July 11th - 15th 2007 Derby at last. I reunite with my mum once again along with the cousines who live there. They've been hanging out for a little under a week touring and whatnot so when I come into the picture my mum has lots to talk to me about! Lynn took us to town to shop and then we went to Chatsworth house again. I say again because I've been there the first time I went to England so nothing has really changed except that now I'm more interested in seeing it. Apparently Prince Harry/William stayed there during summers [View Full Entry]

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July 8th-10th 2007 Sue and I decided to sit on the second level of a double decker bus that took us from Lands End to Saint Ives. Thank God we didn't care much about our appearances because the wind completely turned our hair into something that resembled brids nests but we took many pictures along the way. Sometimes we travelled the coast and other times we travelled inland with a scenery that looked more like what the UK should look like. Full of flatish grass land with farms and many, many sheep grazing. We ended up hanging out for a bit [View Full Entry]

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July 6th-7th 2007 Had brunch with Mario and the rest of the guests early the morning after the wedding at a cute little cubby hole in some random alley where the server/cook didn't even know how to make eggs properly. I'm surprised they were still in business. Regardless, an interesting experience. Once breakfast was done it was time for me to move on. On the ferry ride back, called the Enterprise, to Falmouth I got chummy with the captain and he let me drive/ride/steer ... whatever you do to a boat, like the whole way and at the end I even [View Full Entry]

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July 4th - 5th 2007 This is where mum and I go our seperate ways. Mum wants to go see where Princess Diana is layed to rest and I need to go to a friends wedding. A week long backpacking trip alone along the West Coast to lands end and back. I'm very excited and nervous. I have little butterflies in my belly doing spirals because this will be the first time I venture off on my own in a foreign country and while England isn't TOO foreign. It's a start and a good test to see if this is what [View Full Entry]

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July 2nd 2007 Found this great tour that would take us from London to Avebury Stone Circle to Stonehenge to the Old Sarum and finally Salisbury Cathedral. A whole days worth of running around! YAY! Last time we went to England back in 1998 we didn't do this. I don't know why ... maybe it was too out of the way for my mum but this was one of the highlights of the trip this time and we were both really excited! The day was overcast as usual so we both went prepared for a downpour which thank goodness we did [View Full Entry]

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June 30th - July 1st 2007 First time I went to England was back in 1998 with my mum. I was 18 I think and she organized everything and I just had to save up for my flight. It was a pretty good deal to me but you know how people travel differently? Some people plan every last detail (My mum) and others enjoy the rush of flying at the seat of your pants never knowing what's around the corner and then there's the many gradients in between which is where I stand. Since my excursion to Australia I've discovered the [View Full Entry]

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March 30th 2008 3678 feet / 1121 metres ascent, 8km trail. This was my intro hike to the wonderful world of hiking. I have never, ever hiked before this moment. It was a BEAUTIFUL sunday. Not a cloud in the sky and it seemed as if spring had finally sprung cuz it was fairly warm too but I knew to be prepared anyway so I wore warm layers ready for -10 degree weather and packed a bunch of stuff including food cuz you never know what can happen folks!! My day pack wasn't too heavy or cumbersom in the end either. [View Full Entry]

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December 14-17th Last stop before I inevitably go back home to my integration back into society. What an amazing experience and by far will not be my last. It's only the beginning and I'll be sure to record all the details right here. I've been dreading this last leg of the trip. Not only because it's the last stop before home but also because I'll be leaving Annie behind and as one of my best friends back home, I'll miss her tons for another 6-8 months or however long she decides to stay for. We were fairly well matched travellers despite [View Full Entry]

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December 11-13th We took the longest bus ride EVER in my existence to get to Byron Bay from Hervey Bay. All of 14 hours. It was hard to sleep even for me so I didn't feel very rested when we finally got there but at the same time I felt energized and ready to party. It was near dinner so I suggested we eat, change into our party clothes and then hit the streets. As we were getting back to the hostel a dude handed us a flyer for a club called Cheeky Monkey. Annie and I decided to go there. [View Full Entry]

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December 7-10th 2006 Fraser Island, also known as K'Gari (meaning Paradise to the local indigenous Australians) is over 120 km long and more than 30 km across. It is the largest sand island in the world and the only way to navigate is by 4WD so Annie and I took a self-driving tour of the island for 3 days and 2 nights with a few (I think 6) other people, camping in the great outdoors just on the edges of sandy beaches and the violent surf of the ocean. So violent and dangerous in fact that we can't swim in it [View Full Entry]

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