And now the end is here ......

Well this is my last post this website will not be updated any more.

I've been home for 2 weeks now but it feels longer. I didn't think I'd settle in so quickly but I did.

The flight home was horrendous I was so nervous - worse than the flight to Singapore - We flew over Greenland and Rekyavek and I got some photos, we flew over Scotland and Glasgow (but it was covered in cloud so indistinguishable) and then onto London. As we got nearer to Scotland my nerves took over and I couldn't stop the shakes. But land we did in London and then I made my way to meet my friend Irene in another part near her work. She is living in Essex so it was nice being on the outskirts of London. I had a really nice time as Iain was down from Glasgow as well visiting - I did find one problem though. It sounded as though Iain's voice had changed from the last time I had spoken to him; I couldn't understand this as he said it had not. In the early morning Irene's aunt (whose house it was I stayed in) very kindly ran me to the station to get my train at 6.30am, this was so I could catch the bus at 8am to Glasgow.

I had breakfast around 6am and did not eat again till about 7pm as the bus was express from Manchester to Glasgow. We were not told this when the bus started so the (approx) 5 of us left on the bus after changing drivers and passengers in Manchester did not get any lunch or stops for the whole day. But for £14.50 it wasn't bad for a trip home. I had told my Dad I'd phone from Gretna or Southwaite, as the bus when I left 10 months ago had stopped at one of them, and let tham know what time I'd be arriving in Glasgow but without a phone and no stops there was no way of letting him know. Therefore when I arrived in Glasgow I walked down Buchanan Street and took a local bus home with my pack on my back (I had always wanted to do that and here was the perfect opportunity). When I got off the bus in Glasgow and heard the accents of the people around me - the glaswegians - I have to say that I do agree with the foreigners - the Glaswegian accent is really cute!!!! My friend Iain had not changed his accent only that I was so unused to hearing it and it is so nice.

My sis got a shock when, after expecting a phone call to determine what time I'd be home she say me walking down the garden path it was a good surprise! My parents, being out when I arrived, opened the front door to find me standing in the hall - it was good giving them a shock. It is good to be home.

I made it in time for my sister's 21st which was my main reason for being home on the date I was - it was really nice spending just a few days with her (and some of her stories) before she headed south for a few months work - but at least we're both in Britian for a change at the same time so meeting up is possible. It's really strange living with my parents again as well as I still ask for things I would normally in a hostel have myself and just take - slipping into home habits is far too easy. I've been home 2 weeks and I've already done a wee bit work in an office - and been bored out my skull! But I'm looking for a job and hopefully in a number of weeks time I'll be a British employee and settling down for a few years work here before deciding if I want to stay.

10 months is not a long time, I spent more money than I had originally intended (mainly because the weather was so bad in NZ), I met up with a few new family members, I made loads of friends and had a fantastic time. Words may fill these pages but the sentiments they remind me of do not compare. Words really cannot describe how good last year was. I only wish every one else gets a chance in life to do the thing(s) they've always wanted to do - to push to their limit and beyond!!!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed my stories and had a good read cos I'll never forget what a fantastic year 2004/2005 was. Byyeeeeee! My love to you all!

Final days

Well with only a few hours left till I get my flight back to the UK I'm beginning to wonder what I've done over the past few months. I still feel as though I left my parents at Buchanan St Bus Station only a few days ago - but it wasn't. My first night in London and the flight out I still remember. Singapore, Sydney, New Zealand, Fiji, America and Canada are all still so fresh in my head you'd think I was playing a tape recording through them all trying to bore my head off! I can't believe it in less than 24 hours I'll be British in Britain and arguing to exchange my Scottish leftover notes as real money with the English. I'm still trying to find my way through Vancouver and still trying to get used to Canadian money but no more. September the 6th 2004 I left Glasgow I return on the 18th of June 2005.

Being back in Vancouver city has been quite good. Getting to know my cousins a bit more and being back in family situations is very funny and weird - I'm still not too used to it. I've gotten a lot of my accent back but it reamains to be seen whether I can understand the Scottish (or even more worryingly the Glaswegian) accent as I return to the country. Talking with my cousins who have accents I sometimes don't understand to horrifying consequences can be hilarious especially as I did manage to affect an American accent on some words, have no idea how to pronounce others and sometimes can not be understood by them. Very funny! Overall though it has been great meeting them at last and getting to know them.

So now all that remains to be said is goodbye to the outside world and (ssshhhhh) hello to the British. Lets hope customs let me back ;-)

Vancouver Island

Well for seeing this wonderful part of British Columbia I decided to hire a car. So I hired a car, and accomodation, for a few days to travel the main route of the south of the island.

I travelled over from Vancouver on Thursday (I think - I'm having a hard enough bother remembering this is tuesday) and rented the car the next again day. The hostel I stayed in in Victoria has just been bought over with new managment etc and is getting refurbished so it was in a bit of a state but what fun being woken at 6 or 7 in the morn to banging and sawing - it was like being back at home with my dad just before showtime, shame there was no grasscutting or I'd never had left the place till it was time to go home. :-) I got used to driving on the right hand side a lot easier than I expected - it really was a skoosh. I even graduated to map reading, tape changing, eating and drinking while driving - even searching for items while doing top speed, it was fun! I drove over 300km to my end route, stopping occasionally for rests, which was Tofino and spent the night outside the little town in a campsite - which cost me $30 + tax for a space, an absolute rip-off but there was nowhere cheaper and I didn't want to be bothered by bears in the night as grizzlies have already killed and eaten one woman further north in the Interior since I've been in Canada! There was no hot water unless you paid for it so I had a cold shower in the morn - not good for the digestive system as I'd had my brekkie about 10mins beforehand. The next day I travelled half of the route back and stayed just outside of Nanaimo in a campground called Jinglepot (I really like the name). It was cheaper at $16 but I still had to pay for hot water and I did that day. As soon as I'd arrived at the campground it poured and I did no mare that night than sit in the car and hide. Then as it was sunday I went to church in the next town of Ladysmith where I was going to meet a friend of the family. I did this and got such a shock and being given a massive hug and lunch and dinner and a tour and a bed offered to me for the night which I really did have to decline as I had to get the car back the next day - reasonably early and I didn't want to drive too much then. However after having been spoilt by this wonderful person - Joyce Barnes and her husband - I had a very bothersome ride back as the food had been very rich and made me sleepy for driving. I had been eating ham and soy cheese sandwiches since I arrived on the island so the excess food was wonderful! I drove back to Victoria and this time went back to the hostel I had been in before as it was cheaper than a campground and I got free hot water and a bed.
Yesterday I went shopping after returning the car - with only a few days left till I fly back to the UK and the end of my trip I thought it was maybe time to get some clothes that wouldn't be stained and smelt fresh and looked OK.
So now I'm heading back to vancouver to stay with my cousins for a few nights before returning home.
Sorry guys but I can't wait - my own bed, proper food cooked by some other than me all the time and knowing people not having to introduce myself every few nights will be very unusual and different.

Vancouver

Vancouver is really big. I thought when I was landing that it was a city with lovely little gardens and sweet little roads and roundabouts - I was wrong! That was just the sun!!!

The first couple of days I was there the sun shone like gold and only a few clouds covered the mountains. Then the rain started! I left the hostel after about a week and moved in with my cousins sleeping on the couch. The house they rent went from having one person in it to having 4 paying and one weirdo on the couch! There was also a friend sleeping outside in his van!

Patrick showed me some of the sites of Vancouver when he took time away from work. It was really nice some of it I would never have been able to find or even know about. I also spent some time with Dominic being taken round his favourite shops!!! It was really funny seeing them together - they fight as much as my sis and I do. It was really like being back with family. :-) Very strange for me after all this time. I did learn a bit more about my cousins. They are very funny guys.

Today I went to Vancouver Island and tomorrow will try to find some way to see a bit more of this island which happens to be bigger than the UK together. I do have a few options which is really good.

Short post as I'm stealing internet time again Oops!!

good and bad news

I'm in Canada and I'm not on such a great mood at the moment to write this up so it'll be a quickie so I can go away.
I've just read my e-mails and found out that my dog has died. I had kind of expected he might before I got home but as the time grew nearer I thought I would see him after I got home. Now he's out of pain and in fish, chicken and steak heaven - all he wanted to eat, not dog food! I can't believe it and am now wondering what it's like at home but as yet haven't phoned as the machine stopped giving out those type of phonecards but I got one today and when I leave here will phone though it be 2 in the morning.

Canada has been great so far and I've gotten to meet my cousins the last of them today. Now there is only one cousin I have never met but as she is in Grenada, West Indies I won't be seeing her for a wee while to come. I haven't done very much since I got to Vancouver mainly sleeping. Today I figured out why I was so tired - it's because I'm not really doing anything. Every other country I've been in I've joined in a sport or some adventure thing but not as yet in Canada so tomorrow I'm going to find an activity to do and get some energy. I left America in a bad mood. I spent 12 hours travelling by Greyhound to get to the airport - an interesting trip next to an ex navy guy who was very big. I also got to see Las Vegas as the trip to Los Angeles from Flagstaff meant I had to make a connection in Las Vegas. I had half an hour wandering around one of the casino streets, not the main one, and laughing at the activities as the town was in it's element at 11pm. Very interesting! but I still cannot see why people want to gamble all their money away on the daft machines but then I could never understand why people wanted to spend all their money in a bookies either.
In the airport it was horrible. I didn't say bomb though I must say when you see all of the ridiculous security rituals you really are tempted just for the hell of seeing it! I got frisked and my hand luggage bag searched. I'm so glad I put my security cage around my pack though as I'm quite sure they would have wanted to see inside if it hadn't been on. Nosy beggars!!! After all of their 'security' passes that are made to confuse the rat race they even have removed the post boxes from the airport, though they do leave bins there, in their own words - "since 911". Useless b******s! SO if you're looking for a postcard from America don't I'm bringing them in my luggage as I couldn't send them!
The flight up to Canada was good. i got pictures of Mount St. Helen's as we flew over it which was great. You could see all of the ash and deposits that were thrown out of the volcano when it's side collapsed last time there was an eruption. The flight was 2 and a half hours so no meal. We flew from 11am to 1.30pm and no meal. I didn't know so I had pretzels that they offered for lunch and I was too tired for dinner when I arrived as I'd been travelling for at least 36 hours without sleep. My breakfast had been left-overs from Flagstaff - not very yummy! I was really gald though in the morning to find that the hostel serves continental breakfast and you can go back for 2nds and 3rds etc. very good. Pastries and rolls and porridge and fruit (not for me) and lots more. So I get up at 8 for brekkie every morn then go back to bed and get up at 11 or 12. I got really lazy when I arrived here.
I met Patrick and Gabrielle (I think thats how it's spelt) on sunday. I had a BBQ in Canada. I was really surprised that Canada was so hot - well Vancouver is. It was a really nice way to meet them. Kieran I have met though briefly and I did not recognise him. I have a weird memory from years ago with him but I called him Dominic because I thought Dominic had dark hair - I was wrong. He has changed quite a bit since then. Dominic I met today. So I've seen the 3 of my cousins. Now all I have to do is memorise their names to their faces and I'll be fine and not get killed!

The Grand Canyon

Yesterday I took a trip to see the Grand Canyon.
The trip started about 1/2 hour late as they were fitting new brake pads to the van - quite a good idea! The trip there took about an hour and not through desert as I thought it would be. There were trees everywhere, some of it even managed to be called a thin forest. The canyon is enclosed in a reservation park so you have to pay to get entrance. The driver and also our guide through the park decided to give us the best view of the Canyon first. So once inside a building at the side of the canyon we had to close our eyes and follow each other out to get our first view of the Canyon. This we did (looking like total fools on the way :-D) and the view was great. It's really big and even more so as the day continued and we saw other parts of it and not quite what you expect. There is nothing I can say to make it seem any different from pictures you see of the Canyon but it is different.
The guide gave us a about 1/2 hour to explore a wee bit of the Canyon so I did part of the Angel trail which makes it's way down to the base of the Canyon. I did not get very far as time did not allow it and you need at least 2 full days to make that trip and back up. It was very nice though and it was a heavy walk.
Back meeting the group again - there were 10 of us - we were taken to another part of the Canyon and had lunch. Then we started to get off the main path and do a bit of climbing and scrambling down parts of the Canyon. This is not very safe as there is no exact path and you have to do a bit of jumping etc. to get down. With sides of sheer cliff falling a mile was not really what we wanted to do but the view from the very edge was just spectacular.
Then after lunch another ride to a different part of the park where we would be doing some hiking. The older people in the group did not come with us but took a shuttle bus going round the park a bit more. The next part trail we did was the Kaibab trail or as I like to call it (much to some's desperation as it voiced our wishes) the Kebab trial! It was a steep face down the canyon with a track. Horses (or mules) take some travellers and supplies to hostels that are stationed at the base of the canyon so you have to give way to them if the pass. It was really warm yesterday, all of Arizona is really hot and very, very dry. I found the climb down really easy and I was first to reach the end of the part of the trail that we followed. I'm not such a good climber and I knew I was not going to find the climb in any way easy. The view from the 'ooh aah' (yes I do think it was invented but then you never know and I didn't ask) point was spectacluar. If you climbed, or scrambled on some rocks, a bit further out to the very edge of the rocks you could get a 180 degree view of the canyon that gave even those not suffering from it, vertigo. If you turn your head too fast as well it does not fare well as there is no base below you except a mile down and with nothing on either side it is very difficult to get back to 'safety'. But the view made it very worth while. And yes I did feel like I wanted to fall - I don't think there is anyone who wouldn't feel like that on that rock!
Climbing back up was a hard climb, your throat literally dries out to the point you have no saliva. Others that we met on the way said that further down inside the canyon the temperature was reading 118 degrees (American always deal in Fahrenhiet). It is very hot and dry. The ground you are walking on is sand, white read and brown sand - different colour depending on the type of rock that is at that level - but mainly sand as it is so dry the rocks have disintegrated. I was not the first back up the trail but neither was I the last and it was easier than I had originally thought the climb was going to be.
After refilling water bottles and downing them again we headed back and picked up those that had taken the shuttle bus option. Then we went to another view and gorgeous spot. A quick rest there and more photographs taken, of course. Then on to another point called Desert View I think mainly called that because from here is the best view of the 'Painted desert' from the canyon. There was another option to go scrambling about again which we did. This was again beyond the railing that was put up and invloved a lot of climbing and jumping on knife edge precipices. But in leaving the crowds behind the view was amazing. The sun was beginning to set as well so there were canyons beginning to be thrown into shadow and covered in mystery. I can say honestly that the Grand Canyon is the most spectacular scenery I've seen in America - but - I do still love NZ scenery. The Grand Canyon seemingly is not the biggest Canyon in America nor is it the prettiest but it is the biggest and prettiest of them all. You do get biggier, uglyier canyons and smaller, prettier ones but the Grand Canyon is the best mix of the two combinations.
The trip finished about 8pm so the sun had set by then. It really had been a good day and I was quite tired with reason. Today when I woke up and had to climb down from the top bunk I knew I had been climbing yesterday and even more so when I had to sit on the floor to put my socks on. The floor was very far away and my legs were very, very stiff :-D
Today I'm heading back to LA. I will get there hopefully about 4.30 in the morning and then I'm going straight to the airport to catch my flight to Vancouver so this will be my last posting from America. Yippee!

A last look at San Francisco

When I wrote my last entry in the site I had no idea of the events that would befall me in the next few hours.

I decided that as I was bored in San Francisco and not heeding my 'wonderful' sister's advice(?) about going out while in America I would go to see another movie on my last night. There were no good shows on. On my way out I nearly took my camera to picture any of S.F.'s strange events that might take place in front of me but decided against it. I only got a few blocks away from the hostel when approaching a set of pedestrian traffic lights I spotted a strange scene. A boy with baseball cap holding onto a car through an open car window as it sat at the traffic lights. He was balanced on, what I later found out the name of, the runner board of a pick-up truck. I thought this was very strange and as the lights changed and I moved forward to cross the road the truck sped off. Crash, Bang was all I heard and I gasped as I turned round to see the truck speeding off without the boy on the side. The truck had after leaving the lights smashed the boy (about 18 I would reckon at most) into the side of a parked car on the other side of the road. I rushed over to see - half expecting to find a bloody mess of a skull or a dead body. There was no blood but the boy was not moving. I've done a First Aid course but not much of it came flooding back as I tried to calm my fears to be able to deal with the boy. I asked if he was all right, if he could hear me and at that he opened his eyes but did not move. At least, I thought, he's alive! Other people standing at other sides of the road then came forward to see the scene I asked someone to phone an ambulance and then noticed that the oncoming traffic from the next sequence of lights were too interested in seeing what was going on to realise they were almost about to run over the boy - so I took to directing traffic. I suppose luck was with me that it was a one way street or I could have caused real bother! Others then began the argument that I've seen a few times after an accident about the proper procedures of looking after someone especially if more than one of them suspects their training in First Aid has made them a wizz kid. No-one listened to me so I stuck to directing traffic and shouting at those wanting to cause a pile-up as the arguers didn't seem to notice the rest of the traffic. After about 5 or so mins the Fire Brigade turned up, then Fire Rescue, then police and then 2 more Fire Engines turned up. I suppose the fact that about 2 or 3 people had called this in an attendent was sent for each call made. There were at least 4 of us that had seen the incident though none of us got the license plate or what the driver looked like. At the time before none of that had seemed important as we did not know what was to come. In the end once the police started asking questions to people in particular I was left as the only one telling the story and it was my name that was taken as witness as everyone else had left the scene with their names intact.
I was asked if I might be able to identify the car, I thought I might have but after been taken in a squad car to see the supposed vehicle I could not have said honestly if it was. The pick-up truck that the police were considering certainly looked like the car that had been at the incident but there was no way I could have been positive. All in all the boy was taken to hospital, my name was taken and the police were left trying to figure out if the kid had been trying to hyjack the truck or what had happened. They were very nice and even offered to drop me at the cinema afterwards but I didn't want it for 2 reasons. 1:I didn't want to be seen in a squad car at the cinema, 2:I needed to clear my head. But I was totally shocked.
Leaving the cinema after seeing a comedy I was still in a bit of a shock and quite scared but I walked really quickly passed the scene and thankfully because I had a cold I was taking cough syrup so that knocked me out for sleeping. In the morning I was really busy as I was leaving for a 24 hour ride to Flagstaff (a good entrance place to see the Grand Canyon) and it took my brain a while to remember what had happened the night before. I think it's all over the police don't need any more information off of me thankfully so that is the end of my trip to San Francisco.