I was dreaming of a White Christmas!

Christmas Day 2010 - Jasper, Alberta, Canada,  a Northern Hemisphere's winter Crimbo - It was probably something in the minus teens!...

...And Christmas Day 2011 - Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, a Southern Hemisphere's summer Crimbo - I think it was plus 24 when I checked on my computer (in the morning)! - Despite what this picture shows it was a really clear and blue day!

After waking up with the boys here at Kangaroo Point, I headed to Rosie's, took the above picture, headed to Rosie's parent's then headed about 2 and a half hours out of Brisbane, into what can only be described as "the middle of nowhere". I still don't really know where we were, but we passed Kilcoy and Woodford on the way there. Until we arrived at Rosie's Auntie and Uncle's holiday retreat home, and the pictures below are where I spent my Christmas day:

After spending all the day eating and drinking a fair amount, spending the day with a small part of Rosie's pretty big family, NEARLY seeing a kangaroo (still yet to see a live one), quad biking round the garden, we decided to go cow tipping at midnight, only to find that we couldn't find any cows...and just 'tipping' just seems pointless. It was another amazingly clear night though, so the skies were perfectly clear again (like my first night in California last November) to the point where you could see the Milky Way, and the stars and planets were so clear and bright. Ended up crashing in a tent over night. We then found out in the morning that the local farmer didn't have any cows, only balls, so in a way it was kinda lucky we didn't find anything that night.

We got distracted on our way home through Woodford....

....Still on the way home through, near the Glass House Mountains

My Christmas presents, the crappy air football was from Rosie's parents on Christmas Day, and ALLLLL the Saints stuff is from my parents, which I only got to open last night (Boxing Day), I waited until I could FINALLY get on Skype.

And apparently I have another parcel on the way...boom!

And thanks to all for my Christmas cards!

Still sorting out what I'm doing for New Year's, but I should have decided and booked my flights by the end of the day. Still waiting to see if I have a place to crash in Melbourne, if not then I'll be heading to Sydney. As long as I get out of Brisbane I'll be happy. This will more than likely be the last entry in my blog for 2011, 2011 the shortest year of my life (as I started it 7 hours after GMT, and will be finishing it 11 hours prior to GMT assuming I'm in New South Wales or Victoria), and a year in which I would have started it in the most Northernly place I've ever been ever (Jasper, Alberta, Canada), and will be finishing in the most Southern place that I've ever been (either Sydney or Melbourne), that's some serious miles (or Kilometers to all my Canadian and Australian readers).

Hope you all had an amazing Christmas, and a Happy New Year to everyone. Much love!

Dragon’s Back

I’ve lost a Saturday in my life….everybody knows that Saturday is clearly the best day of the week, and I’ve lost one...and a Friday evening too I left Vancouver at 12:30PM on Friday (GMT –8) and arrived in Hong Kong at 9:30PM (GMT +8) on Saturday. I flew over the Pacific and crossed over the international date line for the first time in my life, I’ve never seen so many hours of daylight, but never had a day go by so quick (if you think about it, that does make perfect sense).

Had a 12 hour flight from Vancouver to Shanghai, and this is what I got to see of China:

It looks like it’s a great country.

So anyway, if you’re ever gonna fly to China or Hong Kong, use BA or Eastern China Air……free beer, that’s all I’m basing this on. Let’s face it, a flight’s a flight, they suck! Every plus is a bonus!

Didn’t do to much when I arrived here (in my fantastic room (you get what you pay for)), it was about midnight by the time I checked in, and it looked pretty dead around here (apart from the guys who were quite keen to sell me a suit).

Yes, that is my toilet right next to my "shower"

Whata view

So Sunday I pretty much had a tour of the local area (Kowloom):

Now, nearly 6 months ago, just before I left England, me and my Gramps (My Mum’s Dad) were talking about Hong Kong, and he was based over here in a place called Fanling, after heading up to Fanling (using the MTR (trains), I could not find the old barracks (and I really was looking for a while), but still, it was so worth it, I headed up Fung Ying Seen Koon temple (which I can only assume was a temple for the dead, there wasn’t much English there, but people were lighting up lints and there were plenty of photos of people in little sections), but it offered some awesome views once I went up above the temple:

My Sunday night (long story shot), involved Football, beer and curry (it’s great being ahead of England (in time), football is on at night as opposed to in the early hours).

Today (Monday) I headed over to Hong Kong island (by ferry) and did a few touristy things, including heading up to the 55th floor of the IFC building….


…before heading off to the other side of the island to do Dragon’s back, and seriously (although it was pretty cloudy, so these photos aint too great it) it was so impressive up there.

I’ll admit, this entree is a bit rushed (and not my best) but when I started writing it I was slightly drunk, plus I wanna get up at 8 (which is in 4 hours time) to pack and do a few more touristy things before I leave Hong Kong….I can’t believe that I’m gonna be in Vietnam TODAY. So here’s just a couple more photos of Hong Kong that I wanna chuck in here:

I think I missed the Chinese New Year by one day?

Thanks to Tim (Bryony (my only English friend in Jasper)’s brother) for being in Hong Kong, and taking me out for the last couple of nights, good times. Don’t feel too much out my comfort zone right now, being in Hong Kong kinda feel like when you go to Greece, or somewhere like that, it’s big, full of people that wanna sell my suits, “genuine fake watches” or weed, and it’s s country with a deferent language but they all sorta speak English…I’m pretty sure tomorrow will be different.

Good bye Canada...Good bye North America

So tonight is my last night in Canada and North America. It's been 23 weeks since I left England, spent 11 weeks and 2 days in the States and 11 weeks 6 days in Canada (by the time I leave tomorrow). My American visa would have expired in 2 and a half weeks anyway, so I'm not leaving the continent much shorter than what I originally planned. So my next stop will be Hong Kong, I leave Vancouver airport tomorrow early afternoon and after a 12 hour flight I will be in Shanghai, then a flight onto Hong Kong.

Went into Vancouver today and picked up a few bits including my foreign currencies:

That's my last $110 Canadian. But just so you know, $100 Canadian gets you (roughly for each country):

• $100 American
• $750 Hong Kong (The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC))
• ฿3,000 Thai Baht
• And ₫1,500,000 (Yes 1 and a half million) Vietnamese dong

I was unable to get any money for Laos. So anyway, after a long weekend in Hong Kong, I will be heading to Vietnam to do my Asia tour which includes Laos and Thailand. Before staying in Thailand for a little while, then flying into Brisbane, Australia next month - that's right I actually have a plan, WITH DATES! And I'll be meeting Danny G from back home (the first mate from back home that I'll be seeing since Ryan and Katie left me in Washington 3 and a half months ago).

I won't really put any more photos of my last few days, I only have some photos of my ferry ride back to the mainland and some more photos of Vancouver

So anyway, I didn't do it when a left Jasper, but I suppose I should do it now: Big thank yous....Thank you to Sheryl (my manger's manager at Fairmont Stores), the first and only Canadian I knew when I crossed the US/Canadian border back in November. Thanks to Courtney for getting me through them "great" days at work...some of them really were the best, and thanks for all them truly Canadian meals. Thanks to all the staff at the Grizz for all your help at the start, especially Rob, you were amazing dude. Thanks to Cory, Keegan, Stacey and Mark for the house parties...so many epic flip cup moments of glory....not too many moments of beer pong glory for me. Also thanks to James, Shaifa, MmmattFigueirraa, Blaire and Matt for hosting too. Thank you Kim for the more then entertaining nights (I know how that sounds, but if you know Kim, you know what I mean). Thanks Steph for my free coffee (I got it in the end). Nice one to Jeff, Chad, Nick for the snowboarding adventures. Thank you Milan for being sane, it helps in a place like Jasper. Thank you Karly for my drawing, I still have it, and it will go up when I get to Oz. Thanks Laura O for making my 6 minutes walk home a lot longer. Thanks to my Wifey, Kayla, my best distraction. Thanks Laura for the long talks and the epic late night dances outside A cabin...it will be summer soon! Thanks Dan for everything dude, and for planning the whole Alberta road trip, sweet sweet times. Cheers Bryony too for having an English contact, and thanks for the hook up with your brother. And shout out to big gay Tom, awesome times, looking forward to seeing you again next month. Sorry to Jenna, I wasn't trying to mess you around, and thanks for trying to help, shame I didn't get to see you again before I left. Thanks Cassie and Caighlah for inviting me to Ottawa and David, Wanda (hope you enjoyed your time away), Tyler, Josh, Corey and everyone else in Ottawa, twas an awesome week. Thanks to Becca for taking all my time back in the bean, the very cheap breakfasts and for inviting me to the Island, and Mary, Wally and Emily for putting up with me. Thanks also to Sara for housing us for a couple of nights and Chris, Justine and Canadian Cam for my two trips down to Victoria. Thanks finally to Eleni and Katie for the random house that you found for me to stay in for my last few days in Canada (that's no joke, their staying in a random house...it's legit, but random). Finally thanks to Sophie back in STA Southampton for helping me sort all my Asia trip in such a short time. Thanks to anyone else I've forgotten to mention, don't take it personally, there's a lot of people to thank.

Hope to see you all again at some point.

So long Tim Hortons, you were great (in Canada, not the States (you suck there)), but you're no Dunkin' Donuts. And so long root beer.