Sitting in Nate’s in the Ottawa airport waiting for flight.
Last Canadian meal before beef time!
Dreary weather is looking in on us from the outside world. Overcast and the like.
I’m peering out at a robin’s-egg blue Air Canada plane at gate 17. Ours is next to it.
C-GJWO is our equipment. Airbus 319. Looks air-worthy. We’ve got about 1:15 till lift-off 0:45 till we board.
Update: there was a gate change, we were actually at Gate 15. Don’t know what the tail ID was. Sorry kev.
15/02/08
Howdy sports fans! Well, now that I’m back in Queenstown after a few days of hiking, and before I head back out on the road, I guess I should fill you in on the last few days of adventures that I was on. Last time you heard from me, it was Valentine’s day. After a delicious meal of Rack of Lamb prepared by Mark, we decided to hit the town for a few hours of up-to-no-goodness. The only problem is that it was pouring rain. So, in order to get ready, we decided to have a bottle of wine and a few beers before heading out. That worked out okay, but the problem was that I had to get up early the next morning to head out for some bungy jumping. Yup, adrenaline day 2 was all about bungy jumps! I was heading out to the Kawarau Bridge for the original commercial bungy jump, and then to Nevis, a high-wire bungy which is the highest in NZ at 134m. I put together a little map of the day, to show you where these are, and there are also all kinds of pictures up for you to look at. Read on mates!
Well my friends, here it is. A worthy blog post about travels within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Not only would Jody and I be undertaking internal flights, but we were actually bound for Medina, which is one of the two holiest places for all Muslims. In fact, the city centre is completely forbidden to entry by any non-Muslims. Luckily, the airport is located outside the city, and our transport would be taking us all the way to our hotel without ever entering the city. Of course, the actual purpose of our traveling to this area was not to visit a holy Muslim site, as that is a very bad idea. We were bound for two very special places, one known as Al-Ula, and one known as Mada’in Saleh. These are areas of archeological and historical significance. Mada’in Saleh in fact has just recently been declared a UNESCO world heritage site, the first one of its kind in all of Saudi Arabia. We would be visiting these two sites together on the same day, but I would argue that each of them on its own is worth a blog post, so that’s how I’ll write them up and present them to you. For your pleasure, I have of course put up a whole boat-load of pictures to check out on flickr. So why don’t you do that, then read my story?
So, we finally find ourselves getting very close to our objective on this trip: the roof of Africa. Yesterday was a relatively short day for Cantrailia, and it took us up to 4,300m where we slept and acclimatized. The goal for today was going to be to make our way to our final ‘camp’ on the ascent of Kili. I use the term ‘camp’ lightly, as we were really only going to sleep a few hours there before beginning our slow trip up the mountain. But of course, I’m getting ahead of myself in this introduction. So, rather than spoil the fun, I’ll start like I always do. First, have a look at the satellite map showing where we hiked for this day. Also, check out the set of pictures on flickr. Overall, it was a good, if not a bit boring, day on the mountain. There’s not that much to tell, but I’m sure I’ll embellish it enough to turn into a decent little story for you all :-). When you’re done checking out the goodies, come on back and read on.
Howdy folks. Catchy title, don’t you think? I had a whole host of other titles that I was throwing around in my head, but instead opted for the cold, calculated title that you read above. I figure that it’s gotten your attention, and that once again, I’ll be able to articulate just why exactly wearing a brain bucket is the way to go if you’re travelling under your own power on two wheels. To start off, let me assure you, the main protagonist in this story is not me this time. However, I was witness to some terrible misfortune, and have to let you all know the circumstances. I’m writing this in the basement of my dad’s place in Nova Scotia , enjoying the Easter weekend, and recovering from a fun 100km ride that I did with a group of locals from an old friends’ bike store in New Glasgow. Hopefully by the time I post this story, you’ll be able to check out both a map of the ride, as well as some pictures. There are no photos of the accident, and if you read on you’ll understand why that is.
