My New Favorite Place!

Today, Todd and I drove down to Wilson’s Promontory. What a beautiful place! It is a park on the southern-most peninsula of the Australian mainland. The landscape is very cool and the beaches are amazing. The funniest one was called Squeaky Beach, where the sand honestly squeaks under your feet. The brochure says it is quartzite sand, and for some reason it makes a weird sound when you walk on it. Then we stopped at Shallow Inlet, where we drove way out into the straight because the tide was so low. Lastly, before we returned to our fantastic camp at Inverloch, we toured around the point at Venus Bay... where a kangaroo jumped across the road in front of our van when we were driving and I nearly stepped right on some sort of bluish-purply colored snake while we were hiking!
Not sure what’s on the agenda for tomorrow... still on my hit-list is driving the Great Ocean Road to the Twelve Apostles, and of course I’d really love to go to Tasmania. For now, we’re hanging here at Inverloch in hopes of wind. Cheers!

More Canucks

Mike and Brad got to Inverloch before noon yesterday, and by mid-afternoon everyone was riding up a storm. The wind picked up nicely and all three of the boys rode until sunset - it was the best day so far! I’ve been happy just piddling around with my camera... I have to admit that even though it’s a beautiful place, I still just don’t really care for the water. Plus I’ve had enough sun for a few days I think, so today I’m trying to hide from it a bit... although it isn’t forecasted to be quite as hot.
Tomorrow morning, Todd and I are going to get up early and take a quick drive down to Wilson’s Promontory, then we may all pack up and head towards Phillip Island. We haven’t really strayed as far from Melbourne as I thought we would... we are rapidly realizing that a month isn’t nearly enough time to explore all the places we had hoped!
Cheers.

Friday the 13th

Another gorgeous day in southern Oz!! It is clear and sunny this morning, and we are heading into town for a coffee and some visiting with the locals before the wind picks up. The Australians so far are the friendliest people I’ve ever met!! Everybody wants to know where you’re from, what you do, how long you’re staying, where you’re going... and they all take the time to tell you about the best things to do and see while here. I love it!!! This little town especially is laid back, and the folks just take to you like they’ve known you forever.
Yesterday started out quite foggy, but warm. Todd and I walked along a nature path near the campground that took us up to a point which overlooks the inlet, and then it curved around down through the neat trees and a swampy area and back across to the beach. There was a mediocre breeze in the afternoon and Todd was able to fly his 14m for a few hours, but so far there haven’t been the screaming winds I think he was hoping for! Oh well, at least the weather is amazing and we are NOT AT WORK!! Yeah!!
Mike and Brad should be here sometime today, so we will probably stay one more night for sure, then see what the consensus is for moving on.
Cheers!

Inverloch Rocks!

We drove down to Inverloch yesterday, which is southeast of Melbourne. The countryside is absolutely gorgeous in this area, with lots of dairy farms and wineries. We found a stellar campsite just metres from the beach and since and the wind was blowing a bit when we got here, Todd was able to get a short ride in. The tide was out too, so I had a ton of fun wandering way out into the middle of the channel! The town is small but really cool, with nice coffee shops and super friendly people. I think we’ll stay here a few more days and meet up with Brad and Mike. Wilson’s Promontory is within a few hours driving of here and we’ve been told it is a must-see, so we will perhaps check it out tomorrow. Right now, Todd is impatiently waiting for some wind... I think I may have him convinced to go on a short hike with me on a nature trail however, and maybe we’ll see some more kangaroos! I saw two last night in the field behind where we are camped, but didn’t get any pix as it was getting too dark.
Hope all is well back home! Cheers!

Heading South

Today was HOT HOT HOT again... with not much wind... So, after a bit of jerry-rigging on the lighter outlet in the vanorama – it was not working, and the much needed GPS rapidly died – and organizing some gear, we decided to drive the Great Ocean Road to the Twelve Apostles. Yeah! I was super excited! However. We didn’t leave until noon and we totally underestimated the distance from the east side of Melbourne... which means we only made it as far as a town called Angelsea. But we did stop at some very cool places – Bells Beach and Point Danger were beautiful, and the surf town of Torquay was nice too.
Tomorrow we are heading down to Inverloch (east of Melbourne) for a couple of days to hang there until we meet up with Brad. Hopefully there will be a breeze! If nothing else, at least we get to check out some more of the countryside.
Cheers!

The Land of Oz

We’re here! The trip from Calgary to Melbourne, while long, was uneventful... All of our stuff made it intact and it was 32 degrees Celsius when we stepped off the plane – YEAH!! What a great way to start a vacation! After picking up the camper van we immediately headed for the beach – of course, in true Todd form, he was on the water within 3 hours of arriving and rode until the sun went down. We went to St Kilda Beach, which is kind of like the ‘Venice Beach’ of Melbourne or something... except sadly, there is almost as much trash as there is sand... seems like nobody puts their garbage in a bin, they just toss it... kind of disturbing and not very attractive. Before I left Canada I heard all sorts of talk about the stunning beaches of Australia, so I’m hoping this one was an exception!
Our itinerary is pretty flexible at the moment; we will likely hang around the Melbourne area for a few more days and meet up with B-Rad later on in the week. It’s a neat city, with lots of cool buildings and really friendly people. The biggest issue so far is avoiding the toll freeways... they are super expensive for non-residents to drive on... but apparently it isn’t a big deal getting around via surface streets, if you’re not in a hurry.
Well, off to the local kiteshop for a wind forecast and back to the beach! The sun is INTENSE and the heatwave is supposed to continue. Poor us, hey!! Hee hee! Hope it’s not toooo chilly back there in the northern hemisphere!!
Cheers!

The joys of packing!

We leave for Australia in less than 24 hours... so today we started the packing process. I forget how much fun it is, trying to cram all sorts of gear (kiting and climbing, for this trip) - not to mention a month's worth of clothing and personal items - into 4 bags! A couple of most excellent purchases certainly did make the ordeal much easier: a spring scale, to cut out the guesswork of the luggage weight, and some 'As Seen on TV' vacuum packing bags. Those babies work pretty slick, I must say! It is also a good thing that as of yet, we have no living room furniture in our place in Red Deer. The large, empty space is perfect for laying everything out and getting it organized.

In the end - are you ready for this - we have four kites, three bars, one pump, three boards, two wetsuits, two helmets, two lifejackets, four leashes, two kiting harnesses, two rock-climbing harnesses, a full climbing rack, a rope, quickdraws, two pairs of rock shoes... plus a kite repair kit and spare parts... and a few other miscellaneous things. This is all squeezed into three bags, and our clothing is in the fourth. **WHEW** Almost 200lbs of STUFF! Yeah!

This will likely be the last post until we arrive in the land down under... the final hurdle being the 21-hour plane ride!

Cheers!

Fun without the sun!

Today wasn't the most pleasant day, weather-wise... but it was great none the less! Two friends of mine and I zipped up to Prairie View Lookout at Barrier Lake, where we took in the awesome view of the lake and it's namesake mountain. I recently bought another point'n'shoot camera (if you are at all interested in it, I'll be reviewing it on my photo blog), so I was itching to get it outside and take some pics with it. The light was really flat but the girls wore bright colors, which was appreciated!
Anyway, this is the last day I'll be spending out in Canmore until we get back from down under... and I'm really glad I was able to get out and enjoy it!
Now, the focus will be shifting to sorting gear, deciding what to take, and packing for the trip. I'm getting quite excited!! Sounds like the folks we are meeting there are having a blast, and soon we will be joining them!! Yaaayyyy for vacation!!
Cheers.

Canmore Hoodoos

Well, it's been typical fall weather... not completely sh*te, but not overly nice either. Just barely crappy enough to keep me from being super-motivated to get out and do stuff!! Ick. Oh well. Soon we will be in Australia and busy as can be, so I'm not going to beat myself up over it! Yeah!

Anyhow, this afternoon I did get my carcass outside for a few hours. I'm in Canmore and I wandered over to the hoodoos on the side of the hill above the cemetery. For the last three years, everytime I've driven across the bridge and up Elk Run Boulevard, I've muttered to myself that I really should check them out. So today I finally did! They are quite neat actually, a bit of an anomaly. The softer soil around them was eroded by the glaciers and the hoodoos were left standing. They have changed a little bit since the early 1900's, but they pretty much look the same as they did back then (there is an old photo and an interpretive sign on the trail). I took my fish-eye lens and my Lensbaby and snapped some pics of the formations, so not only did I get a bit of fresh air and exercise, I also had fun playing with my camera. Bonus!

Cheers!

Hangin' in there...

**WHEW** I'm now on day 6, of 7 in a row, of work. ICK. I just need to hang on for about 40 more hours, and I'll be able to hopefully enjoy 11 or 12 days in a row, of play!! Yeah!! The weather is supposed to pick up a bit this weekend, which would be nice - since I still have soooo many objectives on my 'Things To Do When You're Not At Work' hit list. Then it will be crazy for a few weeks, and then... Australia!! We'll be gone for a month, and I can hardly wait. I'm trying hard not to think about it too much, because I get super distracted, and surely I'm annoying my co-workers with my pre-travel neurosis! Although I know deep down they'll miss me when I'm gone... hee hee!
I think my friend Lynn may join me for a day hike this weekend, if the temps are reasonable, and perhaps I may even convince my best friend Jynelle to come to Canmore for a visit. Yeah! Friends, the outdoors, probably a bit of rum... good times!
Cheers!