Man-Plan Phase 1: Jasper (pt 2)

Jasper was in a bit of a transition phase as spring was slowly creeping in, and being a national park, we thought it’d be a good opportunity to do some hiking on some of the trails Jasper had to offer. Hopefully seeing some beautiful views and a bit of wildlife on the way.

Here’s a map of the routes we took:

And here’s some of the photos from over the two days we spent in Jasper!

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Next stop on the Man-Plan tour after a 12 hour, overnight coach journey: Vancouver

Ste

The Man-Plan!

I have loads of photos to upload of my adventures since being in Golden, BC, but they may be a while, and might have to actually wait until I get back to the UK.

Until then, I’m getting close to the end of my stay in Golden, and have a little bit of time to go travelling before I have to catch my plane back to the homeland. So to that end me and Sam (who will be joining me on some of the journey) have come up with a little travel itinerary, starting at Golden and with me ending up in Toronto, AKA the ‘Man-Plan’.

I’ve added a couple of maps as well for those who like pictures.

THE MAN-PLAN

The journey begins with us leaving Golden on the 14^th April for Lake Louise, in Jasper National Park. We’ll spend 3 days in Jasper, taking in some of the natural beauty, outdoor activities and hopefully wildlife (I still haven’t seen a bear yet!) that the biggest of the Canadian Rockies Parks has to offer.

We’ll then leave Jasper for Vancouver on the 17^th April, travelling overnight on apparently one of the most beautiful coach journeys in the world. Arriving at Vancouver; the city which is ringed by the Pacific ocean and snow-capped coast mountains, we’ll spend 5 days sampling a tiny bit of what the city has to offer, before heading off again over a stretch of water to Vancouver Island, to visit the capital of British Columbia: Victoria.

We’ll then spend 3 days in Victoria, described as a “small, sedate city with quaint English air, leafy old town, delightful old-fashioned shopping streets and exquisite harbour”. Apparently as well it’s got a cracking museum!

Travelling across waters known for whale-spotting, we’ll briefly make our way out of Canada and travel to the American city of Seattle. I’ll see what the Yanks have to offer and if they can match up to the experience the Canadians have given me so far. 5 days in Seattle, exploring the sights and the aquarium, and then I’ll make my triumphant return to Canada, and more specifically back to Toronto on the 30^th April.

Spending 4 nights back where I first started my journey nearly 11 months previously seems a fitting way to also end it. So I’ll return to Toronto, perhaps push the boat out and enjoy a few fizzy drinks and milkshakes in the evening with some friends, before I say “Goodbye”, or rather “See you soon” to my North American adventure, and “Hello again” to the homeland. After flying overnight I’ll arrive back to a hero’s welcome in Heathrow in the early morning of the 6^th May.

Well… that’s the plan anyway.

Hello Golden!

My trip to Golden involved various forms of transportation; planes, trains, buses, coaches, taxis and a fair amount of walking got me from Toronto, to Calgary and then eventually to Golden. I quickly found out that I was the last person to arrive in my hotel (which is more like uni halls of residence than a hotel) and that some people had been living there already for 2 weeks!

 

My orientation followed the next morning, as well as the Christmas parade and a screening of a film about snowboarding, which I don’t think I fully comprehended yet, but hopefully by the end of the season I’ll be able to appreciate it more completely.

 

My halls are directly above one of the three bars in Golden (just like in HIMYM… unfortunately it’s not called McClaren’s…) making it very easy for us to nip down and grab a quick pint! Golden itself is a picturesque little town of about 10,000 people, there aren’t very many shops and only one bank, but has everything really that you need there. A complete contrast to my experience in Toronto! The resort itself is awesome so far, as I’m writing this we still haven’t opened to the public and are still in training, so it’s been pretty quiet in terms of work.

 

I have taken a few quick pictures around town, but there’ll definitely be more to come relating to the mountain I work at, especially the views from the Eagle eye restaurant at the top. Anyway, until next time… enjoy!

 

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Vinyl Bowls

I was walking back home from work the other night, when I saw loads of boxes full of vinyl records on the street. Now the thing about Toronto for those who have never been here are that there are few charity shops, so people put things that

Box of Vinyl

they don’t need out on the street (usually furniture, which is how we’ve furnished most of our apartment actually), and if it’s on the curb… then it’s fair game!

So I picked up as much as I could carry and took them back home, as my roomate is a DJ. Sadly only 2 of the records were any decent, so we were stuck with loads of vinyl that we didn’t need… so what did we do with them?

Welcome to the Kaluuja guide to making a vinyl bowl!

Put the vinyl in the oven

Step 1: Get some old vinyl records that you don’t need.

Step 2: Pre-heat your oven to 200C

Step 3: Put your vinyl record onto something roughly the shape you want your object to be (e.g. if you want a bowl, put the vinyl on an upside-down bowl so that when you heat it, it will droop over the bowl).

Step 4: Leave the vinyl in the oven for about 4-6mins

Vinyl Bowl

Step 5: Take out and shape whilst still warm and flexible

Step 6: Let it cool and enjoy your new vinyl bowl! (Or pen holder…)

We ended up making a pen holder and a bowl in the time we had. See if you can get creative and make something as well!

Vinyl Penholder in use!

Vinyl Penholder

Blog Update

This post doesn’t really have a particular subject, just letting people know what’s going on in the world of kaluuja.

There probably isn’t going to be much activity in the near future in terms of blog posts, and this is for a number of reasons.

1. I’m between places at the moment and won’t be properly settled anywhere until about 2 weeks time.
2. I’ve uploaded most of the photos from my travels for the time being (am still waiting on some from other people though).
3. And perhaps the most exciting is that I am designing the new website at the moment, which will hopefully be up and running fairly soon (within the next week).

In terms of the new website I’ll just be getting some basic features up, transferring my blog over and adding a forum to it (I figured those who wanted it could join, and if people didn’t want it, then they didn’t have to join!). I’ll be throwing a few things together, so when it does go live, you might have to bare with me a little bit 🙂 It’s gonna be  a website more for function to begin with, and then hopefully; little by little, I’ll change bits to make it even more awesome!

Watch this space for news of that!

Forum of Kaluuja?

Just wondering whether or not this blog would benefit from a forum? I’m thinking more in terms of people back home here, or people I know who are also on their travels, just as a way of keeping in touch, asking questions etc. But obviously everyone would be welcome 🙂

Seeing as I don’t know who reads this blog or how many even, I thought I’d do a little poll, answer honestly!

It seems like a very easy way to organise things and keep in touch, especially if people don’t have facebook (or don’t check facebook a lot!) ordon’t have each others emails… let me know what you think!

The CN Tower

The CN Tower is one of Toronto’s main tourist attractions. For those who don’t know, it’s a communications and observation tower standing 553.3 metres (1,815 ft) tall. At the time of writing it is the world’s 3rd tallest free-standing structure, and is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

So really, having been in Toronto since June, it made sense for me to finally go and see it!

The elevator takes 58 seconds to travel up to the main observation deck (there is a higher ‘sky pod’ experience for a bit extra, but I stuck with the standard observation deck this time around). When you get up there it’s quite incredible how high up you are and how far you can see, and the pictures I took don’t really capture the experience fully. There was also a glass floor that enabled you to see right to the bottom, and although logically I know that it’s reinforced glass and wont break, I didn’t spend too long on it! So I got a slushie instead.

<update: Have added more pics to the Vector Art post check them out!>

Royal Ontario Museum

Recently during one of my days off, I realised that although I’d been in Toronto for 2 months now, I hadn’t really visited many of the ‘Tourist’ sights that the city has to offer. So I got out my Toronto guide book (which I hadn’t really looked at since the first week!) and had a look at the top 10 things to do in Toronto. Apparently I’d only done two of them! So I took the opportunity to visit the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and tick another top 10 off my list.

I managed to take a few pictures around the museum of things that I found interesting whilst I was there. Obviously there is so much more in the museum, and there were a few exhibits where you weren’t allowed to take a camera. Especially the ‘Warrior Emperor’s Terracotta Army’ exhibition which was fascinating. I’d highly recommend seeing or learning about it, it was a great experience learning about the man who unified China, built himself a tomb (probably the biggest ever in the world) with thousands of terracotta soldiers and underground lakes made from mercury!

I couldn’t take any pictures in there, but here are some of the others I took around the place… including dinosaurs… and who doesn’t love them?

I tried to organise them so they’re in a very rough chronological order, from dinosaurs, to the first humans, to ancient Egyptians and Greeks, to medieval times, to 16th Century Europe, Victorian times and finally to the modern day art of Dan Perjovschi.

Anyway, enjoy! And I’d recommend viewing the photos on full screen by selecting it from the menu.

Ontario Part 2: Algonquin Park, The Wolf Den, and Dave

During the week of the G20, a lot of Toronto was shut down, including the university halls that we were living in at the time. So all of the group went spent the week out of Toronto, in various different places. Three of us (Craig, Lexi and Myself) decided to go to a place about 2-3 hours from Toronto called ‘Algonquin Park’, so we rented a car for the week and made our way to experience the natural beauty, and wild animals of Algonquin.

To set the scene a little bit for people who aren’t that familiar with Algonquin, the actual park is about 7653 square kilometers large (about a quarter of the size of Belgium I’ve just found out!) and has 2400 lakes and 1200 km worth of streams and rivers. It’s also covered with trees and many wild animals including bears, moose, beavers, loons, snakes, squirrels, chipmunks etc. So it’s a great place for hiking/rambling, cycling and canoeing… and we wanted to experience all of them while we were there. So we did.

We stayed at an awesome place called the Wolf Den, and if anyone’s ever staying in Algonquin, I’d highly recommend it. It’s just an awesome place as you’ll see from the photos, but the chilled atmosphere, and the people you meet there make it even better. I had a great time calling that place ‘home’ for a week, and learnt so much as well.

Anyway before I get to the photos, I have to explain the ‘Dave’ in the title of this post. Dave was what we elected to call the wild moose we saw in the middle of our first trail in Algonquin. I had never realised how big moose were until I saw Dave, and how majestic and powerful they are as creatures. And just in case you’re wondering; the plural of moose, is moose. Not mooses, or meese… I asked.

Anyway, enjoy the slide show!

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Vector Art

Now I’m usually not that into visual art, not that I can’t appreciate the time and talent that goes into it. It’s just that most of it just doesn’t resonate with me for some reason.

However I’ve come across a type of art recently that I actually really like, and I’ve never liked most of a particular genre before, it’s usually just the odd piece of art here and there. From what I gather and have seen so far it’s mainly done on computers and is called ‘Vector Art’, it’s actually what I based the banner at the top of my blog on, and what I’ve been using as my desktop backgrounds for a while now. Anyway here’s a few examples, let me know what you think, maybe it will resonate with you as well.

(26th Feb 2012) UPDATE: Have added a few more wallpapers and art I’ve found recently. Also Links to some awesome brushes for making you own vector art! (Links mainly taken from DeviantArt, which is an awesome place for vectors and art in general, highly recommended.)

• Vector Curves by IHEA (Photoshop)
• Vector Line Brushes by PhysicalMagic (Photoshop)
• Vector Brush Pack by 1deadpixel (Photoshop)
• Vector Brush Set by Spekta (Photoshop)
• Vector Foliage-Plants Brushes by redheadstock (Photoshop and GIMP)
• Gimp Vector Brushes by tycity (GIMP)

 

(26th Aug 2011) UPDATE: After ages of scouring the internet for a GIMP tutorial on how to ‘vectorise’ your pictures, I’ve found a great one! This is originally done for renders, but I’ve tried it on photos and it works just as well… and it’s so simple! Huge credit goes to ‘Curly Haired Boy’ for this awesome tutorial! Vector Your Renders! A tutorial by Curly

 

Ontario Part 1: Toronto, The Falls and Poutine

Firstly, apologies for my lack of blogging since I have got to Canada, a combination of (a lot of) socializing, having no internet, and using the most temperamental camera ever has made it quite difficult for me to post anything!

However now I am at a more ‘settled’ phase (at least for the next couple of months) hopefully that will make things a lot easier! So… let’s start at the beginning…

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The CN Tower

After about 8 hours in the air, I finally landed in Toronto, Canada. My first port of call was to make my way to the hostel where I’d be staying for the first couple of nights.

Although a great place to meet other like-minded traveling folk, as well as an awesome place for socializing (as it has it’s own bar) it wasn’t the greatest place to get a good nights sleep, which was what I was definitely in need of after my first ever case of jet lag! After the first couple of days exploring and getting our bearings around downtown Toronto (the location of the CN Tower, and the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Stadium) a group of us managed to get a place in one of the University of Toronto halls of residence, and with it a good nights sleep!

Blue Jays Stadium

The next couple of weeks were spent exploring the city that many of the group would call home for the next few months, as well as exploring the new pubs, and watching the world cup (which was surprisingly popular we found out).

Amongst all this I managed to be able to see Niagara Falls for the first time, as well as do a host of other things on the same day. Wine tasting, seeing the world’s biggest natural whirlpool, and visiting a village (with British shops!) called Niagara-on-the-lake were just a few of the things we experienced on that day.

<Pics coming soon for this day, my camera decided it didn’t want to work>

So other than the tax and drinking laws (which were a little confusing at first) it’s been an awesome experience so far, and I intend to keep that up whilst I’m out here. And even though it’s very difficult to get a proper cup of tea here (I’ve had 2 since arriving) the Canadians do have something that almost makes up for it: Poutine. It consists of chips, gravy and cheese (the ‘proper’ poutine uses cheese curds, but I prefer just cheese), and next time I go to the chippy in England… that’s the way I’m going! You know you’re going to have a good time in a country when that’s their national dish!

Poutine

Toronto Baby!

(This is actually a draft I forgot to post, it’s from June 14)

OK, so I’ve been in Toronto now for a few days, so it’s about time I stuck some stuff up here! The first couple of night I was here I stayed in one of the the hostels, awesome place to meet people and socialize… not so great to sleep in… So after the first couple of nights there a group of us have moved to some of the uni halls accommodation in Toronto.

Global Village Hostel

It’s actually been brilliant the amount of places in Canada that are showing the world cup, and how many Canadians are supporting England! The last game (vs USA) was such a good atmosphere… but we lost… (i know the result was ‘draw’, but we lost), but it should be great to get to the next game and represent some more!

I went to Niagara Falls yesterday, and that was an awesome day, found a shop selling British goods, so bought some Lucozade, had a Cornish Pasty and a sausage roll… cracking lunch!

Photos from Niagara falls and the CN tower to come soon, but now I’ve got to try and sort out a job!

Before Canada

Well… my first post in 3 months, and alot has changed since then in my plans!

No longer do i plan to traverse the outback of Australia, instead I am now 3 days away from my flight to Toronto, Canada!

For the next few posts I’ll be probably using the blog as a sort of ‘travel journal’, just sharing some of the experiences and maybe photos of what I’ve been up to. So the next time you hear (well… read) from me, the Canadians will hopefully have let me in, and i’ll be speaking with a Canadian accent!

Exciting times!

Moving In

Welcome to my new place… like what I’ve done with it? Thanks.

Basically I’ve moved blog hosts because I was having issues with customising my last one, and people couldn’t comment on it unless they had an account… bad times. So hopefully this little move should fix those two issues.

I’ve also had a think about what to put in my blog, and am now going to not only post my own thoughts (as if that wasn’t enough), but also any news stories or quirky tit-bits that I think are fun or interesting that I’d like to share with you (I know… and they say you can’t be truly altruistic!).

Well enjoy the new gaff; come in, take a look around… it might take me a little while to open all the ‘moving-in boxes’, but hopefully that shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

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Bucketlist

<NOTE: I do ramble on a little in this one, so if you don’t have much time/don’t want to read my realisations and ramblings then scroll down until you get to the picture of the bucket and read from there! And for the rest of you, I hope you’re sitting comfortably…>

Being as I have been absent from this blog a little while, (it’s nice to see you as well, and yes… it is new) I thought I might begin on a little summary on what I have been doing with myself recently.

Unfortunately my professional poker career hasn’t yet taken off, neither have I received a call from Hollywood inviting me to star in a film of my life. However I have yet to turn to mugging old ladies and taking drugs, so all in all I am feeling positive.

I have however had a little bit more time to myself than I am usually used to. And so have begun learning to play a new instrument, am planning on learning a new language, and have been reading a lot more, and feeling all the better for it. My literature of choice happens to be that of a psychological persuasion (if you know me then this will not at all come as a shock to you. If you don’t know me then allow me to let you know that the study of psychology fascinates me… and that I’m also ridiculously good-looking). Much of the psychology books that are not academic textbooks seem to have a commonality in them, in that they usually explore a topic related directly to everyday life, and that more often than not, they contain a ‘self-help’ section or chapter.

Putting aside my personal opinions on the bandwagonning culture of mainstream ‘self-help’ media, and their lack of basis and research in many of the claims they make and techniques they use, reading some of the better researched books in this area has actually got me thinking about life. I know… deep right? Well, don’t be put off quite yet, as you may also find it as fascinating as I do.

The question that really stuck with me is: “what do you want to be remembered for?”. Now this seems a very plain question, I’ve been asked it many times and have usually answered something upon the lines of “being happy” or “having fun”, but look at the question again, and really think about it for a moment. If you were able to look over your own funeral, what would you want people to say about you in your eulogy? That, for me was an “Aha!” moment, and seeing as I was on a train back from Brighton at the time, and my iPod had just ran out of battery I actually began to write down part of what I would like people to remember me for. Or, if you like, part of my own eulogy. I have read it back since, and after sifting through all the cock jokes (because I’m hilarious), it has actually changed the way I perceive my life. It may work for you, if you realise how you want to be remembered and then… do it.

I have also written my own ‘bucket-list’ (as in the Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman film) of the things I would like to experience before I “kick the bucket” as they put it. I’m going to share it with you, in the hope that it might give you some ideas for your own maybe, and because my Mum says it’s nice to share. This is by no means a definitive list, and I would definitely like some more to put on, so if you have any more suggestions then please comment!

• Go skydiving
• Scuba dive on the great barrier reef
• Experience an African safari
• Walk along the great wall of China
• See the pyramids
• See the Northern lights
• Go on a cruise
• Go paragliding
• Learn to ski/snowboard
• Bungee jump
• Hot air balloon ride
• Be an extra in a film

That’s what I’ve got so far… a work in progress… suggestions welcome.

(Also if you’re a producer for a T.V. company and would like to make a programme involving me doing all the things that people think they should do before I die, then I’m sure I can fit you in to my busy schedule, and we could talk things through, perhaps over tea and biscuits… I like tea.)

Until next time,

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Kangaroos

Hello there, glad you made it back! You smell lovely today. Many things have changed since we last spoke, so let’s get started shall we?

First of all, the more observant amongst you will notice that the layout of the blog has been changed and updated… nice eh? Thanks, I thought so too. Those with even keener eyesight will also notice that the name of the blog has changed; this is in light of some new developments to do with my future adventures in Australia. Mainly that they will have to be a little further in the future than I had first anticipated… which is a shame, but hopefully will prove to be the right decision.

So in light of this new development, a blog make-over was needed, as well as a re-think as to the subject matter. So therefore in the couple of months or so that I’m remaining in my lovely homeland, this blog will act as a sort of mini release for some of my thoughts, ponderings and insights into life in general (I know, I’m excited too).

So what am I doing at the moment? Well, good question… Other than looking for a temporary job (providing, of course, that my budding professional poker career doesn’t take off…) then it seems my life is being taken up with trying to get as much fun as possible, by spending as little as possible, which at the moment is going alright. I am actually using this time to begin learning a lot of different things that I’ve never had the time for before, which is great! I may even learn a bit of Spanish… I always did like croissants…

Anyway… thanks for stopping by, it was good to catch up. I hope we can do it again soon! Take care of yourself.

Oh just quickly before you go; a little note about the post titles from now on. I am going to attempt to learn an interesting fact everyday for as long as I can, and although I won’t be ‘blogging’ everyday, I thought it would be nice to share some of them with you. Isn’t it fun to learn?

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Alpha

Well hello there everyone and welcome to my blog, you’re looking lovely today.

If you do not know who I am and have just happened to stumble upon this blog on the internet, then let me introduce myself. My name as you have probably gathered by the rather cunning and explanatory title to this particular blog; is Ste ((EDIT: back then the blog was entitled “Ste in Oz”)). At the time of writing I am 22 years of age, have just graduated from university, and am planning to travel from my home country of England, to Australia later on this month (again… hence the genius title).

I have decided to write a blog about my various adventures, antics and other incredibly deep and potentially thought-provoking insights of living and working in Australia, as well as the preparation in the lead up to going. This blog has started as a way to document my travels, both for myself in the furture, and for any family and friends wanting to know how i’m doing.

Of course the joy that will inevitably be gotten from reading this is open to anybody, not just my family and friends. It would be great to think that this blog may even help some people wanting to organise their own travels, or inspire people to go on a little adventure of their own. And with that i shall bring an end to this first post. Good night, sweet dreams, and don’t worry… i’m sure you didn’t forget to lock the front door… did you?… no you definitely did… right?… yes i’m sure you did…

(Any donations, tribute songs, fan sites, or cult followings are welcome… Of course i’m not expecting this… but i have made some t-shirts. Just in case.)

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