Leaving For Halifax

Left Fernie very early this morning at 0130 and headed for Calgary.  This is the only bus once a day.  But strange but it kinda works out ok as it means I can get on a flight to Halifax the same day.  Paid a crazy amount of money for the flight but I am super stoked to see some friendly faces when I arrive.

The bus driver was grumpy asking for tickets when I had been told on the phone that I would just have to pay the driver as there is no outlet in Fernie, just the bus stop.  Greyhound doesn't seem to have good operating systems in place.  Have been told one nightmare story from a girl.  They lost her bags and were very unhelpful in tracking them down.

Oh yea think we just hit an elk so now we are parked on the side of the road waiting for the driver to find it.  He just got back on the bus and was unable to find the beast.  Apparently now he has to fill out some paper work.  Guess they really like their elk over here.

So back to the girl, she got a ride back to Calgary from Fernie as her bags had her passports and everything in them (bit silly i thought to not have that stuff on you, I have my trusty pelican case).   When she got there and still couldn't find them her friend went to the nearest bus station to Fernie and luckily there they were.  So she got back on a bus to Fernie to get them.  Now she's one the bus again headed back to Calgary and then to Sunshine Village as she's decided to take a job there.  Poor girl.

Well I have arrived safely at the airport.  Driving through the city was a bit of a mind trip at 0700 after getting off the bus from the country.  Full on concrete jungle, seems a lot bigger and busier than Vancouver.  Makes me like Vancouver a bit more now.  So now I have five hours to kill before my flight leaves. What to do..................

Well what I did was not much, watched Notorius on my ipod, then checked in, then waited some more, had a little nap and finally got on the plane.  Flight was sweet, had a spare seat next to me and also had individual screens with tv channels which was pretty cool  o T and had to move to get to connecting flight.  Got there just as they were boarding so all good.  A short sharp visit to Toronto and I was in the air again.  Another spare seat and tv so pretty happy with Westjet.  Though it is kinda drawn out when they have to announce things in English and then French.  Oh well. 


So I arrived in Halifax at approx 2300 local time so after nearly 24 hours on the move I had arrived.  Jan walked in as I was waiting for my bags, SO good to see a friendly face!!  Headed back to his place where Sarah was waiting with some lovely cold Keiths (local beer) very nice.  Sat and talked, Jan made me a sweet Bagel and before long it was time for bed.  Time for a long sleep!!

The Plan

Ok folks so heres the new plan at this time. I'm going to Halifax!! Have spoken to my good friend Jan who would love for me to come and visit / slash stay with them so I'm headed east tomo, bus to Calgary then a flight to Halifax via Toronto.  The price does hurt as I've booked at last minute but i don't care I wanna hang with my buddy.  Spoke to a very nice lady at the travel agent who said to get in touch with her when I return for snowboarding and she may be able to help with accommodation which is cool.

So on another note, it has been snowing here the last couple of days so the mountains are looking nice and white up top. Weather clearing up today so will snap a few pics.  Once I get to Halifax I should be able to get some pics online for your viewing.

Ok that's all for now, see ya next time = )

Interview Day

Well had a nice sleep in this morn till 11 then got up and ready to go to interview.  Got offered the job straight off the bat but have told Nate that I'm unsure of what I will do (stay and work or travel around).  So I will let him know in the next day or so.  Also had an interview lined up for a liftie position but decided to skip that and gave my slot to a German girl who wanted and interview but wasn't sure if she would get one.  Talking to her this afternoon it sounds like she got the job so thats cool for her and has made me feel quite good. (Thanks Rosa for suggesting I go up anyway and let them know what I'm doing).

So now I'm trying to get in touch with friends so I can bail from here in next day or so and go traveling around a bit.   Might check out travel agent here or just jump the bus to Calgary  and take it from there.

So what this space, who knows what will happen next = )

Fernie

Have arrived in Fernie, seems like a nice little town.  However today I have come to the realization  that I don't really care as much about working on the hill here as I thought I did.   Would rather have a holiday and just head home to my beautiful lady who I miss dearly already.  So after talking to my family and Rosa I think that's gonna be the new plan, visit some friends, have some fun and then head home to start my life with Rosa for real, finally.

A new Day

A new day so a new post.  Had a great sleep but still woke up tired and very weak / hungry.  Showered, packed and checked out.  Got some fruit from 711 4 brekkie.  Been trying to open a bank acvc but don't have enough info so will have to wait.  Same goes for the mobile if i wanna get a contract which is cheaper then i need to have a bank account open AH!!  So now I'm just hanging by the waterfront.  Killing time till the bus leaves.

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Well I killed some time alright, ended up getting lost in Stanley Park and nearly thought I was gonna miss the bus but luckily I made it. However my legs are still hurting several days later.

Strange / Cool stuff I saw in the park was squirrels, Racoons, Beluga Whales, A seagull trying to swallow a starfish whole (didn't look like fun).  Heard this weird loud speaker coming from the city somewhere telling people to disperse the area or be arrested.

Eventually found bus to town, then grabbed a taxi to the bus.  Exhausted but I made it.  Got told by someone on the bus that they saw someone OD in the street near bus station!! Get me out of here!!

Bus ride was ok, met a nice guy called Garrett, second half of trip I had a spare seat next to me which was sweet so i managed to get some sleep.

Now I'm in Golden waiting for the next bus in one hour.  It's dark and cold, starting to feel like winter now. = )

Transit

Well I'm in canada now but haven't put anything on here yet so i'm a bit behind already AH!!! oh well here goes.

So i left Auckland on Thursday the 21st.  Got stung $75 dollars by air nz for my bag being overweight even though it had sporting equipment in it. Apparently it has to be in seperate bags, pretty stupid if you ask me but oh well live and learn.  They even weighed my carry on when going through customs which i haven't had before luckily i got through with my 8.5kgs. 


The flight was good, the nice lady at the counter where i paid overweight fee hooked me up with the emergency exit row and blocked the other seat so i had a spare one next too me. Flight was nowhere near full so was good.

Landed slightly agead of time and made my way through customs with no problems. Talked to a couple of aussie guys the next day who said they got pulled aside and interegated. Dodgey Aussies, haha. 

Getting to town on the train was easy, it was clean and had good clear messages about  where we were / going not like the muffled announcements you get on the Sydney trains.  However I did overshot my stop so had a bit of a walk on my hands to find a hostel.

Arrived in a ball of sweat, got a room (got my own room which was a bit pricey but I didn't sleep on the train so wanted to sleep well tonight).  After I showered I went out for a look around.

Managed to get my SIN (tax) number and pick up bus ticket which was good.  Towns a bit seedy down by the trains station, lots of homeless people selling stuff on the street.  City seems ok but not the nicest.

So far I have noticed a few differences.  Stop / Go light at traffic lights is a hand and a little man, also there's nothing for the blind people to touch like back home, how do they know when to cross?? Light switches and shower mixers are upside down and power sockets don't have a switch just plug in and go.

After my walk I just came back and basically passed out for the night = ) Sweet Dreams.

Arrived in Canda

Hello All well this is my first quick post to get me going. I arrived safely in Vancouver today and so far so good. Found a place to stay and got a couple of jobs done. Got my SIN # and picked up bus ticket so just need to open a bank account and get a sim card for my phone and then i'm good to go.  Hopefully will get some pics on here soon, so watch this space!! Love to all xxxxxx