http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/rastle/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from rastle en-us Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:09:03 +0000 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:09:03 +0000 Eating healthily is cheating in the US so for breakfast I devoured a McGriddle. They are definitely heart attack material jam flavoured pancake mixture on the outside sausage egg and cheese on the inside. It's like eating three courses at once. It did however give me the required energy to get up the Empire State Building in a lift that is no one would wanto walk up all that way. Before goi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-398784.html Getting from central Toronto to the airport was a piece of cake in fact public transport in Toronto was fantastic. Calgary could learn a lot from them they have an abysmal system the city is growing so fast that the public transport has totally been left behind. We were lucky that the weather was fine and that we were sitting on the left hand side of the plane as when we started our descent int http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-398781.html I think that I had the worst sleep of my life. Some inconsiderate foreign students living in the Toronto hostel were up all night running around and listening to Tupac. So in retaliation when we got up at 6am to go catch our bus I hit 'em with a little Ghetto Gospel cranking my iPod to full volume. I added a bit of tap dancing and door slamming for good measure. That hostel was rubbish actual http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Niagara-Falls/blog-398779.html As it was a public holiday we were a bit worried about getting to the airport on public transport. We had taken the precaution of booking a bus the night before but it turned out the hostel lady had completely ballsed up and booked us a bus that would have arrived at the airport after our departure time. Nice one. So we found a taxi driver hastily who in the end with his maniacal driving got us http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Toronto/blog-398778.html A quick free breakfast of jam and toast was enjoyed in the company of a British couple. After this whilst washing my dishes an old man of about 70 dropped his shoulder and bumped into me he thought it was hilarious. I didn get it. Later on I saw him and wondered if I king hit him whether he would see the funny sideIf I ever revisit Montreal I think I would hire bicycles. We walked for miles ch http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Quebec/Montreal/blog-398775.html The old adage says that every cloud has its silver lining and with the current recession our silver lining was cheap flights. Air Canada and West Jet the two main Canadian airlines obviously suffered a downturn in flight numbers so lowered their prices. So as soon as they advertised these cheap flights we booked a multicity trip to Montreal Toronto and New York.After a hard slog of work 3 mo http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Quebec/Montreal/blog-398751.html The Calgary Flames ice hockey team are undoubtedly the cities pride and joy. We were desperate to see a game and had tried to get tickets on a few prior occasions but found they were sold out. In the end I booked us tickets well in advance for a Monday night game near the end of the season. By this stage the flames had ensured they would make the playoffs but in a rather unconvincing way. Prior to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Calgary/blog-388527.html Brenton and Jenn had recommended to go and see a lacrosse game. We didn't really know anything about the sport but thought what the heck we'll give it a look. Rick came to stay for the weekend he was irate as he arrived. The bus driver had told Rick off for tearing his return ticket off from his first leg ticket. He was clearly a power tripper. He then told Rick he wanted him to empty all his ba http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Calgary/blog-396318.html Needless to say heads were sore after our big night out in Banff Ricks decidely so. Scott pushed through it and went out for a second day on the slopes. Tina Nic Rick and I decided to go and have a look at Lake Louise. I'd seen it in the summer months so wanted to see the transformation they usually have ice sculptures on it and all. As we drove out though the worst snow storm I have ever see http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Banff-National-Park/Johnston-Canyon/blog-397384.html Going to canada and not skiing would be blasphemy so one weekend we packed our gears into the car and took off with Tina and Scott to Banff. They booked into a flash hotel while Nic and I stayed at Ricks. We all went out for a meal I got served chicken which was red raw Scott who used to be a chef said I shouldn't eat it so I asked for them to get me something new. They said it was cooked but w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Lake-Louise/blog-396317.html During the winter months we made a few trips away and went to a few shindigs. One was a meal and drinks ... loads of drinks at Niamh and Paul's. They were a hard case Irish couple that Nic had met through her work. Instead of potatoes and Guinness which you'd expect from an Irish couple it was a spicy curry and flaming sambuca shots. Any other memories of the night escape me for some strange rea http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Banff/blog-396314.html I was dreading going from a New Zealand summer to the heart of a Canadian winter. Especially because Christchurch had been having great weather even reaching over 40 degrees celsius on an occasion something usually unheard of in NZ. As I disembaked from the plane in Calgary I saw a couple of guys in full black balaclavas and all and thought 'oh shit terroists'. Turns out that they were just ai http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Calgary/blog-396316.html Instead of flying back just for the wedding I decided to stay on for Christmas and New Years and a bit of summer. Calgary winter could wait. The summer was spent relaxing I had intended to do some work but that fell through. Real shame that. So it was days at the beach playing tennis with my brother Todd golf with the family watching loads of cricket on tv and many other strenuous and stressfu http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-388850.html My friend Callum 'pyromaniac' Patterson whom I went to uni with was to wed his long time girlfriend Virginia 'too nice for Callum' Latimer in December. I decided rather last minute that seeing I didn't have a full time job I should go and see them tie the knot back in NZ. Thus an elaborate scheme was plotted with my mate Brendon 'Bdoggry' Henshaw to arrive at the wedding unannounced. Brendon said http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-388849.html We had many miles to cover in a day so started early and got the games cranking early. Nicola's American states jigsaw puzzle came in handy we quizzed each other on categories like all the east coast states all the states that start with m all the states that start with vowels. My american geography improved dramatically over those few hours.Andre got peeved with the ridiculous pre pay pumps at http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Glacier-National-Park/blog-388840.html Yellowstone warranted a second day so we headed down to the park early. We first checked out the thermal springs it smelt like Rotorua if you are a kiwi. The colours were impressive with an array of orange pinks and greens. Its hard to see how trees can grow in these conditions. I got duped into believing the others had seen a frog in one of the hot springs. I'll get them back one day maybe at http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Bozeman/blog-388837.html Today we had found out was thanksgiving in America Canada celebrates on a different day earlier in the year. We realised that none of us really knew what thanksgiving was. I have just googled it and apparently Thanksgiving Day is ... a harvest festival. Traditionally it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general.As we checked out of the hotel we walked passed the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/Gardiner/blog-388835.html We were surprised to open the curtains in the morning and see thick snowfall which had obviously been happening for a while. The deers looked freezing as the snow coated their backs. I guess they are used to it. I don't think I could ever acclimiatise I 'm a hot weather fanatic. Thankfully soon after setting off the snow eased off and eventually stopped. We got overexcited when we thought we saw http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Montana/blog-388833.html Before heading off on a roadtrip Andre had to go into town and sate his unquenchable thirst for shopping. Every time he plays golf he thinks he should buy a new set of clubs rather than hiring. He'd have a garage full if he was allowed. I think he may have been born with one too many x chromosomes.Once Andre had bought a 500 jacket and we had gone for a tour of Calgary downtown it was time to ge http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/blog-393852.html Former London flatties Lisa and Andre decided that on their way home to NZ from the UK they would stop in Canada and spend a few weeks with us. They arrived bearing good news that they were engaged. The big rig popping the question in Holland in a town bearing his last name Van Sintmaartensdyk. I think I spelt that right. Lisa you better start practising now.Before I tell you about their trip I http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Calgary/blog-393828.html