Last post

Ok this is likely to be my last post as my travels are coming to an end. Lase week I was in Quebec city, it was very pretty, i really liked old Quebec. It's nice as all the leaves are starting to change colour.

After Quebec I caught the over night train out to Nova Scotia and I am now in Halifax. Its nice out here and the farthest I have been away from home this travel I think. It's nice out here, I have only been here for a day and I did a tour of the Citadel (Fort George) and walked along the peir. On Wednesday I will be starting my tour that goes around Nova Scotia and sees all the pretty sights such as the Cabolt trail at Cape Breton and The bay of Fundy which is that place on the Earth that has the largest change in tides, so I am very excited about that.

After the tour I will be flying back to Vancouver where I will be there for three days, then i will fly back home. I leave Vancouver at 11:55 on the 18th October, which means i get into sydney about 9am on the 20th and will fly directly to Coffs Harbour from there.

At this stage I will be in Coffs for about a week as it's dad's 50th, then i will head down to Newcastle sometime after that, will give you all the details when i am home.


Also to all those reading this, i no longer have a mobile number, so if you try to message or call me when i get back, i wont get it. i will have to buy a new phone when i get back, so ill give you all the number when i have one ok.

see you all soon

Karyn

since my return to Canada I have seen Niagara falls, thn I went up to their largest city Toronto. To be honest there isnt alot to do in Toronto, and it rained for the first 2 days that i was there, so i went shopping, not the best idea as i have no suitcase space left, and i walked around and saw the city. went onto the Toronto islands.

Then i went to Canadas capital, Ottawa. Its a pretty city with lots of pretty buildings and the parliament which is really pretty. I spent a few days here and really enjoyed it. I met a boy who was from Coffs harbour and had plyed football against David. Met a lot of really lovely people in Ottawa.

Now i am in Montréal. its really pretty here, i have seen the old part of town and been to the biodome (indoor animal park) and botanic gardens. its nice here and the weather has been fantastic. next i am going up to Québec city which i am excited about.

finallly some pictures for you all, this is all i could get so far

Yosemite national park, 5th aug



















Golden Gate Bridge




















A street in San Francisco

USA and back to Canada

Ok, so I went on a tour around 6 states in the USA. I saw Mt Rushmore, crazy horse (not yet finished), the devil's tower, Yellowstone National Park (which i loved!!!), Grand Teton National Park, The arches national park and more!!

Then I flew to New York city where i spent 4 days and saw the statue of liberty, went up the empire state building, walked through centrel park and times square, went to Grenwich village, little italy, china town, walked across the Brooklyn bridge, went to the WTC site and spent 5 hours in the museum of natural history, so it was a very busy 4 days, and i was so exhausted afterwards!

I am now finally back in Canada visiting Niagara falls, it's so beautiful here. I went on the maid on the mist and got drenched by the falls, then took a walk behind the falls yesterday, and today i walked along and saw some of the worlds roughest rapids, went to the butterfly house where there are over 2000 pretty little butterflies. some landed on me and gave me a bit of a fright, haha yes i got scared by a butterfly. I did a tour of the hydro electricity plant which was pretty cool, and walked along the falls. So I have been a very busy girl, and i am so tired, but its so much fun!!

USA

Victoria
After Vancouver I went to Victoria on Vancouver island for 3 days. It was a really pretty place, nice to walk around the island and see the beach, pitty was that it rained while I was there.

Seattle
I took a ferry from Victoria down to Seattle where I stayed at a place called Vashon island, away from downtown for a few days. It was a very pretty little place. the hostel there was a few barns and teepees. Luckily I was in one of the barns as it rained at night and all the teepees got flooded. It was an awesom place to stay, so laid back and on the property was a forest that i walked through as well as exploring the island.

San Francisco
I was in San Fran for 5 days. It was pretty, although the city was in a fog so in the middle of summer it was very cold, it felt like winter. I walked aroung the bay area, saw Alcatraz island and the golden gate bridge.

I did a day tour out to eastern California to the Yosamite national park, which was just beautiful. i will try to get some pics up if i can, but i cant promise anything.

For my birthday i did another tour where we went to the Muir woods, where the tallest trees in the world are, and then we did a wine tour in the Sonome valley just north of San Francisco. I was great, strange that you can drive 1/2 out of the city and go from what felt like winter, to summer. Got some great views of the golden gate bridge.

Los Angeles
I stayed in a hostel in Hollywood, which was ok, but I discovered that i am allergic to bed bugs :(. appart from that i really liked LA. Hollywood is a very happy place, all the tourists are all in a good mood, so it was really nice. I did that walk of fame and saw that stars of all the actors, and saw the hollywood sign.

My favourite part of La was Santa monica, It was great to go to the beach and just relax. I also walked up to Venice beach where all the markets are. I spent a day at malibu beach which was also very pretty, and not as busy as the other beaches.

My last day in LA i went up to the Grifith observitory and saw all the space stuff, that was really cool.

San Diego
If i had to live in the USA I would want to live in San Diego, i really liked it here. Lots of pretty buildings. I went to the zoo, and man is it a zoo. Its huge! it took me almost 6 hours to walk around the whole thing, and im still not sure if i saw all of it. I did a cruiz of the bay and saw all the air craft carriers and navy ships that currently arent in use.

I spent 2 days at the beach. first I went to ocean beach, which was ok, then to Mission beach, which was beautiful. they have a beach on one side and a water network on the other, it was great, i loved the mission area, there was even a roller coaster.

Las Vegas
Mmm, going to vegas was like stepping into an oven, the ave temp was about 41 in the day and 30 at night, if you were lucky, it was a dry heat like i have never felt before.

The hotels here are amazing, i know why they are rated by diamonds rather then stars. they are well worth seeing. The casinos are huge too.

while in Vegas i went and saw the phantom of the opera which was just fantastic.

i also did a tour of the grand canyon where i was picked up, then we got into a mini plane and flew for an hour over hoover dam and lake mead, and half the greand canyon, then we had a 2 hour bus trip around the south rim, then we flew back over a different part of the canyon for an hour. it was one of the best things that i have ever done!!

Denver
I am now in Denver. I didnt know that Obama was going to be here until i got here, so i cant do much as the city is full of protestors and the bus network isnt too good this weeks, and not many tours are running. I did manage to do a tour of the colorado rocky mountains yesterday however. it was beautiful, the mountains here are so different to those in canada. As part of the tour i went into a real gold mine where i saw gold in the rock, and i even tried panning for gold, but didnt find any :(.

well thats you all up to date. ill try to get pics up if i can. i am going on a yellowstone national park tour for a week starting tomorrow, so ill let you all know how that goes.

Karyn

My week in Vancouver

I arrived in Vancouver on sunday 20th July, Bronwen Hill met me at the bus station and we went back to her place.

On Monday I walked around Stanly Park, which is right near downtown Vancouver, it took me a few hours to walk around the island, was really pretty. Here is a view of downtown from the park.

On the island I came across a little squrrel who was hungry and eating berries. He came and stoon on my foot and tried to eat my shoe. Then I looked up and saw a family of racoons coming toward me, this was my first racoon experience, was pretty exciting.

Here is a swan at the lost lake bird sanctuary on the Stanley park island.

This is English bay, one of Vancouver's beaches (with no waves). On the left side is a rock thing, which was put there as the symbol for the 2010 winter olympics which will be held at Vancouver and Whistler.

Bron took me up the tour in the centre of town, which gives a view of all of Vancouver, it was really pretty.

On Wednesday Bron had the day off, so we caught a skytrain, ferry and bus to get to the other part of Vancouver where we went to Capilano where they have a really long suspension bridge, as well as a tree top walk.

Then she took me up the top of Grouse mountain, where usually there is a beautiful view of the city, but it was in a cloud today, so we couldn't see very far at all. Saw a grizzly bear up the top.

In the afternoon me, Farah and Bron went and caught a Baseball game. Was ok, they had Sad Diego chicken entertaining the crowd all night, so it was fun. Then we jumped into Farah's car and drove into town, ran onto a bridge to see the first part of the celebration of lights. It was Canada's night. Pretty lights!!

Bron also had Thursday off, so we booked a tour through her company to go up to Whistler. It was really cool up therem the village was designed so that you can walk everywhere, there are no cars in the main part of the town. We caught a bus out to the lost lake. You can see the lake in the pic here, with the ski mountain in the background.

After a few hours at the lake, we went to Earls for a few cocktails, here is me and Bron with our drinks.

On Friday I went to the Quees Elizabeth Park where they have lots of pretty plants flowes and Birds (see pics above).

On Saturday I went to the Choneese garden downtown. It was cool to have a pieceful park in the centre of town. Then a few of us met at English bay downtown to watch the USA part of the celebration of lights. It was soo awesome, they made pretty pink hear fireworks.

Here is me today. I went to the University of British Columbia as they have the museum of Anthropology, a beach and Botanic garden. You can probably notice in this pic that my hair is short and I now have a fringe, I cut it all off the other day, I like it.


Now that I have seen Vancouver it is time to move on, next stop Victoria, which is on Vancouver island.

The last few weeks

Here is me at Medicine lake just outside of Jasper.

This is Maligne lake, also just outside of Jasper. 3 weeks ago I did a tour around the beautiful Jasper, which is in the rockeys about 300km north of Banff.

The beautiful Peyto lake, on the highway between Jasper and Banff, said to be one of the most beautiful laked.

This is the columbie icefield. We got a bus onto the icefield and were able to walk on the glacier, which was pretty awesome.

Here is my friend Mr squirrel who I met at Lake Louise, isn't he a cutie!!!

After my trip through the rockeys I went to a place called Kelowna for a while. It is kinda half way between Banff and Vancouver. It was a pretty city about the size of Coffs Harbour on a lake, so its kinda an inland beachy town, so i liked it there! This pic is one of the many vinyards that are in Kelowna, they have some nice wine there :)

Ok once again it has been a while since i have posted on here. time goes by without realising. so i quit my job a few weeks ago and left Banff. JD and I went for a road trip. First stop was a place called Drumheller in the Badlands. This is where lots of dinasaur bones were found, and is home to one of the biggest dinasaur museaums in the world. So we spent a day walking around the really cool landscape, and looking through the museum. This place was pretty amasing, on the way in and out it was like real life Mario cart, the road was in the bottom of the valley with the walls on both sides, it was cool!!

The next stop was at Edmonton. Here is the biggest mall in the world. This place was insane, inside the mall there was an ice-scating ring, mini put put golf, a water park and a theme park, with so many roller coasters, plus a heap of shops. We spent a day in the mall shopping and then in the water park, and we spent a day at the Alberta museum which was pretty cool, it had lots of stuffed Canadian animals on display.

Here is a pic of the waterpark in the mall for you

After Edmonton I went to Jasper for a few days. I can feeling a little enthusiastic while I was there and wanted to go for a hike somewhere, and th eonly hike near the hostel was up to the top of a mountain where the tramway was, so without thinking I started the hike. Now this nearly killed me, they didn't tell me it was so steep. It took me a long time to do the last bit of the trail as it was really steep, steep like Bolwarra Rd steep, for those who live in Coffs, and it went on for about a kilometer of super steepness. Aaahh I can't believe i got to the top. But here is the view from the top, it was really pretty (but I won't be wanting to do a hike like that ever again).

While in Jasper I also did the discover Jasper tour which was really pretty. The I did a tour along the icefields parkway and back to Banff. Ill post pics for you later as time is almost up.

I am in a place called Kelowna. I have to get off the computer now so I will try to finish the rest of this blog in the next few days. I will put up some more pictures for you all as well.

Karyn

Wow time goes by so fast sometimes. I have had a great couple of weeks, thats for sure. I have been so busy with work, friends, going out and getting out and seeing the places surrounding Banff.

Here is a picture of the street i now live in. You can't quite see my house in this picture because its behind the trees, i wanted to get the mountain in the pic so you can see where I live. my house is on the left behind some of those trees, its pretty awesome.









After my trip on the ATV, me and a guy I met from Quebec JD went for a hike along the hoodoo trail, which was really pretty. Here is me at one of the look outs on the trail.








On sunday night we all went out to Auroras for the 25cent beer night, which ended quite messy. Was a good night. The weirdest thing happened to me while I was there. There was a blond girl there who kept looking at me, and me at her because she looked so familiar. Turns out it was Rachelle Burley, a girl that I went to high school with back in Coffs, and who I haven't seen in years. Was really cool to run into someone I know on the other side of the world!

Here is a pic of Melissa, Tom me and Barbie at Auroras.

Then on the monday after that I did the discover Banff tour as locals get it for just $8, and I am a local as I have a job here :) so that was pretty cool. unfortunatly I was feeling like someone was hitting me in the head with a brick, but it was a nice day out. Was good, i went back to Lake Minnewanka, and it wasn't frozen this time, it was so pretty.


Here is me at Lake Minnewanka



On Wednesday I did a hike up around Lake Louise. It was really pretty, but I was quite sick for about 2 weeks because I was doing too much and not sleeping enough, so the hike was a little more difficult for me then usual, but I still enjoyed it.

Here is a pic of Lake Louise looking down from where we hiked up to, the top of the Bee-hive.







On the Thursday I did a tour called Discover Bears. It was a great day, we took a bus to Golden and went up the goldola at kicking horse, where we met grizzly bear Boo (left) a bear whose mother was illigally shot when he was a cub, and so he was taken in and cared for. Then on the way back from Golden we saw a black bear and her two cubs on the side of the road, but they ran too fast for any of us to get pics, they were so cute. Then we went up the goldola at Lake Louise and saw a grizzly and a black bear walking on the ski fields. So it was a great day seeing 6 bears!!


Here is me posing infront of Lake Louise. The lake is a pretty aqua colour which comes about because the water is from glacial melt. The colour is from what is called rock flour, as the glaciers melt parts of rock are dissolved in the water, which then flowes into the river, causing light to reflect and give us these amazing colours. Its really pretty, and as you get higher, the colour of the water appears more and more aqua.

Below are pictures of a heard of big horned sheep, and, male elk.





















Went up to the HI the other night for karaoke night. I wasn't planning on getting up to sing, but it ended up that I was one of the ones who got up the most.

Here is Brandi. me and JD singing enter sandman, me and JD also did an awesome version of Smells like teen spirit hahaha. Was a good night. going to work the next day was interesting as i started at 5:30 and was still drunk when I got to work.


On monday Brandi had a friend come and visit, and he had hired a car, so we went for a drive to Canmore, then Lake Louise again, then Moraine lake. To the left is Brandi, Cameron and me infront of lake Louise.










I climbed up ontop of a huge pile of rocks to take this pic. It's really pretty, but I am now wishing that I didn't wear thongs, as i sprained one foot, and cut a toe open on my other foot, but hey, i got the pretty picture.









Last night JD and I went to the movies to see Get smart, it was really funny, I have to say that it is worth seeing for those who wanted to know. So thats me pretty much up to date. Im leaving Banff to go see more of Canada in a few days, so ill keep you up to date with where I am.

Karyn

my thursday

Today was such a good day so i thought i should post another blog. in the morning i got up early and got picked up and driven out to a place near Golden in BC (British Columbia). i went for an all terrain vehicle (ATV aka quad bike) tour through the rockey mountains. it was so amasing. i had so much fun, i was the only female driver on the trip and went right up the front, i loved every minute of it. it was crazy, it has been raining here alot lately, but was sunny today so we got to go through all the mud and got so dirty. we went through a creek, up and down hills, over roots on Awesome really rough terrain and up to a few really pretty viewpoints. Above is a picture of the waterfall we went and saw, it was a muddy but exciting trail to get there. to the left is a picture of me on the ATV at one of the view points, it was so amasing up there. I like this pic cuz the girls said it makes me look badass haha. Was a great adventure, the whole time i was driving i was thinking about how much Tim (brother) would love to be doing this, it's so his thing.






Here is me with Brandy and Melissa, Mel was my room mate for a month when we lived at 426 Cougar, and Brandy is my current room mate at 172 marmot, they are both awesome girls so i had to include them on my blog.








Today anyone who works in Banff got free passes to go up the goldola to the top of sulphur mountain, so a group of us took advantage of the freebees and went up. It was a nice day, good views, so here is a nice picture of me infront of Banff up the top of the mountain.

P.s, if you enlarge this pic you may be able to see what i got done on sunday :) this is one of the first pics with my new look.

So this was my thursday, and i must say that i am totally exhausted and ready for beddies.






Oooh and before i go, here is a picture of my new best friend haha. isn't he cute. he came and sat in my hand, i so want to take him home with me, but they wont let me. he's a chipmunk, i want one.








Night all, luv Kayn

Ok, it has been longer then i thought since i have been online, i guess i have been too busy to update my blog. sorry i will try to do it more often.

anyways, i have been doing so much since the last update. i have been working a fair bit in the restaurant, as well as doing hikes and all kinda of things.

My friend Bron who i have known since i was about 4 i think was in Banff a few weeks ago, so we went over to the Johnston Canyon. Here is a picture of the catwalk which is bolted into the side of the rock of the canyon, this was really cool. Underneath this is a pic of me and Bron at the canyon.



















I also went for a tour around, i went to Castle mountain, Moraine lake and Lake Louise. it was really pretty, as you can see in the pics below, the lakes were still icy on top, but it was worth the trip.




Castle mountain













Morane Curve



















Moraine Lake















Lake Louise











I went to what is known as the cave and Basin, which is a series of natural hot springs, one of which is inside a cave. It was pretty, but very smelly. the caves have a large amount of sulphur in them, so the smell is very strong, so i did not stay therte for very long. This place is quite unique as it is home to an endangered species of snail that only lives in the 5 springs in Banff. The snail is so unique as it survives in this warm water that has a higher amount of sulphur, and not as much oxygen as other water, which i thought was pretty cool.









Ok in the last week and a half i have been white water rafting three times, i think that i am addicted haha. I went for the first time on the 29th of May to a place in the Kananaskas known as the horseshoe canyon, which is the intermediate rapid. it was so much fun, i had such a good time, until the end. the water in the Bow river that we were rafting on was 5 degrees, it was a glacial melt and so had been ice just a few hours before. The people in my raft for some reason thought that it would be a good idea to flip the raft on purpose on the last rapid. now come on what a silly idea that was, although i am proud to say i was the only one apposed to the idea, and the only one who actually followed instructions when in the water, other then the other stupid people who all paniced and had to get rescued.

other then swimming in a freezing river, i loved rafting so much that i went and did the hardest rapid a week later. the kicking horse. it was one of the best things that i have ever done, i loved it so much. we had alot of class 4 rapids all in a row, getting my body thrown around like that was graet, i cant wait to go and do more rivers.

then last night there was a free rafting trip for all staff in Banff that deal with the public, so we had over 80 people in their 20's on the river in 8 rafts, it was such a great night. the river was higher thit time so the rapids were better. i had a blast, but i am paying for it today as im sick, but you get that.

We had a few sunny days over a week ago, so i went for a hike up tunnel mountain again. To the side is a picture looking in the valley behind Banff.
Below is a picture of banff from the top of Tunnel mountain.























Here is a pretty pic of the Fairmont Banff springs hotel, thought i would throw it in because its really pretty. This is where my aunt and uncle stayed when they were here in Banff the other day, it is also where alot of famous people have stayed, that chick Kim Cattrell i think, from sex in the city is there at the moment i read in the papers.






Last week me and a few of the guys went for a hike up to the Sundance Canyon. it took over 4 1/2 hours to do the hike, and my feet were so sore, but it was really worth it.


I also moved house a week ago. i now live in an appartment with 6 other people. my roommate is girl named Brandy, who i have known for ages, she is really great. the others are sweet too, most of them are Phillipino and they are great, i am so happy here!!









Anyways ill try to keep you all up to date.

Karyn