurch to Greymouth. I spent an hour in Greymouth, then jumped on the same train for the return trip back to Christchurch. Each way the journey took about 4 hours, and was a pretty easy way to see some of the country. The train started across the plains and then made its way up and through the mountains as we made our way to the west coast. At one stop in the mountains, their was a hint of snow blowing around mixed [View Full Entry]

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Monday morning I was up early and on my way to the sumo stadium not really knowing what to expect. I made my way in at about 8:30 and found my seat. I watched them finish preparing the sumo ring, and shortly after the matches started. The building was nearly empty for the entire morning, as it is only the junior classes that do battle early in the day. Oddly enough I bumped into a couple from France that I had met at Mt.Fuji and ended up spending the day with them again. Throughout the day the matches became better and [View Full Entry]

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I woke up Thursday morning and began a somewhat ridiculous day of travel. I walked to the train station and caught a bus for one hour to the city of Kofu. From there I had to take a train to Shiorijiri, then transfer to a different train to Nagano. I found out when I got to Nagano that the hostel I booked was in Hakuba which was not as close to Nagano as I thought. It was going to be a 5 hour wait for the next bus to Hakuba, so I threw my bag in a train station locker and [View Full Entry]

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Monday morning I woke early and said goodbye to my awesome host Minna and made my way to the nearby subway station. This week is known as Golden Week in Japan and everyone has Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off as holidays. This makes for a lot of people out at night, but luckily it meant that Monday morning was not a workday and the subway was significantly less busy than normal. I managed to figure out where I was going, change stations and lines and arrive at the station where the bus terminal was located. I bought a ticket and was [View Full Entry]

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Well I guess it's time to fire up blog stories again so here goes...I arrived in Tokyo Friday afternoon at 3:30 on a flight from Vancouver. After the 10.5 hour flight I was eager to get off to get some real air and move around. Unfortunately, I was going to have to wait. With the current Swine Flu issue being a huge topic, Japanese officals were taking every measure to ensure that their country would not contract the disease. Since our flight originated in Canada, which has confirmed cases of Swine Flu, we had to wait on the plane for nearly [View Full Entry]

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Well it has been just over 6 months since I got back from my last travels, and I am lucky enough to be heading out again. I am filled with the same drive that I had from travelling last time, and I'm ready to explore again. The last I left off, I was coming home early after some time in Rwanda. My experience there was definitely an eye opener, and it left me pretty drained from travelling alone. Getting home was the break I needed to recharge my batteries, plus I was able to send a couple of small donations to [View Full Entry]

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Wow...I returned to Belgium from Rwanda this morning. And here is a shocker. I have cancelled the rest of my flights, and I have booked a flight back home to Edmonton. I am cutting my trip short by over 2 months. Rest assured that everything is fine on the home front, and there is nothing urgent for me to return to. I have not grown weary of travel and my budget has not let me down, but I have found a much more important cause than my travels. The time I spent in Gitarama, Rwanda at the Urukundo Village for Children [View Full Entry]

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