Marine Life

Helloooo Saskatchewan!! The craziness is over and a new form of craziness begins soon (more on that later!). The end of my time with Haka Tours was phenominal and for those of you who are friends with me on Facebook you've probably already seen some of the pictures. What an adventure.

I have a hard time picking a favourite place in New Zealand, every place had it's own personality and something that made it special. As far as time spent near the ocean Kaikoura had to be my favourite for 2 reasons, the seals and the dolphins! I have seen these animals multiple times in my life, but never like this!

Kaikoura was our first stop on the south island of New Zealand and my God it did not disappoint. Hanging all around the coast near this town is a huge colony of fur seals! At first I didn't notice them as they blend in very well with the rocks, but once I knew what to look for they were everywhere! We got out to have a closer look and there must have been close to 100 just in that one small area. I thought this was super cool until about 10 minutes later I had my mind blown.

I don't remember any specifics about this place because Si, our tour guide, told us to not read any of the signs along the path as we walked up to the waterfall. I'm glad I refrained, the surprise at the end of the trail was worth it! In the pool at the base of the waterfall were 3 seal pups! The seal colony uses this sheltered place as a nursery for the young pups to learn how to socialize and swim! We were there at the end of the pupping season so we only saw the 3 but at times there can be hundreds of the little guys playing around in the pool. The best part was that they didn't even care that we were there, they kept swimming and playing the entire time. One did stop to take a quick look at us, but then he was right back to splashing around with his buddies. Our group even got the pleasure of watching one make the journey down the stream back to the ocean.

The next morning I was signed up to swim with the dolphins. I was extremely excited for this but I didn't want to get my hopes up too high as they are wild animals and who knows what they'll do on any given day. That day the stars aligned and my expectations were exceeded by a thousand times. Dolphin Encounter was great, they had people searching from land and the air to try and find a pod for us to swim with. It did take a decent amount of time to find them but there were enough big albatross around to occupy that time I barely noticed it. Then all of a sudden the crew is telling us to put on our gear as the pod was headed directly towards us, and straight into the water I went. BOOM! Dusky dolphins in every direction I can look! Luckily for us they were feeling playful that day and they stuck around our boat for so long, I was in the water for at least half an hour. They made me so dizzy, they loved to swim circles around you, your goal was to try and keep up! Then they would break off and another one would swim up from below your feet, right in front of your face. They got close enough that I probably could have touched one (the crew did ask that we not do this, wild animal, fear, yea it makes sense not to). It was such an awesome experience, I'd love to do it again. My friend, Dustin, had a GoPro on while we were doing this so if you want an idea of what it looked like in the water, have a look here.

Even once we got out of the water the show didn't stop with this pod. We were able to sit on the bow of the boat for close to 45 minutes taking pictures and videos. They did backflips, barrel rolls, slapped their tails on the surface, and jumped out of the water just because they could. If the boat started up, 4 or 5 of them would swarm to the front of the boat and ride in the wave. It was quite spectacular to see, although it was interesting to note that no one exactly knows why they do all these crazy aerials. To me it sort of looked like they were just having fun showing off what they could do.

I have some videos uploaded to Facebook, but if were not Facebook friends or you don't have it click here, here, and here!

Dolphins, ocean, and mountains. A girl couldn't ask for more.

Waterfall nursery

Oh hey guys!

 

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Under Appreciated No More Part 4

Possibly the last instalment in this series, although I'm sure there are things at home I've completely forgotten about that will rapidly get a big ole hug once I'm there.

#16 Local Knowledge: Although learning is part of the fun of travelling, having some specific knowledge is always handy. Knowing what areas of a town to avoid as a solo female is number one on that list. Luckily for me I had friends with me 99.9% of the time. I do like some alone time every now and then though, and even walking down the street after dinner could potentially be sketchy. Some of the supermarket practices in Bocas would have been nice to know right away (unplugged freezers overnight, raw meat, +40 C heat, you do the math). Knowing that tipping isn't expected in Australia was also a nice tid bit of information to learn, especially when food prices are ridiculous in the first place.

#17 Home Grown Feminine Products: Sorrys boys, I know how squeamish this subject makes most of you. As I was going to be gone for 5 months, it did not make sense to pack that much supply, it would take up too much space. I figured I'd just buy as I go. Now I don't know about other women, but I have a brand and style I like, in an emergency I'll use whatever, but if given the choice I'd use what I know. It's hard to explain without going into great detail. There were a few times in Bocas I had a tough time even locating them in the supermarket, I wasn't sure they'd even work, and Australia is just on a whole different level of products. It's weird I know but I think there are some women out there who would agree with me.

#18 Domestic Travel in Australia: Easy, headache free, awesome, and comfortable. My main source of transit in Australia was Greyhound and Qantas and I was fairly pleased with both services. My Greyhound pass was stupid easy. I bought a one-way pass from Cairns to Sydney that lasted 90 days, had as many stops as I wished, and the only rule was no backtracking. Great plus most hostels had a free shuttle pickup and dropoff which made carrying my bags super simple. I only had to share a seat once for half an hour. The coaches had leather seats, reclining seat backs, and if you were lucky free wifi (which worked better than some of the hostels I stayed at). Flying was also extremely simple. No need to show a passport and zero restrictions on your carryon luggage. Well not zero but I could take as much food, water, and liquids on board as I wanted. After flying internationally that made packing so painless.

#19 Movie Night In/Out: I have had a couple movie nights while abroad but not nearly as many as I would at home. For the most part you can't pick which movie you want to watch, and sometimes the DVD you really want to watch is so scratched up the player can't read it. Summer is the time for the big Hollywood blockbusters and I haven't seen a single one. If anyone has/wants to go see How to Train Your Dragon 2, Guardians of the Galaxy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or any other movie that was great this summer, please let me know as I will have tons of time on my hands once I'm home!

#20 Travelling Within Canada: I talked to so many Australians that had never travelled within their own country. People don't explore their own country, they go abroad first and then stick to their own towns or cities. I thought this was incredibly sad as I know so many people back home who have been all over our nation. I can't imagine not having been to the mountains, lakes, and cities with friends and family, it just seems like a no brainer. I know I still have many places in this big world to explore but sometimes finding new spots in your own backyard is the best.

 

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Stairway of Hell... to Heaven!

New Zealand, WOW! I've only really been here a short time and I've seen and done so many things. Everyday is a new and awesome adventure. My time in New Zealand will be quite different than in Australia as I'm being chauffeured around by Haka Tours. If you want a stress free vacation in New Zealand book on with these guys. You have a 'set' itinerary and can do any number of activities based on where you are in the country. It's phenominal as they arrange all of your transportation, accomodation, organize and book your activities, and recommend great places to eat. Groups are small, ours started at 6, will be the biggest at 11, and ends at 3. So much flexibility with what can be done in a day with groups this size.

Oh the things I've seen! Our first day of tour was raining, so we went to the craziest wine (more like liquor) tasting I will probably ever have. It was at the Purangi Winery and if you ever get the chance to go, DO IT! As this is an adventure tour I started off my thrill seeking by going blackwater rafting. It was more like floating through caves with a few jumps off waterfalls, but the whole purpose of the trip was to see the glow worms! Looked like stars in the sky, really neat to see.

New Zealand wouldn't have been a trip for me if I didnt go to a couple of The Lord of the Rings sites. First up, Hobbiton! Was exactly as you would expect it, tiny houses built into the side of the hill. It was interesting to see how they used props and differing house sizes to manipulate size and how much work it was to make everything seem true to life. The magic of movies is crazy. Finishing of the tour with a beer at the Green Dragon was a nice touch, no dancing on tables however.

So far my favourite and most hated adventure was the Tongariro Crossing. It was the hardest 21km I've ever hiked in my life. 2 of the 7 hours were terrible, the other 5 were definitely worth the pain. Two things made this hike very difficult. Because of the volatile weather that can come in at any moment in the mountains, each person had to be properly equipped for the hike. This included carrying food, water, hiking boots (I had to use theirs, they were a size and a half to big), crampons, ice axe, and extra clothing. The last 2 km my feet and knees were in so much pain from the big shoes and carrying all that extra weight, I couldn't wait to get back to the car park. Thank God they had beer waiting for us at the bottom! The true test was at the Devil's Staircase however. Stairs and upslopes for 1 hour to the summit. There was much cursing during this time but in the end it was completely worth it as a close up view of Mount Doom was waiting for us at the top of the stairs. The weather was absolutely perfect, barely a cloud in the sky, and the view from the mountain top was absolutely stunning.

The crazy thing is that was all in 4 days of my 24 day tour and it only gets better from here!

Bag End!

Mount Doom!

Just one of the many beautiful views on the crossing

 

 

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Wandering Feet

'The afternoon has surprises the morning never expected.'

I've alluded to this before with my city/ town walks but I never really explained why I like doing them so much. For one thing it's half decent exercise but the best part about my wanderings are all the awesome things I find. The quote above I got on one such wanderings while I was eating lunch at the Melbourne Royal Botanical Gardens. It came from an elderly gentleman who I chatted with and it seemed perfectly fitting for my entire time in Australia. I never knew where my feet were going to take me!

There always is a destination in mind, I get a general idea of where I'm going and then just walk. I get asked if I want a map, and I always say no. I did get lost a few times, but the ocean can make a great landmark. I knew if I ever got really good and lost I could always just go back to the water and find my way from there. It's amazing what you can find if you have the time to duck into any interesting looking shops, markets, and buildings. My favourite places were the stumble upon events and places I didn't know existed. The most notable things I've stumbled across are the Ukulele Festival, numerous street artists, farmers markets, and countless amounts of beautiful scenery. My spontaneous hang gliding with Tori was a result of one of these wanderings. A case of being in the right place at the right time. Going on tours is awesome, you get to see so many things and places that would have been difficult by yourself. That being said the free days I've had have been some of my best days in Australia.

Walks also served as a great energy release and time to think. After sitting on buses and planes for hours on end, a walk would do wonders for my mood and attention span. There's something infinitely calming about going for a walk by yourself. It's amazing how many topics can filter in and out of your head while doing this. You have time to think about things you should have done, should do, could do, and will do. I won't share most of these thoughts because then my wanderings will become a burden. These are my purest, uninfluenced thoughts and ideas, any form of criticism would ruin any form of epiphany I had. I also don't write most of them down so I forget about half of them anyways :P.

 

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2100kms for Rocks

Almost on a whim I decided to head to the Red Center to check out the Outback. I'm so glad I did! Although some of the people on tour were less than awesome, their lack of personality and awareness of others did not ruin my trip and I had a fantastic time. 1500kms in 3 days and go!

Uluru itself was quite amazing. One giant monolith, practically in the middle of nowhere, is quite cool to see. Stand next to it and you really appreciate how this is a natural wonder as it is massive! It is a sacred site for the Anangu people and you can still see the cave paintings they drew to help teach their children. The sunset and sunrise where so neat to watch as you could see every shadow and feature that the rock has. Such a unique place.

Kata-Tjuta was just a short drive down the road from Uluru but couldn't have looked more different. Instead of one big giant rock, there were numerous dome formations scattered around the area. During our 10km hike, it so neat to see where the earth moved thousands of years ago. The rock nerd in me was only getting started!

King's Canyon was by far the best spot on that trip. The first 300m or so was a doozy, they don't call it Heart Attack Hill for nothing, but what followed was definitely worth the effort. Around every corner there was something new and interesting to see. It was like walking around a geology textbook except on a much grander scale and way more interesting. I actually caught myself thinking that our Geo Eng field school should be there instead of Pincher Creek and Revelstoke. On a side note, since doing this trip I've gotten multiple messages from friends back home on field school. September creeped up on me real fast! Not to be forgotten is the absolutely stunning Garden of Eden, a refreshing change of scenery after seeing only red soil for 3 days. Barely a ripple crossed the water and it made for some absolutely stunning photographs.

The last 600kms consisted of a day trip from Melbourne out the Great Ocean Road to the 12 Apostles. After seeing my friend Karen's video of a helicopter ride over them, I decided to follow suit, and what a view! As the limestone cliffs are getting eaten away by the waves it is impossible to see all 9 formations from the ground. From the air you could see everything! Not only was it my first helicopter ride but it had a pretty spectacular view!

Sunrise at Uluru

Kata-Tjuta

The Garden of Eden

The 12 Apostles

 

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Packing 101

Leading up to this adventure of mine the most difficult decisions involved what to bring. Having oodles of friends who have backpacked before I got tons of advice before hand. However, just as every person on this Earth is unique, everyone has a different packing style. It's always intriguing to see what fellow travellers deem important enough to take up what precious space we have.

Luxury items are one things I don't understand why people pack. Mostly the female population is guilty of this as I'm talking about blow dryers, hair-straighteners, and make-up. Here these girls are, staying at some of the cheapest accomodation, eating the cheapest food, and yet they still feel the need to put on this facade of wealth and beauty. Why? I don't get it. I am a tad guilty of this as I have eye liner and mascara but those items are so small they take up minimal space in my bag. I've seen some large make-up bags and I just can't help but think how much space they take up. Plus almost every guy I've ever talked to prefers the natural look, why not give it a try?

On the same subject, I have seen so many fancy/club clothes. When I packed, it never even occured to me that I might need clothes for a night on the town. I have acquired some 'fancy' clothes, but I kid you not I have gone out wearing Lulu Lemon pants, a sports bra, and a bunnyhug and still had a phenominal time. I'm all for practicality, I'll wear those clothes everywhere, whereas a dress wouldn't do me much good while camping.

I've also seen travellers as minimalist as possible. I have met people who have sold everything they have except for what they can fit into their single backpack. I like to think that I could do that, but that little voice in my head says 'Pff who are you kidding'.

The worst are the 'just in case' items I have/bought. I burnt once while I was in Panama, went out and bought some aloe vera gel and haven't burnt since. I would get rid of it but, knowing my luck, I would burn again. This sort of applies to my First-Aid kit as well. It has come in handy more than once but I could have also just gone to the store and bought the things I needed. The endless debate of keep or ditch.

Personally, I know I have too much stuff. I somehow acquired 4 bags, something that got pointed out to me in Surfer's Paradise. Now, 1 of these bags is my food bag and if I didn't have that I would be golden. What these people didn't realize was that if I really wanted to I could have packed everything except my food into 1 bag. The only thing is that would take a series amount of Tetrising that I just don't want to do every 3 or 4 days. I'm of the mind that if I cannot carry all my belongings by myself, then I don't need it. Needless to say, I've gotten some pretty entertaining looks from shuttle drivers when I tell them I don't need a hand with my things.

It's also interesting to see how people pack. I've noticed the roll and stuff wherever there's space is quite common. I tried that in Bocas and the 2 weeks I did it drove me insane. That's probably due more to the fact that I'm an anally organized person and having things shoved haphazardly into my bag just didn't cut it for me. In come my Aunt and Uncle to the rescue with Packing Cubes they purchased in Miami. I'd been told by a friend that they are a game changer and that my friends is an understatement. There was a room full of people drooling over how clean and organized my bag looked in Townsville. Never again will I travel without these magic cubes, it's like having a dresser inside my backpack. The things that make backpackers happy :P.a

 

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Cities to Towns

As I've somewhat slowed down my sight seeing (it's gonna pick up again real quick), the blog topics in my head are filtering towards observations rather than events. My last 4 stops had just about the same MO; sunshine, beach, writing, reading, and the occasional night out.

Every new place I arrive in I always take some time to walk around and get a feel for the place. Even though they're fairly close together they each had a different vibe that they gave off.

Brisbane was the biggest city I'd been in for almost a month and a half and it definitely had a big city feel. It was the first time I had seen droves of people walking around the streets in suits and ties and I felt a bit out of place in my shorts and tank top. However, if you head across the river to South Bank, you're back at the beach. This is helped along by the public lagoon, art galleries, science centres, and street artists.

Next came Surfer's Paradise and this one was a bit of a mystery. Based on the name I expected to see a bit of a hippie town, what I got instead was a big city trying to masquerade as a town. There are high rises everywhere and even a train, somehow just doesn't fit the surfer stereotype. The dance clubs and the boutique shops also seemed quite out of place, albeit fun. I had one of my best nights while in Surfers. What looked to be a quiet night at the pub turned into 3 of us closing down 3 bars in the same outing. You have never seen adults more excited to hear Gangster's Paradise playing in th club. Awesome beats and awesome company can make any night spectacular.

Byron Bay was another mystery. It reminded me of Banff or Waskiseu at home, here was a hippie town mixed with a hit of chique. Minus the one bar, there really wasn't much of anything to do at night. Days could be spent doing one of multiple activities. I spent most of my time walking the beach and walking around the trails to the lighthouse. During these walks I was lucky enough see whales breaching, dolphins, and some pretty cool scenery. During one of said walks my friend, Tori, and I were approached to go hang gliding as they had some no shows and didn't want to have a wasted trip. Having talked about wanting to try that only hours earlier we jumped at the opportunity. After lots of nervouse laughter and lots of 'I can't believe we're doing this', we took the leap of faith and had a blast! I can't wait to see the video of our flight, old DVD players don't like new burnt dics.

Lovely Yamba. I wish I had more time to spend here. Yamba itself has a great small town vibe, something I think the other places I've been to in Australia are missing. While out on my walks, I had more people say 'Hi' to me than any where else, and the YHA feels more like a home than a hostel. Super small, tons of space, incredibly friendly and welcoming staff, throw in a dog named Charlie, and you might as well call it home. Most people come here to surf, the waves are quite large (and I saw them on a 'small' day) but if you ever get the chance you have to go on Shane's tour. Never had so much fun yet been so nervous/scared in my entire life. Just one more town on the ever growing list of I want to visit again.

Downtown Brisbane

Bird's Eye View Byron

Main Beach Yamba

 

 

 

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A Bit of Perspective

As I'm nearing my final 3 weeks in Australia, it's crunch time and I need to make some hard decisions, like where I'm going to go and where I'm going to stay. Now I am a frugal person, I will be the first to admit that. 9 out of 10 times I will go for the cheaper, easier option. I thought about ending my time in Australia that way until I got a bit of perspective.

It sort of began during my visit to the Australia Zoo. I loved watching the Crocodile Hunter growing up (some of my friends and family can attest to that), and it was always my goal to someday go to the Australia Zoo. Mission accomplished! I have to say it was so cool to walk around the crocodile enclosures and see places I recognized from the show. It was also really cool to recognize some of the crocs like Snappa and Agro. Not going to lie, I teared up a couple times walking around the tributes and museum. I was walking around the life's work of a man who so loved the animals of this country that he inspired a 13 year old girl from halfway around the globe to come and learn more. The Australia Zoo didn't feel like a zoo, I have never seen animals so active in their enclosures, or such large enclosures. Minus the fences, I felt like I was just taking a stroll through the wild. Such a great day.

A few days later, I got the news from home that a family friend was losing/has since lost a hard fought battle with cancer. Interesting how death and the reality of it can sway a persons decisions. Before all this I had planned some extra travel within Australia that wouldn't fit into my original east coast budget. I was getting all worked up at how much this would cost me, and then I had my bit of perspective. So I'll be coming home with a little less money than I wanted to, big flippin' deal. I can always go find a job and eventually make that money back. Why miss out on a golden opportunity to do something I've never done before, just because of a few dollar signs.

Knowing how fragile life can be, I've always tried to be open and willing to try and do abolsutely anything, if the opportunity presented itself. I think I'd forgotten that and these events were my proverbial slap in the face. So between spending time out in the sun and walking endless kilometers, I've planned activities that you'll have to tune in next time to hear about :P

Hero

 

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Don't Sleep on the Road!

My next adventure took me to K'gari (Fraser Island) and I never thought anything would top the Whitsundsays, but Drop Bear Adventures blew my sailing trip out of the water! I had the most amazing jam packed and fun three days, we were all sad when it was over.

The ferry over from Hervey Bay was quite uneventful, but as we were docking a dingo came out of the trees and wandered around the car park for a bit. A nice little welcoming party from the island. K'gari is made entirely of sand, so the drive over to Eurong was another interesting welcome to the island. The driving here reminded me of dirt road driving back home, but you had to stick to the tracks like winter driving. Luckily for us the roads were in pretty good shape and we didn't have any trouble the entire trip. We arrived at our base camp where Mark and Hanna, owners and founders of Drop Bear, gave us a welcome and told us a little about the history of the company. Once we got a bit settled, Dave, our tour guide, took us out to Lake Wabby for our first excursion as a group, taking the island highway, the beach! Lake Wabby is a sacred place for the Butchulla men, the Butchulla woman do not go anywhere near it, and is the place where boys become men. Our group spent a couple hours here getting to know eachother and taking turns throwing a boomerang! After supper that night, we had a campfire, did some star gazing on the beach, and tried our hands at a didgeridoo. All this and it was only day one!

The next morning we had an early wake-up call by didgeridoo to go and watch the sunrise over the ocean. Little did I know that morning that I would see and do so many awesome things that day! Our day started at the Kirrar sandblow. Here we saw all sorts of tracks and were able to see our first whales of the day out past the break. After we were done climbing around the dunes we went to Eli Creek. Since the entire island is sand all fresh water here is extremely clean. As a group we 'crocodiled' down the creek and ended up back at the ocean. Next we went to the wreck of the Maheno and somewhere during our drives we saw 2 or 3 humpback whales slapping the water with their pectoral fins past the break! We had a quick stop at the Pinnacles, one of the Butchulla women's sacred sights and then we collected shellfish that Dave cooked for us as an appetizer at dinner. This all before lunch! Post lunch we drove up to the Champane pools, natural salt water pools, had a quick swim and played some volleyball. A quick drive and hike later we were at Indian Head. Here there were stunning views of the ocean and the entire island, we saw a couple more whales and even a turtle! This place is also the most sacred site for the Butchulla people and Dave shared the history of the island and the Butchulla peoples story for the creation of K'gari. On our way home we stopped to feel the heartbeat of the island, crocodiled once more down Eli Creek, and came across some more dingos on the beach. But wait there's more! We had another fire that night, but Dave invited some of his friends to join us! One was an awesome guitar player, he could play pretty much anything you asked, and the other two were Butchulla men. You could hear the passion they had for their traditions and the island while they were telling us their stories. When they found out I was from Canada they were so interested in our First Nations culture, I wish I had known more so I could have shared it with them. Hard to believe we did all this in just one day!

The last morning of the trip started much like the first, a didgeridoo wake-up call (it was actually quite a nice way to wake up) and then off to Lake McKenzie for a couple hours at the beach. Here we were extremely fortunate, our Butchulla friends had told us about a second beach that no other tour group goes to. A short walk and we had a huge stretch of beach to ourselves all morning. The sand here is pure silica, which is a great exfoliant. I scrubbed my body from head to toe (hair and teeth included, we did a monkey circle to get eachothers backs!) and then rinsed off. The Butchulla people believe that the wind from the lake whispers to you here. Taking advice from the night before, I took a walk to see what K'gari had to say to me. It was such a beautiful and tranquil place, unchanged by time, I definitely believe she talked to me there. Our last stop on the trip was Central Station and Wanggoolba Creek. The creek is the second sacred place for the Butchulla women, the place where they came to give birth. Again the water here was so clear you could see every ripple of sand and it made absolutely no sound. As an example of how dedicated the Butchulla people still are to their culture, a couple years ago a huge storm moved through the island and downed some trees. They sat there for months as the park rangers are Butchulla men and wouldn't enter the area to clear it up out of respect for their traditions. Central Station itself was the place where the European logging companies made camp when the industry was still active on the island. K'gari is the only place in the world where rainforest grows entirely on sand and has some of the biggest trees I've ever seen.

Even though this was a sight-seeing tour, it felt like so much more. Our group as a whole got very close and were always smiling and laughing. I learned so much about the Butchulla people and the history of the island, it was so eye-opening. Being from a western culture it's so hard to understand how precious these sites are to the aboriginal culture, but I think learning and trying to appreciate the significance of the site is a solid start. I've tried to put into words how truly spectacular my time on K'gari was. It wasn't just one part but the entire trip, I feel very lucky and blessed to have had such an amazing experience!

Welcome to K'gari!

Kirrar Sandblow (awesome photo courtesy of Dave)

In all her beauty!

Lake McKenzie, my favourite place

 

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Whitsundays and the New Horizon

July is gone already! What happened to all the time I thought I had here? So much to do in so little time, but at least I'm not bored yet! I've already talked about my time on Magnetic Island but Australia's east coast seems to be riddled with them so I've had a few more island adventures since my last post.

The absolutely stunning Whitsunday Islands! I was iniatally only going to do these as a day trip, but an elderly woman in Cairns told me that it was way better to do a sailing trip. I am so extremely happy I took her advice as it was a fantastic couple days on the boat. My ships name was New Horizon and I was very pleased with the tour. The crew was fantastic and my fellow landlubbers onboard made for fun filled days. We had a quick hike to look over the blue waters of White Haven beach and then spent a couple hours soaking up the sun in the sand. The rest of the trip was spent moving between the islands to find the best snorkeling/diving spots. I hadn't planned on diving during this trip but I am so happy I did. During my first dive I didn't see anything spectacular underwater, but as we were swimming along we could hear whales singing! A beautiful sound if not a little eeire. Then, at surface, the skipper pointed a turtle not 100 ft away from us that had surfaced to grab some air. To top it all off, once we were back at the New Horizon the whales decided to come through the bay right next to the boat! Words cannot describe how awesome that hour was.

After a rowdy night and a very early morning, I had my second dive of the trip. Probably the earliest dive I've had so far as we were in the water by 7:30 at the latest. Found a couple nudibranches and saw tons of fish as usual but here the coral stole my heart. Towards the end of the dive, we went through an area that had 4 or 5 huge rocks and every single inch of these rocks was covered in branching coral. It looked like I was flying over mountains covered in trees. Absolutely gorgegous!

The New Horizon

White Haven Beach

 

 

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Under-Appreciated No More Part 3

More adventures coming soon, but in the meantime...

#11 Your Own Kitchen: Hostel cooking is always an experience. Some of you reading this have experienced this before and may know exactly what I'm talking about. For the most part all the kitchens I've had are fairly clean and organized which is fantastic. Cooking around 3 or 4 different people can get a little hectic at times which can be annoying but managable. My biggest pet peeve in hostel kitchens is when people clean off their plates like there is a garbage disposal in the sink. Seeing old pasta, oatmeal, even pieces of raw chicken irks me more than it should. This could be because I come from a very clean household but I am looking forward to the day where I have my own cooking space again.

#12 Your Own Bathroom: In keeping with the household theme, having your own bathroom is AMAZING! Having stayed in camps for work sharing showers isn't that huge a deal it just gets annoying having to carry all your toiletries back and forth. The worst is when you forget something, have to run back to your room and then run to the bathroom again. Annoying but having running water is hugely awesome.

#13 Drinkable Tap Water: Now I was lucky in Panama, the place that I stayed treated its rain water so I was able to drink it, but I know most places in Bocas didn't do that. Buying bottled was the only option if I forgot my bottle at home. Not having to ask if the water is drinkable in every hostel is amazing and still feels like such a novelty.

#14 Free and Good Wifi: For some reason wifi in Australia SUCKS. I had better wifi walking around Bocas Town than I do at most hostels here. On one hand it's nice to not be attached to the internet but when trying to look up information on the next town you're going to, it can be extremely annoying when the page won't load. That and paying for wifi means I will spend more time at McDonald's than I ever would at home

#15 Cell Phone: I'm not sure how much of this is laziness, but I don't have any form of cellular service in Australia. So far I've made it alright without having a phone, but in the absence of wifi (see #14) booking my next hostel or tour can be quite the challenge. Luckily most hostels and travel agencies will make those bookings for you, but I'm so used to being self-reliant it's a bit difficult to get used to. I could just cave and go grab a phone but I'm so stubborn it's now become a challenge to make it through 3 months without one. As I haven't done it yet, I'm not sure how I'll feel once I get home and turn off airplane mode, so I apologize in advance if I become a cell phone scrooge.

 

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Beaches! (That you should not swim at!)

Yes, Australia has some phenominal beaches, but due to all the dangers in the water, it is highly recommended that you do not swim in the water. These dangers include crocodiles, sharks, stingers (not in season right now but the signs are still everywhere), and currents. Throw on top of that the occasional stingray and my favorite place to be is now potentially the most dangerous. Doesn't stop me from enjoying the beaches though!

So since I can't spend every waking hour at the beach I need to find other things to do with my time, and luckily Australia is full of activities! All of my favourite ones so far happen to involve animals, which is no surprise really.

I spent a morning at Reef HQ in Townsville, seeing the sharks was very interesting but my favourite part was the sea turtles. Reef HQ is a turtle hospital, so they take care of and home injured marine turtles until they're strong enough to return to the wild. They had a couple green turtles and it shocked me as to how big they actually are! Stevie was in the predator tank and absolutely dwarfed all the sharks in there. Saw tons of interesting fish, but nothing beats seeing them out on the reef. I had planned to walk the Esplanade that afternoon but I ended up at the Museum of Tropical Queensland instead. I thought it would be a like any other museum but it was so much fun! Almost every exhibit had a hands on, interactive component. I learned so much about the human body, animals of Queensland and the Pandora, a ship that sank just off the coast of Australia.

At Magnetic Island I had my first experience with a Koala! So fluffy!! Anyways, I stayed at Bungalow Bay which has an animal sanctuary right on sight. The sanctuary was awesome, they allowed you to hold and touch most of the animals that are there. Turtles, snakes, baby salt water crocodiles, lizards, and of course Koalas! I got to hold Pebbles and I have never felt anything so soft in my life, I didn't want to give her back. The sanctuary also feeds a flock of Rainbow Lorikeets every afternoon and all guests are welcome to help out. By far one of my favourite activities as having birds swarm around you is quite an experience.

I met a couple girls from Holland and we had decided that the one day we would walk to a couple of the other bays on the island and go snorkeling. Well our snorkeling day turned into more of a hiking day as the paths between bays were more rock than paths and more uphill than anything. Needless to say a quick cool down was necessary and every stop involved a swim. We even stopped at the nudist beach which was... interesting. Beautiful little bay, we saw a small stingray and tons of needlefish in there but... well... yea...

Blue-Tounged Lizard

Happiest person ever!

The 'path' between bays.

 

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Cairns and The Great Barrier Reef

The main reason I came to Cairns was so that I could scuba dive at The Great Barrier Reef, and it was totally worth it! If I didn't have a budget for myself I would dive every chance I get. In fact I'm already planning on coming back so I can do overnight trips. I dove with Tusa 6 and the crew was terrific. I dove 3 days in a row and by the end most of the crew knew me by name and would sit and chat with me if they had some spare time. They had a photographer on board that would take pictures of you throughout the day for free and of course you could purchase them at the end of the day if you wished.

Now for the exciting part, what I saw out there! The coral itself was beautiful, maybe not as colorful as it was in Bocas, but it was quite a bit grander and there was more variety. There were so many nooks and crannies to explore and every little bit of exposed rock had something living and growing on it. As spectacular and colorful as the coral was, it was quite sad to see areas full of dead coral. It was hard to tell whether or not it was from human impact or the fish that love to eat the coral, but it has made me more aware as to why it is so important to have as little impact on the environment as possible.

The marine life I saw was phenomenal! Fish every direction you looked and they ranged in size from the size of my finger nail to 4 feet long! I won't list every fish I saw, that would take forever, but I'll tell you about the highlights! White-tip reef sharks has to be at the top of my list. Over the 3 days I saw about 8 of them! They mostly just hung out on the bottom but still so cool! We also came across a huge Eagle Ray stirring up the sand looking for things to eat. I also found a Morray Eel, and some huge Pufferfish! On my last day of diving a school of about 10 Bumphead Parrotfish swam by the boat and it was quite a spectacular site. Seeing the sun come down through the water and these huge fish swim along was absolutely beautiful. And yes, I did see a vast majority of the cast from Finding Nemo! I've glossed over a lot that I saw but ask to look at my dive log some time!

Before heading off to my next destination I took a quick day trip to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation. It was a tour so there was a lot of get off the bus - get on the bus so I'm not sure I'll do many more of those while I'm here, but I was very glad I did it. Our tour guide, Terry, was very entertaining and had lots of great information about the region. My favourite part of the day was taking a quick trip down the Daintree River looking for Saltwater Crocodiles. I thought we'd maybe see 1 or 2, but we saw 5 plus a couple green snakes! As some of you know, I loved watching Steve Irwin growing up, so being able to see all the animals in real life is a bit of a dream come true. I'm very excited for the Australia Zoo but I have a couple more stops before I can check that one off my bucket list!

They call him Scarface!

Cairns

Where the reef meets the rainforest

 

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What Happened to July 3rd?

My last week in Panama City was awesome. I barely did anything (World Cup, playing with my cousins kids, and going to the beach doesn't amount to much), which is fantastic way to recover and get ready for 3 months on the road halfway around the world.

When I booked my flights back, I was more concerned about my final destination than the amount of time it would take to get there. I wasn't quite sure how I would handle 24+ hours of travel but, overall, it was probably the most pleasant travel experience I've ever had. 4 countries and 4 airports, and each had their own adventures! As far as air travel is concerned it was the smoothest I think I've ever had. I had ample amount of time at each airport, and even though I had my bags thoroughly checked by Australian customs they were very pleasant and I was out of there in 15 minutes. Also helped that on my long haul flight from LA to Auckland there was an empty seat right beside me. Ample amounts of rest makes talking with customs agents so much easier!

I've only been overwhelmed a couple of days on this trip and my first afternoon in Cairns was one of them. They were minor things really but I was so unprepared for them it was a huge shock to my system. Being a day ahead is so hard to wrap your head around, writing in my travel diary was an interesting experience that night. Cars on the other side of the road! I just about walked around to the other side of the taxi to get in the front seat. Designated crosswalks was also a big one, I haven't seen those in 2 months, and knowing which way to look before I crossed is also a huge learning curve. I've always had to look left before taking my first step! The last thing that got me was the shopping mall and the amount of people in it! I saw a lot of people in Panama but they were always in open markets or streets. Having that many people in a closed area was the strangest feeling, there really are no words I can use to describe the feeling.

Once I had a super good sleep I was ready to take on Cairns! I spent the morning walking the Pier and Esplanade, both were so beautiful and full of people. The Esplanade reminded me a lot of Meewasin Trail back home, except flatter, less trees and right beside the ocean. It is a place where people go walking, running, biking, or just hang out in the park. I then stumpled upon a ukulele festival. I swear every person and their dog had a ukulele that day, I can honestly say I've never seen that many before in my life. The city was attempting to break the world record for the most ukuleles played at once. I can't say whether or not they did, but I can say I was there!

My last free day before I go diving (so excited!!), I decided to head to the Botanical Gardens and the Tank Museum. Instead of taking public transit I decided I would try and walk from my hostel to the site via the Esplanade. Considering it's about 5 km one way and plus all the walking I did in the gardens, my feet were more than a little tired by the end of my jaunt. That being said the walk was totally worth it! I went a bit camera crazy in the gardens as there were tons of beautiful flowers and I know my mom, being the green thumb that she is, will love to see them when I get home. Once I had my fill of plant life I went to look at the Tanks. When I was reading descriptions of The Tanks, I for some reason thought they were army tanks, which sparked my curiousity in the first place. What I found was so much cooler! They are giant water tanks that have been converted into usable space. 1 tank was converted into a banquet hall, 1 tank is an ampitheatre for shows and the last 1 is an art gallery. The art on display in there was absolutely gorgeous and consisted of Chinese Kites, watercolour paintings, and pottery. Such a unique use of space! Highlight of my day might have been seeing my very first Kookaburra! Didn't hear it sing but still monumental!

The Esplanade

Tanks Gallery

Kookaburra!!

 

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Final Thoughts on Bocas del Toro

I've been out of Bocas for a few days now and I've had some time to reflect on what my time was like there. In a few words: it was the time of my life but exhausting as well.

Bocas is a party town, it feeds off of the inhibitions of the tourists that end up there. I can't count how many times I heard someone say "Who cares? You're in Bocas!", or something along those lines. This is why the 3 lies of Bocas are so fitting: #1 I'm not drinking tonight (my planned detox days didn't happen), #2 I'm leaving tomorrow (I knew a couple people that didn't leave when they said they would), and #3 I love you (I didn't go a day without some random person on the street telling me I was bontio or beautiful). There was many a Thursday I would show up to Spanish class in rough shape, mostly because I had chosen to partake in 'Ladies Night' at Aqua Lounge the night before. Towards the end of my stay I tried avoiding touristy places like the plague, the same party is only fun so many times, and did my best to hang out with people from school and those locals I had come to know. That's not saying I didn't take part in a good party when the opportunity arose. My second last night in Bocas was proof of that! All I'll say about that night is 1 tequila, 2 tequila, 3 tequila,... That was my best night in Bocas but the next morning was also the worst. Self inflicted but when in Bocas...

Now I'm sure there's a part of you thinking 'No wonder she's exhausted. Partying every other night will do that to a person!' You wouldn't be wrong either, but the exhaustion felt in Bocas is so much more than just the physical from partying, for me there was the mental exhaustion from constantly being on guard. I never once felt unsafe, but there were times were I did feel uncomfortable, being a light-haired, blue-eyed, white girl in this country puts a bit of a target on your back. At the risk of scaring a few people, there were cases of people being robbed while I was in Bocas, and right before I left for Panama a couple girls from Holland went missing in Boquete. It was a very sobering reminder that bad things can happen to good people. I am so grateful I had a good group of friends where we would look out for eachother. I consider myself lucky to have left Bocas with all my valuables and only happy memories.

On a less serious note, I can't reiterate enough the great times I had in Bocas (if you need a reminder, just check out my previous posts :P). I'm already looking forward to the next time I get to walk down those familiar streets, take a water taxi, and buy guava in the park. Bocas will always have a special place in my heart, it's the first place in this big wide world I ventured out into on my own, the first place I dove, and the first place I never wanted to leave.

Although this post may sound quite sad, the more I'm looking into what I can do and see in Australia, the more excited I am to go there! My worldly adventure is 1/3 complete, I can't wait to see what the next parts bring!

I'm going to miss this!!

 

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Scuba Groupie

My last week in Bocas was amazing! Extremely sad to be leaving but I'll give some final thoughts on that later.

I have spent more time and money than I care to admit at La Buga Dive, but every time I went there I was welcomed with open arms and a great place to hang out. My initial plan was to only get my Open Water Certification, but because I was there so much Tony and Leandro suggested to me one day that I should consider doing my Advanced Open Water. They were extremely good salesmen and the only con I could think of was that it would cost me more money, so after twisting my arm (very gently) I agreed to do it. Such a great decision! To complete this certification I needed to complete 5 adventure dives and although they were challenging, they were also tons of fun! The 5 I chose/were chosen for me were: Deep Diving, Navigational Diving, Night Diving, Peak Performance Buoyancy, and AWARE Fish ID. Don't worry, for you non-scuba types I'll explain.

Deep Dive: This one's somewhat self-explanatory, we went deeper than I had ever gone before. As an Open Water diver the deepest I could go was 18m, but on this dive we went down to about 30m. The coolest part about this dive was noticing when the laws of physics started to take over. By the time we reached the bottom I could no longer see the colours red and orange, I may or may not have thought a tomato was a pepper. At this depth you could really feel the water pressure change as well. I had read this would happen but until you actually feel it for yourself, there is no way to describe it. Normally I have no issues breathing through the respirator, but at this depth it felt like I had to really work to be able to breathe. That initial sensation was a bit scary but that feeling went away after a short period of time. The last thing we did down here was crack open a couple of eggs, which seems very simple but at this pressure the yolk stays somewhat solid. Watching an egg spin underwater was more entertaining than I care to admit.

Navigational Diving: So much harder than you think it would be. I needed to swim in a square and then swim straight along one heading then straight back. The first time I attempted both of these skills I failed, horribly, Leandro needed to come find me to do them again. I've needed to use a compass before but with very little points of reference underwater it was so much more difficult. Although I will probably never lead a dive myself, I now have huge amounts of respect for the dive masters at La Buga, because 9 times out of 10 we would finish the dive right beside the boat and I would have no idea where I was.

Night Diving: The only skill I needed to perform of this dive was swim away from the group in one direction and then swim back to the group. Farily simple and once this was complete it was diving like normal. This dive was fairly boring to begin with but then all of a sudden we saw tons of marine life. We saw tons of fish I'd seen before (big pufferfish, trumpetfish, drummerfish, lobster, crabs), when we happened across a sea turtle! I was so excited to see it, I didn't even think our lights would disturb it until Leon turned off my flashlight, we had woken up the little guy from his sleep. We followed it (I'm fairly certain it was a hawks-bill) for a little bit using a red light and there were more than a few envious people back at the shop when we got there. Highlight of my diving in Bocas, quite possibly.

Peak Performance Bouyancy: The goal of this dive was to only use your breath to control your position in the water. Any use of hands and you had to start the skill over. Some of them were quite easy for me, hovering in place and swimming through a hoop, but others were extremely difficult. Trying to touch your mask to a stick on the bottom of the ocean or look at a piece of coral close up, while not using your hands for balance, was the most difficult skill I had to do throughout both dive courses. I was glad I had somewhat mastered this skill though, as during this dive, Leandro found the tiniest little seahorse hidden among the coral. If I would have had a pocket to put it in, I would have...

Fish ID: This dive was fun because I got to learn all the names of the common fish that I had seen everytime I went out diving or snorkeling. On this dive I learned that male parrotfish will change their sex if there is a shortage of females, Mother Nature does some crazy things. I discovered that I would personally rather look at the fish and watch what they are doing for curiosity's sake rather than to gain information, way more entertaining that way. The last new creature we found on this dive was a spotted eel, was kind of gross looking, but still neat to find.

Sometimes the best things in life aren't planned. It didn't even cross my mind to do my Advanced Open Water but I am so glad I did. I got to see a couple animals I have loved since I was a child and living in a land-locked province, it has always been on my bucket list to see these animals in the wild. Diving has definitely become my new addiction!

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Under-Appreciated No More Part 2

As it was a fairly quiet week by Bocas standards, time for Part 2 of things I will never again take for granted!

#6 My Own Transportation: Another inanimate object I'm going to hug when I get home is my car. Most days I don't mind the walk back and forth to school, but when it's pouring rain or I'm just feeling lazy it would be so nice to have my own vehicle. I also need to catch a water taxi 2 times a day. At night it's not a huge deal, you just walk up to a dock and there's always a plethora of boats. This is a completely different story in the morning. Luckily for us, our dock is located along a common boat route coming from Bastimentos Island, the issue lies in whether or not a boat happens along, there's room for a couple more people, or if the boat captain happens to see us waving them down. Nothing like an adventure first thing in the morning.

#7 Cool Summer Nights: I have never sweat so much in my entire life, thank God for air conditioning! During the day the heat is awesome, you can cool off by going to the beach and swimming, but at night it doesn't cool off much. This is mostly due to the outrageous humidity (80%) everyday. I know I shouldn't complain about the heat after that awful winter we just had in Saskatchewan but this is a case of too much of a good thing. My favorite part of summer is having a fire on the beach after dark, and it's weird that I haven't been able to do that yet. We would probably melt if we tried!

#8 Afternoon Naps: So far my list has been entirely about things at home, but there are things I will miss down here! Almost every other day I'm able to take an afternoon nap in my hammock. They have been some of the best naps I've ever had in my life as I am not stressed about homework or work related things. It's the first time in a long time I've had no deadlines other than the ones I've made myself and having the chance to completely shut off my brain is fantastic.

#9 Pleasant Rain Days: It has rained a lot here, but unlike at home, rainy days are not cold. With an umbrella you stay relatively dry but I can still walk around in shorts and a tank-top. Besides having a wet taxi ride back to the island, I've had some of my most relaxing days when it rains. It cools off (just a little bit) and you can spend all afternoon listening to the rain on the roof. These are good catch up days for me, I spend time uploading pictures from my camera, writing for this blog, or general housekeeping things I've put off because I've been busy doing beach things. These are also days where I read the most. I've finished 3 books since I've left Canada and I'm so enjoying reading for pleasure again.

#10 No Deadlines: Now I do have a few deadlines, but I don't count flying to a new country as a super stressful. For as long as I can remember I've had deadlines for school or work, and this is the first time where I've been able to work with my own schedule. Having that amount of freedom is so refreshing and I am doing my best to enjoy every minute of it!

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Water World

Well I have just about come full circle with my time here in Bocas del Toro. I say this because last week was the first week where the activity board at school did not have an event I hadn't done already. Which meant I went and visited my favourite places!

Way back on June 1st, I went Catamaran sailing with almost all my classmates. We stopped at Dolphin Bay again and stopped at a couple awesome snorkeling spots. It was such a nice change of pace from the everyday go, go, go of Bocas. Most of us were able to take naps out on the front, it was so relaxing to hear the water trickle by the boat. The snorkeling itself was pretty cool as well as I had never snorkeled along a mangrove island before. It was so neat to be able to look in through all the roots and see tons of baby fish hiding out in there. I saw my first baracuda while underwater here as well. Although it wasn't that big, it was still one of the scariest looking creatures I've seen underwater. I'm not sure what I'm going to do that first time I see a shark!

June 3rd was my convocation day back home in Saskatoon and I celebrated in style! Steve and I went out to visit Emma at the Blue Coconut (are you noticing a pattern yet?) and had a fantastic afternoon. Steve and I took a couple paddleboard out expecting to just go around a couple of the mangroves. What we found was so much better! Thinking there might be a path to the other side of the island, we cut through an opening in the trees and ended up finding a cove full of hundreds of jellyfish! Not a place you would want to fall off the board but it was so calm and quiet, there was no fear of that. And that wasn't the only cool part of our afternoon! Once we got back to the restaurant we went snorkeling through what had to be thousands of sardines! Never in my life have I seen that many fish in one spot together. Watching them move as one while swimming through them was so facsinating at one point I forgot where I was and accidently rammed my head into a paddleboard floating by the dock! Again the hospitality was second to none and I'm not sure if was that or the smack to the head that caused my head to ache in class the next day...

I did my first night dive during this week too! It was one of the craziest and coolest experiences I've ever had. We weren't in the complete dark, we all had flashlights, but you could see nothing beyond the circle of light. We dove a spot called 'The Wall', aptly named as it is a wall of rock and coral, so there was nothing below us or to our backs. It was so freaky to look away from the light and see complete blackness, knowing that there could be something out there looking at you but you can't see it. As always we saw some pretty neat marine life: octopus, toadfish, a giant grouper, a piece of coral that was absolutely covered in arrow crabs, and lobster. At night, the marine life is way more active so most of these animals were out in the open, at one point I came across a crab that opened up a shell fish and ate the insides as I was sitting there watching it. On this dive I learned that the lionfish in the area are pests and doing a ton of damage to the coral in the area. As we had 2 dive masters with us (Tony and Leandro from La Buga), a spear was brought along just in case we found one (I thought it was for protection, go figure). Tony found one and pointed it out, all of us diving for fun were watching it when, suddenly, Leandro comes from the back and spears it! Appartently, they make a good ceviche. For the last part of the dive we stopped on the bottom, covered the lights, and stirred up the water to see the bioluminescence. For my first time night diving it was pretty exciting!

Bit late on my weekly post, but I'm working on Bocas time, so really, I'm right on time! :P

A relaxing cruise.

Those black patches are all the sardines!

This was my Convocation Day!

 

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