Safely in the Rockies

This morning I was welcomed to the beautiful location of the Rockies with the sight of snow drifting down. Waking up to that sight, even if it is out of a bus window and you haven't had all that much sleep, is wonderful. 

I had the opportunity to explore Banff town a bit dragging my suitcase behibd me, particularly because I was so disoriented that I went the absolute wrong direction and walked around in a complete circle before heading in the right direction up the hill to the hostel. Once I got rid of my belongings I ventured on a more thorough exploration of the town. 

It really is beautiful here. The sun came out later in the morning and everything warmed up a bit. I (hopefully) managed to take some great pics on my camera which are a bit note of an accurate representation of the splendour of Gods creation in this place.

Banana Chips and Buses

As I write this I am on the overnight bus headed toward Banff and eating banana chips. I don't have any internet connection right now but something I do have is time, so the plan is to post this once I do have a connection. Possibly at one of the bus stops along the way.

The last few days in Vancouver have been beautiful and sunny (unlike my weekend when I first arrived). I have seen a bit of this magnificent city and today I even managed to visit the art gallery here. Because what is it for me to travel without seeing some sort of art.

One of the exhibitions on at the moment was ab exhibition of the artwork of Lawren Harris. He was a Canadian artist who played an influential role in the development of the art in this country.

It was very interesting and inspiring to see the progression of the artists work and very interesting to see and learn how he worked at adding a spiritual element into his artwork via the use of colours, light and paintlines.

I was inspired.

Now hopefully I get a decent sleep on this bus :-)

xx Camille

Vancouver City

I had the chance to see a bit of Vancouver City today. It was nice and sunny, AND I didn't even have to wear my jacket. 

Vancouver is a beautiful waterfront city set in front of a magnificent backdrop of  snow tipped mountains. 

I spent most of the day exploring the city via the sky train and my wonderful two feet. Wandering around soaking in the sights and smelling the cherry blossoms. Seriously, those beautiful cherry blossoms are everywhere. 

It was a nice day.

Ps. Sorry about the poor photo quality. There are better ones on my camera. You just have to wait to see them.

Another day of beautiful weather

When the food being cooked in the hostel kitchen has a smell remniscient of the food served in aged care facilities it's slightly disturbing. Fortunately that is not what I'm eating, as another of the guests in the hostel has cooked up that smell. My dinner was a reasonably impressive Thai takeaway dish.

Today was another beautiful day in Vancouver. I spent it doing a lot of waking. 

After wandering around town, finding some coffee and going past the bus station, I took a bus up to Capilano gorge, a beautiful location partway up Grouse Mountain.

I ventured across the suspension bridge, wandered in and out of the trees of the rainforest and trekked along pathways off the edge of the gorge. It was a beautiful place.

Travelling on your own teaches you how to take good selfies (if you didn't know how to already) I must say I am learning lots :-)

Just incase i hadn't done enough walking yet. I got off the bus in Stanley park, a section of parkland similar to kings park back in Perth and wandered along the waters edge for a short while there. It was enjoyable especially because they have a good system of separate pathways so that I didn't get run over by someone cycling or rollerblading.

xxx Camille 

So I was gonna write something over the weekend....

And then I didn't.

 I even started right after I posted my other post while I was in transit, but as you can clearly see that didn't really happen.

After arriving on Friday morning I spent the weekend with the Vane family, tried to sleep off this horrible thing called jetlag, met lots of new people at church and then later on in the evening and even caught up with a few fellow Aussies.

Essentially that was the extent of my adventures for the weekend. It was great to have the opportunity to relax and recuperate before continuing my travels.

xxx Camille

Neither here nor there,

You know the airport'a big when you take a train to get from the check in gates to the departure lounges. Welcome to Beiing airport. Big, spacious and empty when you're there in the middle of the night. 

Our flight from Melbourne to Beijing was first redirected via Changhai for a 60ish min maintenance stop where everyone was required to hop off and go through immigration if we were staying in the county or now. So now, I have the entry and exit visa stamps for China without being in the country for more than a grabs total 16hours.

It all was an experience and an adventure.  Once making it out of customs I found some tea near the check in point, relaxed and was refreshed before taking the adventure to find the international departure gates. By train. As I said, it's a big airport. 

So since then, I've gone back through border security, found some place to sleep for a few bourse, stretched my stuff body, written this and have been for a walk. One thing with a big airport and lots of time is that you can go exploring.

Xx

Ps. I haven't been able to get a reliable internet connection. This  be posted once something is found.

All ready to go?

Here I am, on the doorstep of another adventure. Packed, forms for my new job finalised and a new house to come home to...

Or so I thought, until I saw my pjs still sitting on my bedroom floor and remembered that my kindle charger was being used to charge Cinda's phone.

I think I have everything now (think being the operative word there).

Only a bit more than 4 hours until the wheels of my first flight lift up off the Tarmac. I have been incredibly blessed so far with so many travel opportunities and am thankful for what is ahead of me now.

xxx