Okay, so this post isn’t really about walking on the moon. However, it is about spending some quality time in a crater. I’m of course talking about the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, which was the first official stop in our tour of Africa. After all the time spent in transit, it was finally time to get the trip underway in earnest. The first part of our itinerary had us getting in some quality Safari time. This meant a lot of time in a safari vehicle, and an awful lot of dusty roads. However, it also meant some truly amazing scenery and wildlife spotting. Imagine heading to the best zoo you could ever imagine, only take the cages away and let all the animals just roam free and do as they pleased. Yup, that’s a safari in Africa for you. If you’d like to check out pictures from our first day of safari, head on over to flickr and look at the set. Afterwards, click your little self back here and read about my thoughts and impressions of that day.
Alright, so now you’ve been properly introduced to Team Cantrailia, I might as well go back slightly in time, and cover off the journey to get to Africa. As the title implies, making our way to the snows of Kilimanjaro would prove to be the longest journey I’ve ever taken for a vacation. New Zealand seems a relative cakewalk in comparison. Just imagine for a moment being in transit for over 40 hours! Not a really fun endeavour, but a necessary evil. Part of the problem was that we were flying into Nairobi, Kenya, but would be based in Arusha, Tanzania. The two, while seeming to be relatively close on a map, are in fact a long way apart. But I’m getting slightly ahead of myself here. Settle into a comfy chair, and let me regale you with the story of flying the friendly skies and bouncing our way through Africa. To put you in the mood, here is a set of pictures from the trip over. After that, click back and read my tale.
Hello dear friends. Well, as hard as it is to imagine, it’s been just over a week now that we’ve gotten back from Africa. So of course, you are all wondering where the heck are all the exciting stories about adventures in foreign lands, right? Well, fear not, for this post will be the first of many detailing all that happened in Tanzania on this trip of a lifetime. Yes, I consider it the trip of a lifetime as for me, it was on the life list. Summit Kilimanjaro while there is still snow on the peak. I’m happy to say that it was mission accomplished, but the journey to get there will be several blog posts in length, so you’ll have to hang in there over the next couple weeks while I write it all up 🙂 Before I could even contemplate writing about the trip, we first had to sort through all the pictures we took, and I also wanted to put together some of my custom GPS maps. So on the plus side, you don’t have to wait any longer to view the collection of pictures from the trip, or even peruse some of the maps that I created. Once you’ve done that, come on back and learn more about the trip.
Hey gang. Thanks for tuning in. I’m going to write a quick blog post about the race that I just finished a couple hours ago. Normally, I’d drag my heels a bit, but given that I’m heading out of town soon, it’s probably better that I just get this done right away, don’t you think? Plus, it’ll be a little shorter than my normal race stories 🙂 Of course, I’m talking about that venerable racing tradition, the Mad Trapper Snowshoe race series opener! Today was set to be the ‘flatter’ course; a test of strength over a course of 9.2km (two loops of 4.6km). Of course, ‘flatter’ by no means implies ‘flat’, it was a lot of slogging up and down minor hills. For the full quick dump, read on. You might also want to check out a few videos [update: There is now a huge gallery of shots from the race from the photographer up] from the day capture via Andrew Cameron’s helmet cam. Pretty cool footage I must say!
Happy Holidays loyal readers! I know it’s been a few weeks since an update from me, but I assure you, you haven’t missed all that much from ActiveSteve. In all honesty, I’ve been sort of lying low, getting myself in the groove for the holidays. Of course, with the arrival of my new nephew, Jody and I have been spending a little extra time over at the Hill-Meyer Homestead. Also, there has obviously been a lot of preparations underway for the upcoming trip to Africa. Can you believe that we’re heading out in less than a week!? Me neither. Which is why my spare time has been spend doing Christmas shopping, trip planning, working out, and getting my gear sorted out. Jody has been up to much the same. As part of those preparations, we’ve also managed to squeeze in a few extra hikes up in Gatineau Park. If you’d like to see some pics from those adventures, just mosey on over to flickr for a folder of pictures. Then, I can tell you just a little bit more about the preparations if you’d like.