I stayed for a couple of nights in Adelaide. Impressions: Small city by day, quiet town by night. On the map, it looks like it might have been similar to Canberra, with a north and south section divided by a body of water (the River Torrens). Only a much more condensed version with less traffic circles. But Adelaide isn't trying to copy any other city. It's got its own charm that doesn't really compare with other cities that I've been to. What I liked about Adelaide is that it's very pedestrian friendly, full of old colonial style architecture, and it's really easy to get around to see all the sights in a day if you please. In fact, most of what a tourist might want to see is located all on the same street. How convienant! ... read more

So I must now share stories about the Great Ocean Road. This was something at the top of my "must-see" list for Australia...and I couldn't be more excited to see it. Man-made tourist attractions may be cool, but nothing compares with the beauty sculpted by Mother Nature. I booked a tour with Todd, who runs his own company called Ride Tours, which is a fantastic 2-day tour of the Great Ocean Road. What a wonderful tour it was. Todd was a great tour guide, and the views were great despite the strong winds and light rain that we had on the first day. We drove to the end of the GOR, and worked our way back along the coast, stopping at Tower Hill for lunch, an extinct volcano where we saw koalas, grey kangaroos and emus. ... read more

So after wandering around Sydney, and being lazy on a beach in Manly, I've decided that I really am not the biggest fan of Sydney. It's just too much! The beach at Manly was nice, but Sydney is noisy and busy, and reminds me a bit of NYC. Not very impressed. But I am a fan of the Blue Mountains and Evan and his wonderful Walkabout Tour. I decided to escape the hustle and bustle and noise and poshiness (is that even a word?) of Sydney and head to the Blue Mountains. I also decided I wanted to a book a tour that would take me off the beaten track, and it's always good to support the small local guys, right? It was worth every penny and then some. We did a challenging 8km hike up ... read more

So on Friday, December 1st, I wandered around downtown Denver. I actually went into the Art Museum, which turned out to be pretty cool. The architecture of the building is really neat, and the artwork inside was nicely laid out and arranged. And it was a nice blend of different art styles, with something for everyone. However, I was highly annoyed by people on cell phones. I was always under the assumption that museums are places to be quiet, as everyone wants to enjoy the art in their own way.... Saturday we drove up to Garden of the Gods. The plan was to do a tour of the Gardens, then head to the Pikes Peak Cog Rail to go up Pikes Peak. However, it was rather snowy. And visibility was, well, non-existant. So after waiting a ... read more

Just to say hello to everyone from Denver! I arrived in Denver last night after a layover in Atlanta (Boring airport, by the way! I think I walked up and down the terminal about 10 times out of shear boredom). The Denver airport is nice...very well laid out from what I could tell, and the architecture is pretty neat, with the centre looking like a tent city and blending in with the mountains (or so I was told since I couldn't see the mountains through the snow). And it was snowing when I arrived, and it's been snowing on/off all day. I ventured around downtown a bit, and my first impression is that the city is a lot like Calgary...a cowtown that's up and coming. The Denver Art Museum is pretty neat...I didn't have time to ... read more