Tourist

I spent yesterday being a tourist in 100 Mile. I saw the water fall by the park for the first time in 7 years. It hadn't grown... I also went to the 108 Heritage site where a few old buildings from the gold rush and the time after have been put up. I haven't been there for 6 years. Not much had changed though except the newly built log church.


On the way back we were slowed down by a sheep herd that must have escaped from their owner. This event led up to me, Jan, her neighbor Val and her relative Haley trying to save a cow that was a bit lost. Even though we opened the gate for him he decided to jump through the barbed wire fence.

Planned for today is another attempt at kayaking on Ruth Lake. The rain stopped us last time, but the weather looks pretty nice today so hopefully we will make it around the whole lake this time.

More pictures...

What a beautiful weekend we've had. It is still not to warm though, the temperature is just right for not being over heated. I had my first swim in Canada on Saturday in the 108 Lake. I was supposed to have gone for a swim yesterday at Green Lake too, but the wind out there didn't really make you that up for it. The camp chairs (the wind picked them up and dropped them in the water), Jan, Mike and Paul all went in though. Only Paul didn't mind the cold water! Jaimie has finally beat me in crib. She is still about 10 wins behind me! I guess I don't have much else to tell you about this weekend. For those interested though. I talked to Darlene on Saturday and the baby hadn't arrived yet. Here are some pictures!
The Kidstons' log house and property with the arena in the foreground.

Jaimie riding in the arena.

The view from the porch. Fields, lakes and lots of forest!


For those interested in geography and that remembers Peter Haggett and "On the Beach". Jan took geography in the end of the 70s and Haggett was used already back then. The beach chapter is pretty much the same as in the newer versions.



















You all must be impressed by the lack of self portrait pictures! :o) Don't worry I will probably do a spp theme any day now!

Finally Friday!

I've already been here for a week. Tuesday was a quiet day. I'm on vacation right so I'm allowed to just relax, sun tan for a bit on the porch. They really have a wonderful porch with a beautiful view. You can see forest for miles and miles. Maybe I should add a picture of the house and view soon. In the late afternoon I went for ladies night at the tennis court. I don't enjoy doubles that much though, but in the end I got to play a single with my sister Jaimie. We tied but had quite a good game except our serves. On Wednesday Jan (my second mum) and I went to Kamloops two and a half hours south of 100 Mile. Since Jan took geography at University before marrying Mike we of course talked about how the language changes from wet and vegetation rich to very dry and vegetation poor. We only made one stop though to take pictures of this iron rich mountain/hill. In Kamloops we went to all the fun stores like Canadian Superstor, Wal-Mart, Chapters (including Starbucks), Staples and of course Costco (my favorite). You by everything in huge packages there. It's great fun. We also went to Jysk which I thought was a Swedish store, but I learned that it was Danish. Well, anyway it is Scandinavian. Jan had never been there before but is going again for sure. We saw Nancy something in the lamp store. She won some Olympic medal in alpine skiing at the 1968 Olympics (was that a winter Olympics?) She is still a huge roll model for young skiers here. I think almost every ski hill has a Nancy Green club for young skiers. Yesterday was another lazy day until it was time for this weeks kayaking. We went to Ruth Lake but only had time for 1 1/2 hours of kayaking since a thunderstorm was coming our way. We got away with just a little bit of rain in the end. I don't know what the plan is for the weekend it really depends on the weather. After a week of sunshine the weather is a bit crappy today. We might go to Sun Peak for Sunday. There is some quilting thing going on up there. I'm not so interested in that but it would be fun to see Sun Peaks though. I never got to see it in the winter time when I was here for my exchange and it sounds like it is a cool place. Jaimie is going to Vancouver Sunday to Monday since she has to take some finger print for her Visa or something like that. She is coming to Scotland and Glasgow to finish her law studies this fall. Hopefully she will come to Sweden for Christmas. Well it is time to get out there and see a little bit of 100 Mile!

Summer in 100 Mile!

I've already been here for four days! The trip here was kind of exciting. First of all I tried to bring a full water bottle through security at Heathrow. I did not succeed. But I didn't loose my nice Nalgene bottle either. The security guard was really nice and went and just pored the water out. I guess she noticed that I wasn't terrorist material.

I thought I really would like Air Canada, but I missed New Zealand Air. Air Canada didn't have a single movie I wanted to watch! And it was a touch screen instead of a remote control which meant that the 8 year old Norwegian boy behind me could both hit me in the back with his feet (which he did a lot) and pick me in the head since he wasn't a gentle pusher of the buttons. I asked him once in Swedish to quit it out...but I don't know if he understood it or not!

I got some really nice pictures of the Canadian shield and the Coastal mountains of BC. I missed the Rockies though. My favorite picture is of a glacier and downtown Vancouver.

When I arrived at the airport I went to this information desk to see the quickest and cheapest way to the Greyhound bus depot. Since the taxi would be so expensive the man suggested taking the shuttle bus to downtown Vancouver and then the Skytrain. I arrived at the airport at 3.35 PM and the Greyhound was leaving at 5.45PM so I didn't have much time. The shuttle bus left the airport at 4.30PM and I didn't get off until 5.15PM. So I was kind of stressed out trying to find the Skytrain which wasn't easy. I didn't see a single sign for it. But after asking around I catched it at 5.25PM. Luckily it was just 3 stops with the train and when I got off this Australian backpacker helped me find the place. I actually had 10 minutes to buy the tickets but the line was so long so I missed the bus with about a minute. Then I was really lucky because there was another bus that would catch up with my bus at Chilliwack (about 2 hour drive east of Vancouver)! So i made it to 100 Mile finally. Jan, Jaimie and her "boyfriend" Paul ( I don't know if the use those terms yet) picked me up at 1:30AM when I arrived after I had text messaged Rickard to phone Jan since I couldn't get the number to work when I tried to phone in Chilliwack.

I supposedly brought the nice summer weather here! :o) It hasn't been too warm yet but very sunny. On Friday I had a pick nick with Jaimie and Paul which was nice! We went to Jan's mum's cabin at Green Lake for the weekend. It was assume. I went for a few kayak rides on the lake trying to get a even browner tan (which worked perfectly)! The Sunday ended with Mike taking me out to the tennis court. I haven't played since last time I was here three years ago so I was really rusty. But it was great fun! I really have to try and play when I get back again to Sweden.

The only thing planned for this week is a trip to Kamloops on Wednesday! I'm excited especially about visiting Costco again! I will tell you how that goes later! And now I'm going to go map hunting! It is going to be interesting to compare the map selection at the BC visitor centers with the visitor centers in NZ.

Talk to you later alligators!

Time for this years next trip...this time to sweet lovely Canada!

Welcome back! Time to dust off this old blog again. It did not have time to get too dusty luckily. As some of you know I got a job for the fall and hopefully for next spring mapping (together with 69 other people) the agricultural land of Sweden. Since I do not start until the middle of August I thought it would be a good idea to spend some of that first paycheck in advance. And there is no better way of doing that than taking a trip to Canada. I will do my best updating you on my adventures over there!

Home sweet home...or is it sour?

Just to let everyone now I returned safely to Stockholm yesterday evening after way to many hours in the air (Tonga-Samoa-Los Angeles 10.30 hours, Los Angelse-London 9.30 hours, London-Stockholm 2.30 hours).

Luckily we all except two students that couldn't make it could prepare for the flight on the tiny island of Atata half a hour boat ride from the main island of Tonga. We stayed at the Royal Sunset Island Resort with the beach and the ocean water just ten meters away on the western side of our bungalow and maybe 50 meters away on the eastern side. We didn't realize all this until the morning after we arrived. The boat ride out to the island after dark was quite exciting especially when the boat was stopped by the coral reef (grundstötning). We managed to get out there eventually but I think it took about 40 minutes longer than it normally takes.

Except tanning and bathing time have been spent snorkeling, exploring the waters by a piece of floating material (EasyRider) and waiting for the next meal and for the happy hour in the bar. There weren't much else you could do out there than that.
The flight home wasn't too bad even though I didn't like the stop at Samoa in the middle of the night where we all had to get off and wait for an hour before we could return to our seats.

Actually the flight between London and Stockholm was quite bad since it sounded like the engines were installed inside the plane. We wore ear plugs the whole way which didn't really help!

I am a little sad to be home. It is always difficult to return to a everyday life after such an adventure that this trip has been. I will probably get used to it faster than I expect though. I hope you have enjoyed the my page and I hope to see you again when I fly away again!

Last day on NZ!!!

It's the last day on NZ which is quite incredible. Time really flies when you are having fun. The last couple of days have really been filled with fun especially the black water rafting in Waitomo, the place we went to after Rotorua. The Waitomo is made up of karst which is limestone that have been weathered and eroded into large underground tunnel- and cave systems. Water is important in this weathering process so usually you can find lots of water in the tunnels. We went in wearing wet suits and carrying a floating ring that we used going through the parts with deep water. I think everyone had the most fun though jumping backwards over small water falls holding the ring against the bum. You could get quite a good splash from that jump.

From Waitomo we drove up to the Coromandel peninsula which we didn't get to see much of the first day since we drove that after dark. It wasn't too exciting in the day light though except the huge Kauri trees that can become thousands of years old. Most of them were cut down in the beginning of the last century but a few are still standing looking amazing.

Yesterday we drove into Auckland. We are staying at a hostel in the central part and will get two hours today to do the city. We had a walk around yesterday (city excursion), but didn't get to do any shopping so I will do my very best today. I know a few stores that I want to visit.

The flight to Tonga leaves at 3.30PM and we will arrive at 7.20PM (Tonga time). We are being picked up from the airport on the main island to go to a smaller island where i guess you only can find the resort we are staying at. It is supposedly very narrow and 3 km in length.

I think this will be the last I write on this trip. I hope you all have enjoyed it!!! I will let you know when I am safe and sound at home!!! First a couple of pictures though!!!


Flying over Napier.

2500 meters up in the air on the volcanoe Mt Ruapehu. The crater lake is visible in the background (if you look really close).

Getting ready for the black water rafting experience in the Waitomo caves.