The New Year

I celebrated new years at a friend of a friend's house near the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

It's been an eventful year for me and everyone in my family really. We welcomed a new addition to our clan, Abram, Luke and Mary tied the knot, my parents moved to Stanley, and Adam and Riva moved to Washington. I graduated from Carleton, spent the summer in Banff then moved to Australia.

Like I said a lot of life changes last year but I've had a great year and I've been lucky enough that the good has far outweighed the bad and I've had the support of some truly amazing family and friends. So thanks to everyone for a great year!

I'll end with one of my favorite Bilbo Baggins songs.

The Road Goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone

And I must follow, if I can, 

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many parts and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

Sydney

The view from Circular Quay, on my way home from the airport.

Christmas in Brisbane

I spent Christmas in Brisbane with a friend of my mom's, Mike Robertson. Mike's family was very welcoming and I got to hear a few stories from university about my mom that I'd never heard before.

Mike was nice enough to take me to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, one of the last places in Australia where you can still hold koalas. It was a really cool place, there was even a large paddock where they allow visitors interact with the kangaroos.

I may look a bit nervous holding the large sea eagle because the trainer put her on my wrist then said "Now don't move or she might attack"... thanks for the reassurance.

The Northern Beaches

Today I decided to take advantage of the amazing weather and after an early morning surf I went for a walk up the coast and visited the other northern beaches. It's an amazing walk but I must confess I got lazy and decided to just bus back after I reached Dee Why and the bad weather started to roll in. The pictures are taken along the way.

North Head

A short walk from my house there is a nature reserve that used to be a military outpost that protected Sydney Harbour. I hiked through it today and here are some pictures. The lizard is called an Eastern Sea Dragon and is protected in our area, though they are pretty common, I saw 4 or 5 today alone.

Manly

I finally got a camera! This means I can finally show off Manly!

While I do live in Sydney, Manly is a half hour ferry ride on the other side of the harbour from the downtown core. It doesn't feel much like living in a city, which suits me just fine. Beach life is pretty cruisy, so far, I get up, work then surf most days and I've recently joined a beach volleyball league. It's pretty easy to just be content with Manly and avoid exploring anywhere outside of the Northern Beaches.

The Northern Beaches are broken up by cliffs that extend out into the ocean as you can see in the picture of Manly beach. Heading North, Manly is the first beach followed by Freshwater, Curl Curl, Dee Why and then Narrabeen and a few more.It's a very nice walk along the coast, however I didn't do it today because the weather took a turn for the worse and started raining.

I've gone to a Land Down Under

Hallo from down undah!

For those who didn't know I'm now living in Manly, on the northern beaches of Sydney.

I've been here for a week now and will be writing about my first impressions because I forgot my camera.

Australia in general is really nice right now. We are just heading into summer so the weather isn't super hot yet but the temperature is in the 20s every day. I was expecting everything to be super expensive but I've found about the only thing that's really expensive is pop. I really like the fact that all price, like in England, already include the sales tax and they also don't have 1c coins here, so no annoying pennies floating around in your wallet. Interest rates on savings accounts at banks are also very high(about 6%). All I needed to open mine was a passport!

Anyway I'll post again tomorrow on Manly a bit more specifically.

Soundtrack to My Life

I've been listening to a lot of music lately and thinking about how I identify certain songs or albums with different times in my life. The songs don't necessarily reflect what was going on with me at the time but they just remind of certain things, see the list below and post some of your own.

 Moondance - Van Morrison
Christmas in grade 4 or 5. My mom had a CD that Adam gave her with some Christmas songs on it and I remember falling asleep while hearing this playing in the living room some nights at our old house on Manchester Crescent.


Californication(album) - Red Hot Chili Peppers
The summer after grade 10, when I finally started to get out of my rap/hip-hop phase. This was one of the first albums I enjoyed start to finish along with Audioslave's self titled album.

Learning to Fly - Tom Petty
Basketball with Adam and Luke at Christmas time in grade 11. This was on a Tom Petty CD that was played constantly in my dad's car.

Stadium Arcadium(album) - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Summer after grade 12 before starting at university, I always played this album on the way to Parlee beach and Gordon Falls.

Release - Pearl Jam
I really enjoy this song now, Pearl Jam opened with this one at their concert and I can't stop listening to it!

Nigel Pass

The last hike of the season was through Nigel Pass, near Saskatchewan Crossing. Scottish Steve, a Scotsman I work with, was able to join me for the hike. I'll be posting some real thoughts and information in paragraph form later.

Wenkechema Pass

A hike near Lake Louise, done with Alec Forbes, who also backpacked with me on the previous few hikes while he was visiting from Ottawa. The buttslide made a triumphant return when we decided to descend from the pass. A couple Kokanees made their way into our packs for a reward at the top of the pass.

Gibbon Pass and Egypt Lake

Healy Pass

These are some pictures from August I didn't have a chance to put up until now. I did another backpacking trip the weekend after Robson through Healy pass to Castle Mountain Junction.

Pictures from my phone

Just some pictures from my phone that I've been hoarding for the summer. Some wildlife, a Pearl Jam concert and a sunrise on the golf course.

Emperor Falls

Snowbird Pass 3