It’s been a few months since my last post.  This isn’t about the why’s of that.  This is about TRAVEL!!  I think I’ve settled on an itinerary for my trip to Australia and New Zealand.  I had some tough decisions to make for this trip.  In the end I had to cut Gold Coast/Surfer’s Paradise.  It sounded really interesting but I couldn’t see going there just to go to the Hard Rock Cafe when there were so many other things to see in Australia and New Zealand!  I also had the longest debate on timings: after dropping GC I thought I’d like to go to Melbourne but I also wanted more time in New Zealand.  Around midnight last night I had an epiphany: what would happen if I turned the entire vacation upside down?  What if I went to New Zealand first?  Somehow that allowed for both Melbourne and an extra day or so in New Zealand.  Time is strange.

Here’s what I’ve come up with:

Day 00 – Leave Canada
Day 0 – still travelling
Day 01 – Land in Sydney; travel to Auckland, New Zealand (2 nights in Auckland)
Day 02 – Free time exploring Auckland
Day 03 – Day trip visiting Waitomo caves, and cultural stuff ending up in Rotoura (2 nights in Rotoura)
Day 04 – Matamata (Hobbiton)? and free time; Travel to Wellington (3 nights in Wellington)
Day 05 – Free time in Wellington/free trolley
Day 06 – More free time in Wellington
Day 07 – Train to Christchurch (1 night in Christchurch)
Day 08 – Greyline bus to Queenstown (3 nights in Queenstown)
Day 09 – a couple of tours around the area
Day 10 – Free time in Queenstown
Day 11 – Free morning; flight to Cairns, Australia (3 nights in Cairns)
Day 12 – Cultural/Scenic Tour of the area
Day 13 – Full or half day snorkelling and free time.
Day 14 – Flight to Ayers Rock Resort (3 nights on the resort)
Day 15 – Uluru Sunrise and Kata Valley tours
Day 16 – Kings Canyon and Star Talk (or dinner and star gazing)
Day 17 – Sunrise camel ride; flight to Melbourne (2 nights in Melbourne)
Day 18 – Ocean Road Tour
Day 19 – City tour and free time; flight to Sydney (4 nights in Sydney)
Day 20 – City tour and cruise
Day 21 – Free time – the Opera House, maybe Featherdale Park, Hard Rock Cafe
Day 22 – Free time in Sydney
Day 23 – Free morning; flight home.

Cairns: Should I leave time to explore Cairns?  Or should I spend more time on/around the reef?

For the locals or tourists that have been there: any major issues you notice?  Things I should skip or I should do instead?  I’m hoping this will leave a bit of time for random happenings in some places, like science or photography events.  I also still have some questions of some of these places that I haven’t asked yet.  Waiting until I know for sure I like this idea.  I have some hotels picked out, but I’m open to suggestions.  I don’t drive so they must be easy to get to, centrally located, and easy to get around town from.  Wifi (preferably free but I know that’s pretty much non-existent) is a definite plus.  Wired Internet is useless as I’ll just be bringing my tablet.

Thanks so much to @jeanne_crouse, @jeanettemarsh, @journeyjottings, @annacaronz, @JCHart, @RuthDaniels, @merrileefaber on Twitter for all your help!  I owe you all a drink if I’m in your area.  Message me on Twitter and I’ll tell you the actual date I’ll be there!

To everyone else: I’m still accepting applications for travel buddies! ;)  Anything to help that Sydney hotel bill.  ouch.

Help me, Internets, you’re my only hope!

I want to take a big trip this year.  I’m settling on Australia and New Zealand.  I’d like some recommendations about where to go, what to see and what to do, and anything else you think I should know.  Stuff you should know:  I’ve got about three weeks.  I’ll be going mid-October.  I don’t drive.

- What are the must see things in each country?

- Where should I spend my time?

- What places might be good as part of a tour and what things should I explore on my own? (Keeping in mind, again, that I can’t drive.)

- What places should I avoid? (Because they’re not high on the list of must-sees/over rated/whatever)

- As a photographer (mostly architecture and landscapes) where are some good places to shoot (that are, again, accessible by walking, tours, or public transit).

- How best to travel from place to place?  (Bus, train, plane)

- As a Canadian travelling to Australia and New Zealand, what are some things I should know?

My thoughts were to visit Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns (and the Reef), take a tour to Alice Springs or some place similar.  Should I make a detour to Perth, Adelaide, or anywhere else?  In New Zealand: Auckland, Wellington, Christ Church, Queensland.  As you may have noticed, I was really just listing off the towns I know. :P  What places are really worth visiting?

I’d love your recommendations in the comments.  If you’d be willing to help me out further as I plan this trip, hit me up on Twitter.  Maybe we can exchange emails or just flood Twitter with Q&A’s.

I look forward to your comments!  Thanks!!

So, it’s no secret that I’ve been absent from blogging the last couple of months.  This is not my ‘come back’ post.  I’ll post when I feel like it.  Sometimes I’ll post lots, other times it might be another few moths of silence.

I stopped blogging near the end of end of June.  I was getting ready for a week long trip to visit my friend down south and I’d planned on scheduling a bunch of posts to take me through the trip until a couple of days after but simply didn’t have enough time.

After I got back, I figured that I had two choices: back date a bunch of posts or just write that week off and start ‘fresh’.  Both options just seemed like too much.  I’ve talked several times (too much) about feeling like I don’t have enough time for everything I wanted and needed to get done in a day or a week.  So, I decided that as much as I (usually) liked blogging, it had to go.  I also tossed all the other challenges I was in the middle of.  The trip (and being a week ‘behind’ – or two by the time I got ready for the trip and then got home and settled in) really helped me make that decision and cut those ties.

I still don’t really feel like I’ve gotten on top of anything, project wise, but it’s been a weird summer.  I’ve decided to just take it one day at a time.

Having said all that, I will have some posts over the next couple of days.

So… enough about me, what about you?  How has your summer been?

Unrelated to that part of my job, I will be getting more hours starting next week.  That’s good for the wallet and the bills, but will leave me even less time for all my projects that I can’t even seem to get to now.  I’m not going to turn the hours down though, seeing as I’ve been asking for them for years.  Things always come at the ‘wrong’ times, don’t they?

About the only project that I’ve been able to actually work on continuously and meet my goals is this blog and, while I don’t plan on stopping again (I will finish something I’ve started for once!) I do wonder if it’s really worth my time.  Ah well.

Anyway, just thought after all these blog posts, I should give a brief update on life.

from NASA_JSC_Photo on Flickr

There have been so many reasons to love science and astronomy the last couple of weeks.  From the successful launch, docking and return of the Dragon capsule from the International Space Station to today’s Transit of Venus.  It’s made a lot of people look to the skies and find a renewed interest in science.

Even the younglings.

I watched as much as I could, virtually, through a Google+ hangout hosted by +Fraser Cain and +Philip Plait.  The first half of it is up on YouTube.  Of course the International Space Station is watching too!  (The photo on this post is taken from that flickr stream).

While this did happen just 8 years ago, it won’t happen again until 2117 so… yeah… a few years from now.  I’ll leave you with this final link: Video of the 1882 transit (created from almost 200 glass plate prints SO much work back in the day!)

On the weekend, I decided to try and make corn chowder.  I looked through a few recipes online, but then basically threw a bunch of stuff in a pot and waited to see what would happen.  What I made was a lot more than ‘corn’ chowder… there’s celery, mushrooms and onions, potatoes, carrots, bacon… and OMG it’s yummy! (if I do say so myself).  The chowder was cooked with the bare cobs to give more flavour.

Next time I’ll add more milk/cream and less stock.

I ate it with a heel of homemade “black bread” (which is sub-par, but edible with the chowder!).

(ION – you’ll notice I finally gave all these foodie posts their own category!)

Wall outside the Student Association office (I think) at the NSCC campus in Truro.  Nothing else really needs to be said.