Canada - Sept 30th 2010

Location: "The Forks", Winnipeg, Canada.

Time Of Writing: 14:00

Todays blog is "live" so to speak as im posting it as i write it. Most days I dont have internet access so i write the blog and then post it when I come into a wifi zone - today is a little different as im having a coffee in a Starbucks which has free wifi so its live and up to date!

Have been in Winnipeg for almost 2 days now and I am enjoying it. Its a very very flat city which makes it very windy but other that that its like a mini Chicago, very cultural and artisan. After a couple of days camping i booked into Winnipegs YWCA yesterday for a swim and was pleasently surprised to see the Man Utd v Velancia Champions League game on the tv in the locker room. Took a stroll around downtown Winnipeg and visited "the Forks" which is an age old trading post and now a pedestrianized area of shops, cafes, and bars. Its also the home of the Manitoba Tourist office where I went to check out the possibility of traveling north to Churchill on the Hudson Bay. At this time of year Churchill becomes the center of the migration route for most of the continents polar bears so I was really hoping to get up there to see some. Unfortunately its not a feasible trip on a back packers budget as to get there alone costs $1500 ive discovered. Ah well! Enjoyed a few Fort Gary Black beers in the 4Play sports bar last night instead to drown my sorrows! 

Camped last night in the Winnipeg national park, an excellent facility only 10kms from down town Winnipeg. As good as the facilities were i didn't sleep a god damn wink the entire night due to the continues noise from the Snow Geese which flew over head in their droves ALL night. At about 5am as the sun was slowly rising I managed to shoot some video of them but believe me i would have much preferred to have had a shot gun than an iphone to shoot with!

Thus today i am like a walking zombie due to the lack of sleep and little things are annoying me! In-fact there is one thing about Canada that has been annoying me for about 3 weeks now and seeing as im in the mood im going to rant about it for a moment! Why the hell are theer so so many bloody "Tim Horttons" cafes in Canada?????? Every Street corner, back ally, fuel stop, shopping center, theater, sports field, and bloody funeral home has a Tim Horttons!! There are probably even other Tim Horttons Franchises IN Tim Horttons!!I have passed so many that I reckon if the average man drove from Halifax Nova Scotia to Vancouver stopping at every Time Horttons he came across he would NEVER actually finish the journey in his own life time!!! However whats amazes me even more is why its so popular as the poor excuse for coffee that they serve can only be describe as what i assume a cocktail of molasses, cyanide and crude oil must taste like! I would even go so far as to say that if we pored it in the engine every 1000kms instead of the usual engine oil the engine would would probably run even smoother!

On the iPod today: Nothing - No driving today

Todays Weather: Beautiful sunny day.

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Canada - Sept 28th 2010

Location: Approx 12kms East of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 
Time of Writing: 22:00 

Another day another provence! Today we said goodbye to Ontario and hello to Manitoba. At last I feel like we are making progress accross this vast country. Before leaving Ontario we passed through a little town called White Water Lake, site of White Water Castle a locally well known oddity built in 1904 by Scottish Imigrant Jimmy McQuat and now restored. He built it entirely by himself - and nobody knows why! He was a bachelor yet this huge palace comes complete with a 4 storey tower! Ain't it amazing what a man can achieve without a nagging woman in his life........ Or maybe he just built it to quel the frustration due to the lack of a woman in his life!!! Who knows! Also passed through Kenora and saw an entire airport built on a lake to facilitate water boats..... Seeing these really makes it feel like we are now in the Canadian heartlands. 

Last night was very cold and I didn't sleep great because of it, camping it seems is now becoming a winter Olympic adventure sport the further we travel west and the later it is getting into the Fall. 

Manitoba was top of my list of places I wanted to see in Canada before even coming here. I don't know why really as the only things I know about it I learned from an episode of 'Malcom in the Middle'! (the one where they visit Louise's dads other family!) The name itself means "Great Spirit" in native Indian so that to me suggests a place of great mysteriousness and adventure so maybe that's the attraction! Thus far it has actually been mysterious and I'll explain why - for the last few days Marco has been complaining about the quality of the ground mat he bought for camping on so today when we stopped at the border crossing to get a photo of the "welcome to Manitoba" sign there lying by the side of the road was a brand new still wrapped in it's original packaging ground mat!!! I'm guessing some poor cyclist dropped it and never noticed and while they may tonight be sleeping in the cold the German couldn't be happier!!! Tomorrow I'm insisting he complains all day about the quality of women we have met so hopfully when we cross the border into Seskatchawan Ms Canada herself will be waiting there for us!!! 

Crossing into Manitoba also means the price of gas is reasonable again, Ontario gas prices really put a big dent in the fuel budget. Being honest I shouldn't be complaining at all considering the much cheaper cost of gas here compared to at home but when you are filling the tank twice and sometimes three times in a day it adds up! Plan to spend all day tomorrow in Winnipeg meeting the locals! There is nothing I like more about traveling than getting out there and talking to a few strangers!!! It's liberating for the soul..... But to be honest even the word "strangers" I use sparingly as there really are no strangers - just friends we haven't met yet.

Until tomorrow.... 

On the iPod today: Nirvana (MTV Unplugged) & Tucutronic (some Jungle music band the German listens to! 
Today's weather: Very sunny and dry.... Coudlnt be better.

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Canada - Sept 27th 2010

Location: Eastern/Central time line, Ontario, Canada. 
Time Of Writing: 21:30 (But it's 22:30 accross the road!) 

Ok so as I've written above im camping right on a timeline. Crossing the road loses an hour of my life..... Sureal really! This is the 2nd time line I've crossed in the last 2 weeks so I am now 6 hours in time difference from Ireland. 

Today was a lazy day, only left Thunder Bay at 4pm and drove 3 hours to our current location. It was definetly a "tech" day as I spent most of if online, emailing, catching up and downloading! Downloaded the new Saw Doctors album.... It's not bad, the song "Well Byes" is funny but the album lacks the trad punch of their pervious stuff I think, played it in the car on the way up here and Marco the German commented that they sound like a band getting old as all the tracks are much slower!! (he has heard all their older stuf!) I also got to catch up on the news today, the story of the Vatican bank being investigated for fraud is hilariors.... I'm guessing someone deposited 2 loafs and 5 fish and surprised people when he then withdrew 23 million quid!!! I wonder will the excuse "it's a miricle" suffice??!! 

I enjoy days like today as it gives me a chance to catch up with people back home. It's comforting to know that the country hasent changed much since I left! Being abroad has given me an appriciation for all things Irish and while the fact that nothing ever changes there is fustrating to some - it's music to my ears.... It's a great little country...... Step into any pub in Ireland and everyone is a part time social worker...... "how ya getting on""how's the life treating ya" etc etc.... That I miss but I know it will all be there when I eventually return! I'm surprised I haven't met many Irish on my travels thus far, lots of Germans and Aisans, indeed sometimes I wonder if there is anyone left in Japan considering there are so many of them on them move! 

Finally in the prairies of Canada, things are so flat here that if your dog ran away you could watch him do so for about 3 days! Being able to see the glow of lights from a city that's a 2 hour drive away is a strange sensation! Tonight we are back to the camping, we (Marco and I) have developed a routine for the camping nights, I put up the tents - he collects the fire wood! And by firewood I mean he collects whole Forrests!!! Sometimes I don't even know where he gets it from - we could be camping in the middle of nowhere with nothing on the horizon for miles and yet he still returns with more wood than Noah needed to build his Arc from..... German effency at it's best so I ain't complaining! 

Not much to report on today but tomorrow we are Winnipeg bound so should find something interesting there. I think it's also time to part company with the long hair! Tomorrow might include a trip to the barbers I reckon..... 

On the IPod today: The Sawdoctors New album "The futher adventures of the Sawdoctors" 
Today's weather: Sunny day, rained as soon we stopped to make camp.... Typical!

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Canada - Sept 26th 2010

Location: On the upper Ottawa River, Ontario - Canada 
Time of writting: 23.45 

Ah yes Arthurs Day! My mind reminisses to this day last year and a drunken session which started in the Left Bank (Kilkenny) and ended in the Court Yard bar in Naas Co. Kildare! How my life has changed since!!! 

It's now the 207th day of my travels so as you can appriciate my memory while not too bad could benifit from some sort of documentation of what I've been up to, if even for nothing else than to ease the burden of alsymers that is bound to kick in once my head is finished dealing with it's current preocupation of going bald! 

Within that 207 days I have spent 3 months in the USA and thus far almost 5 months in Canada. During the writing of future blogs I intend to talk about days already spent and places already visited but for now I am going to procede from the present. Today stated in Montreal at the home of Robert & Leah Theil, the kind folks who had employed me for 3 months of the summer on their ranch in northern Quebec. Having decided to firstly travel east to Nova Scotia, a trip that begun 2 weeks ago, the Theils had invited Marco (a crazy German guy Im traveling with, who had also worked on the ranch) and I to dinner on our return trip through Montreal. It was an excellent night spent in good comapny as the Theils are the epitimy of the good natured kind type of people I have been very fortunate to meet on my travels thus far. Waking up in an actuall bed having spent the last two weeks camping was a pleasent experience this morning! From there we drove the 150kms to Ottawa, the nations capital. Ottawa really surprised me as I had not expected it to be so picturesque! I spent the afternoon trying to shoot some good photography - but failing badly! And then stoped by the Government buildings where First Nation Peoples (Canadian Indians) were protesting at the lack of educational funding they recieve. This was a really interesting sight as rather than just making speaches these guys had singing, drums, rain dancing ..... The works! I shot some video and will try to post it here shortly. 

Seeing as it's Arthurs day I made a special effort (like it took much persuaision!) and went to the Glue Bar for a pint of the Black stuf! After that I visited the National Museme of Nature (coz I wanted to see some Dinosoures!) and from there drove to where I am now writing this blog from - Wilderness Tours on the upper Ottawa river. The plan is to do some white water rafting for the weekend but have to wait until their reception opens at 8am to find out if the weather will allow it - so watch this space........ 

On the iPod today: The Who (Greatest Hits) 
Today's weather: Dull all day and now it's bucketing down!

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Canada - Sept 25th 2010

Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada Time of writing: 10.30 (Sun Morning) 

Sat was a crazy driving day, 800kms from Blind River Ontario to Thunder Bay. What a drive though! Top Gear may have voted Davos to the Stelvio Pass in the Italian Alps as the worlds best driving road but I think the drive around Lake Superior gives it a run for it's money! Breathtaking doesn't do it justice..... 

Drove through White River, home of both the coldest recorded temperature in Canada at -50c and Winnie The Poo! The most interesting part of the drive however was along the Terry Fox highway which is a road dedicated to a man who ran half way across Canada with a prostetic leg to raise money for cancer research. He had intended to run from coast to coast but suffering from cancer himself he finally sucumed to the illness near Thunder Bay where a monument now stands in his honour. An couragous guy. 

Checked into the Sleeping Giant Hostel here in Thunder Bay. It's a cool spot even if it is over run with Germans! Went out last night to "meet" some locals only to end up being abducted by a few and shown almost every bar in the city..... Good times were had but not all things are printable here! What I will say though is that no matter where you are in the world peoples lives and sinarios are the same, Thunder Bay however is "Couger"'central in Canada.... Being a different face in a place like this is amusing considering I am in the very small minority of guys that haven't f**ked them over......... Other than being bitter though Cougars also drive SUVs which I've discovered are much cheaper than taxis although listening to countless stories of heartache, cheating and the hated "other woman" are hardley worth it in between bars........ Canadian men are strange.... They are in one of the worlds most fruitful gardens but suffer from the lack of any green fingers............ This traveler ain't complianing of course...... But where's the challange in that!!! 

On the iPod: Incubus, Florence & the machine, Drop Kick Murphys 
Weather: Tropical sunshine but cold!

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Canada - Sept 24th 2010

Location: Blind River (Camping on the bank of Lake Huron), Ontario, Canada Time of writing: 21:00 

Ok so the white water rafting on the upper Ottawa river didn't quite go as planned - the only available time they could offer us was tomorrow (Sat). Rather than wait around for a day we decided that we would hit the road and maybe try rafting instead in Thundar Bay when we reach there. 

Thus today became a driving day! Approx 600kms from Pembroke Ontario to Blind River here on the banks of Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes. Only 6 hours driving as we p**sed around most of the morning waiting on the rafting news...... Personally I love driving but Marco the German lothes it so I was behind the wheel for most of the day. Driving in Canada is pleasent to say the least, great road network and everything is well sign posted, however the real pleasure is in the abundance of sceneary to be enjoyed. Today was the first day I noticed the change in seasons as the now multy coloured trees are turning an already admirable countryside into a patchwork picture postcard. 

Considering today's drive was but an ink drop on a very large map I am finally begining to develope an appriciation for the sheer vastness of this country! It's laughable to think that we have already travelled 5000kms on this trip (all be it - Montreal to Nova Scotia and back so some doubling up of kms) but the trip from where I am right now to Vancouver is still longer than driving from Perth to Sydney in Oz! 

As not much happened today I am going to document visiting Quebec City last Monday instead, and more precisely the Titantic exhibition I went to see. 

Having visited the graveyard of the Titanic victims while in Halifax last week I was very interested in the exhibition displaying the various artifacts that have been retrieved from the Titanic wreck. Fixtures, fittings, furniture, jewlery, coins, clothes, etc etc.... Pretty interesting stuff ESP the recovered peice of hull which is the only thing in the display that is available for the public to touch! 

Anyway rather than preech a history lesson on my new found knowladge of the Titanic let me get to the crux of what struck me as the most poiniant info I took away from the exhibition. Most people who died due to it's sinking had never actually booked ticktes for or had even wanted to travel on the Titanic but as fate would have it ended up being transfered onto the it by White Star Line (the Cruise Line) due to a coal strike which caused most other transatlantic sailings at the time to be cancelled! The fragility of life indeed! 

Also worth a mention is that I went swimming in Montreals Olympic pool (home of the 1976 Olympics) on Wed last. It was strictly lane swimming and I was taken aback by the human fish in the lane beside me who was completing 4 lenghts in the same time it took me to finish one! To add insult to injury it turned out to be a woman! Something my chauvanistic mind found it hard to cope with! When the mermaid finally took a break I couldn't help but inquire what the deal was........ Turns out she is a swimmer on the Canadian national team heading to the Commonwealth Games next week. Her name is Victoria Poome and she swims in the sprints...... Considering all the controversy about the infrastructer for the it will be interesting to see if Canada even travel to the games. If they do it will be interesting to see how she does! 

On the iPod today: Got through the entire Rolling Stones collection I have and also some Wizo - a crazy Garman band Marco listens to! 
Today's weather: Very nice while driving however as I write this there is a thunder storm brewing....

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Blog Introduction

Dear World...... welcome to my blog where I  attempt to keep a blog of my travels!


Anyone who knows me on facebook will be aware of my blog there where I documented my travels across Canada in September and October last year and now I am going to relaunch my blog in this forum for the rest of my travels.....

Now I will be the first to acknowladge that blogs or more preciesly bloggers tend to be pretty pretentious! However I feel that a blog is now necessary as a simple way to record and document my travels, primerily for personal reasons but as a distant secondary reason for the enjoyment of anyone who may have an interest in reading such things.

My blogs will be kept short and simple and although I have no desire to write a blog every day I do intend to keep it updated as much as possible. I tend to remember things in strange ways like according to the weather or what's playing on the iPod etc so will probobly document things like that with each update etc.

I am not writing this to or for the benifit of anyone so it will be more or less a glorified "talking to myself in text form" for the sake of prosperity. All comments, critisims and feedback are most welcome and as I nominate places that I will be traveling to I'd be delighted to hear tips or suggestions from anyone who has already been there etc. On that note it is important to stress that I have no travel plan as such, currently my goal is to circumnavigate the globe, I am currently in the Dominican Republic and  from here who knows......

Enjoy reading and thank you for doing so....

Eddie

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