A windy night ensured some light sleeping in the swaying van over night but waking to find a seal outside your van is a nice morning surprise. This is perhaps the most scenic spot we have camped at looking straight out toward huge waves crashing in. We were hoping to hire surf boards but as we couldn’t get any cash from anywhere we just packed up and went onwards along the Caitlins scenic route.

We ended up having quite a sightseeing day starting with a much needed coffee at the Whistling Frog Cafe on the road toward the McLean Falls which is where we were headed next. We walked up to the base of the falls which at 25 minutes return was a little quicker than the 45 minute forest walk advertised on the Southern Scenic Route info. We soon found out that they were way off on their timings after walks to the Matai Falls and the Purakaunui Falls, we also felt like we were suddenly on a tour of New Zealand’s waterfalls. They’re all lovely though with Purakaunui coming out top and also attracting the most tourists.

As we followed the route round we came across the Lost Gypsy Curios shop and gallery in Papatowai. This place is very intriguing and full of surprises and quirks. Containing old and the forgotten we spent some time playing with the gadgets, reading the funny signs and taking it all in. You can’t miss this place as there is a dummy outside holding a ‘Curios’ sign and the main gallery is housed in an old bus. Before making our way all the way round to Pounawae we decided to back track and visit Cathedral Caves, open only 2 hours either side of low tide. So we got there not long after 3pm and paid the $5 entrance fee, we were the first people on the beach which is private access only and along with a few other sight-seers we went to explore the caves.

It was only just low-tide so we had to climb onto rocks in order to get into the caves and make sure we were far in enough to avoid the tide coming in. We were able to loop round to another cave entrance where more shallow waves were splashing in but it was getting less and less. They were fairly impressive caves and the walk to and from the car-park is equally as enjoyable. We had a good chat with the warden about the caves and local birds and the like, the carpark was full so whoever is running this attraction is certainly doing okay!

When we continued along the road we stopped off in Owaka the Caitlins largest town with a sort of cash machine at the 4-square, accommodating only New Zealand account holders! We were able to pay on card though which was a good thing and so we stocked up and then made our way to the lovely Pounawae Bay where we would spend the next two nights at the Pounawae Motor Camp (lovely owners and really good facilities).

The following day we drove to Surat Bay, it’s not that far from Pounawae at all but we were heading for Jack’s Blow Hole straight after which was too far to walk. Surat Bay is a beautiful untouched bay stretching for a mile or so. Seals try to cool themselves in the sand whilst flies pester them and we also came across a dead seal and the remains of a sheep, harsh life!! Aside from this though we enjoyed a really nice walk along the full stretch of the bay as the sun came out to warm us. From now on the weather was looking to be good through to Christmas so we were happy about this.

When we left Surat Bay we drove west to Jack’s Blow Hole which includes a pleasant 30 or so minute walk to the hole. This blowhole is in the middle of a farmers field some 50 meters or so from the cliff edge. The waves come through to the hole underground and crash against the walls of the hole pretty much all the time, although high-tide is probably more impressive. It’s a pretty awesome sight though in terms of what is happening there. It’s closed off during the sheep-sheering season too which gives you an idea of its location.

By the afternoon we simply decided to chill out back at the campground, we were more than happy to read, work on the blog and cook some nice food before getting ready for our next drive to the Otago Peninsula the next morning.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

Another day and another move to a new destination, this time Golden on the Kicking Horse River. Along the way we stopped to have a look at the the spiral tunnels which take the Canadian Pacific Railway trains on a spiral journey through the mountains. It was pretty cool to see the train making its way through, I’m sure a train spotters dream!

Another stop to break up the journey was at a waterfall and then further along at Lake Yoho where we embarked on a 5k walk around the lakes edge. It was nice to stretch the legs and the sun was warm so very pleasant. A few brave souls even took a dip in the icy waters!

We arrived in Golden, picked up some provisions and set up camp at the edge on the river as well as the main Pacific Railway route, good job we packed some ear plugs, those trains are over 100 carriages long! The group of lads decided to cook an Asian inspired dinner which was pretty awesome and we had an early night, white water rafting is why you come to Golden and that’s tomorrows plan.

Through Wet ‘n’ Wild and with safety instructions observed and standard issue wet suits adorned we boarded an old school bus and headed to the start of the rapids. For 75 CAD we were to be flung down a level 3 section of the river with an option to take on the level 4 if we desired. Both of us found the level 3 pretty straight forward and wanted more so we stayed on, moved further down stream to miss a level 5 and started again minus three of our comprades. This was more adrenaline fuelled, but again we wanted more, maybe we should try it again in the rainy season. David even piloted / steered us through a level 3 which was good fun. Upon paying for the extra session it was 25 CAD each so a total of 100 CAD each, which we felt was a little expensive, but not as much as we were expecting.

After three hours of rafting we were all pretty tired so it was great news to hear that the tour guides, Eric and Zak, had decided to cook us up an all American BBQ! A real feast… stuffed. A quick lesson and after no time about eight of us were all playing some poker, matchsticks as coinage, which was good fun, especially when some people thought they had a great hand, when in fact they had nothing! Hehe sorry Wym!

Up very early again the next day for our long journey to Vancouver at 7.45am. We stopped at a Redwood Forest as well as an area called Skunk Cabbage, but this was closed as a family of Bears had moved in. Another stop in Hope, famed for the filming of Rambo, was a surreal experience. A 7.5hr van journey saw us arrive in the Vancouver area and set up camp for the very last time (on our intrepid tour!), followed by a visit to a pizza restaurant.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX5 processed in Lightroom 3)

Our journey from Jasper to Banff was pretty spectacular to say the least. We took the Icefields Parkway which has been voted time and time again by the National Geographic as one of the world’s best drives! Eric stopped a good few times along the route, our first stop being the Maligne Canyon, a unique river system which provided us with good light spectrums across the water. Moving on from there we continued along the Parkway and stopped for a few photos at Mushroom Peak and surrounding mountains swell as a pretty cool 2 van group shot!

Our next stop was the Athabasca Glacier where most of the group had been booked onto a glacier hike. We decided to save our pennies and took a walk to the base of the glacier noticing that most people were walking to a certain point so we walked up the glacier a good few hundred meters and took in the breathtaking views.

When we were back in the van we thought we’d made the right decision in not taking the tour as most people were annoyed with the tour guide as well as just wanting to get on the glacier and see it! When we left the area we spotted a few more bears and got a little aggrieved with stupid tourists getting out of their cars and getting as close as possible to them in order to get a snapshot. THIS IS NOT GOOD!!!

The journey overall was pretty long and we arrived in Banff just in time to grab some pizza from Ardvarks downtown before getting to the campsite to set up the tents. The evening ended in the Rose & Crown in Banff centre with beers, live music in the form of a hillbilly/folk and reggae act (we think they were called Drunk ‘n’ Dissorderly!). With a little influence from Shaggy we were all bopping on the dance floor, something much needed for us both!

On the 4th we had a day to ourselves, this started with a visit to the Visitor’s Information in town followed by a trip to another laundrette. We took it pretty easy and after some food, a walk around a very busy labour weekend fuelled town we went for a walk unto the Sally Borden Centre and had a refreshing swim. No tourists in sight (other than us) it was bliss! And they have some great photography exhibits there too. Helen ended the day with some yoga at the Rocky Mountain Yoga centre whilst the rest of the group shopped for more food.

The next morning we were up early ready for a drive over to Lake Louise via a coffee house in town. Along with Marian the 3 of us decided on a big hike for the day which accumulated in around 17km taking in tea houses, mountains, glaciers, woodland and meadows. This was a brilliant walk mixing in steep ascents with excellent views across the valley. Lake Louise is best viewed from above at one of the many vantage points, you’ll really see the true colour of the lake from above, most people tend to linger around the bottom and sit outside the not so French Chateaux. We really enjoyed the loop and got back to the van after a good 6 hours of hiking.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

On the 31st were up early once again with a longish drive to Jasper on the itinerary. We stopped off along the way at various sites such as Mount Robson, the tallest peak in the Rockies, and walked a 2 hour hike to the glacier lake which provided us with stunning views and reflections. When we arrived in Jasper our first stop was Robsons supermarket where we stocked up once again on a few goods from our group kitty. The kitty per week cost 70 CAD each and Helen paid 50 for a vegetarian inclusion.

Our campsite ‘Whistlers’ is located around 4km from Jasper town and we were welcomed with a good size campsite next to the shower block! Our first night in Jasper was spent around the campfire and our cooks were Leigh, Marie and Rhainnon who cooked up a fab bolognaise with cookies for pud!

The following day was a “free day” so Eric drove us into town to the visitors centre and where he would be pick up later at 5.30pm if a bus ride to the camp site was required. Most people, including us, headed straight for the laundrette. After much spinning and a little time on the internet we collected our items, deposited them in the van and hired some great mountain bikes. 24 CAD from Freewheel Cycle for three hours was a worthy investment as the two of us and Marian headed into the woods. There are lots of bike trails in this area that stretch for many miles, easy, moderate and difficult. We accidentally took a difficult trail up hill which was a killer, but we all loved all 25k of it. No Bears were spotted but we did see Elk on the trail and in the river.

It was our turn to cook dinner, so we headed back to camp early and cooked up a Vegi Thai curry, marinated chicken thighs and legs with rice. What better way to end a strenuous day than with a soak in a natural hot spring. 6.50 CAD is a bargain price and with two hot pools and two cold, it was a soothing end to a great day in Jasper.

Early starts are never pleasant after a nights sleep in a tent and at 6.30am quite difficult for some! The early start was needed to get us to the Edith Cavell Glacier before the hordes of fellow tourists arrive. First to arrive we headed on the short walk to the glacier and lake which we spectacular in the morning sun. Hiking onwards we walked through alpine forests, lush meadows, sleet, snow and strong winds to a high point where we could look over the valley. This was a great 12k hike; a real highlight so far on our Canada tour!

Lunch back at the campsite consisted of left overs from the night before and then a trip out to Lake Maligne where along the way we spotted our first Black Bears on the road side, a mother a two cubs. Other people did not seem to appreciate the dangers or the risks to the welfare of these animals and got far too close. We photographed from the van! After a walk around the lake and a hot chocolate to finish we headed back to camp for a BBQ. An early night after our long day. Tomorrow Banff.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

31 today!! Eek!! A far cry from last years fancy dress vintage themed party with all my best mates at Holyrood!! Still being in Beijing was pretty special and we made the effort to go and see some sights for the day. Dave bought me a lovely notebook from the Frank Gehry exhibition shop, I’m always jotting and sketching down thoughts, plans and ideas so it was very warmly received! A Porridge and banana special for breakfast and we were on our way.

We set out for the Beijing Botanical Gardens, inspired by the success of our bus journey a few days ago we attempted to tube and bus it to the site. The lonely Planet were not entirely accurate in providing information as to which bus to get so we ended up on the wrong path. A quick turn around for a taxi and we arrived at our destination. It isn’t perhaps the best time of year to visit the Botanical Gardens as not much is in flower, but we did find some lovely paths out towards a temple and icey lakes to throw stones on. There was a fair amount of ice on the lake and some gorgeous frosty views. Its well out of the city so you do feel far away from the business of central Beijing.

The tropical greenhouse (much larger than your average garden greenhouse!) was a nice place to get warm and enjoy some cactus growing plants alongside more brides and grooms to be having their pre-wedding photographs taken amongst the orchid garden.

On our way back we stopped off for a quick birthday bite at Japanese fast food chain Yoshinoya. A place that didn’t really entice us whilst we were in Japan but is definitely projected as being a more upmarket food chain over in China, interesting! They even had vegetables on the menu! We went back to the apartment and decided to get ready for our night out.

We had very good intentions of going for a massage at Dragonfly, our favourite and slightly self-indulgent massage parlour in Beijing! What stopped us in our tracks however was an hour delay at Xinjeikou metro station, this was so far our favourite stop as there were never as many people using it and it was well located! So we changed plans and head straight for Gouladjie which was only a few stops away, there was a Malaysian restaurant recommended to us around that way that we wanted to go to. We found Cafe Sambal on the left hand side a couple of streets down from the tube stop set in a Hutong area. It’s a little hidden away behind some wooden doors but inside was a very nicely lit ambient bar and restaurant which was packed to the ceiling with locals and westerners…good so far! At the bar we waited for a table and drank mojitos. We love it that you can buy mojitos over here for around £3, I’m pretty sure we’ve had one for as low as £2! The food was very good, although they could do with upping their portions a little! The room was a little chilly where we sat, but having said that the atmosphere was lovely and as far as birthday settings go this was again pretty frickin’ sweet!

After dinner we went for a walk along the street and came across a very cosy little desert cafe. This was enough to entice us in and we sat with our ginger teas, apple cake and chocolate truffles whilst watching the world go by.

Thank you Dave for a lovely day! I think the 30 year plus grumps came across me when I realised I am now past the tender year of 30, which has been a blooming marvellous year so far!

All my love and thanks for all the birthday messages on Facebook.

Helen x

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We’ve opted for some sightseeing and thrown ourselves headfirst into the height of Beijing’s tourist center; The Forbidden City. Helen came here many years ago on a hot summers day. On this day the sun shone and the sky was blue, but it was very cold. Along with panda hat wearing locals, westerners and street vendors we approached the Forbidden City through the front gates passing under Mao’s portrait and through to the grounds. It’s a massive site built up of several temples, shrines, gardens, halls and statues that were home to the Qing and Ming dynasties many moons ago. It’s a must do in the whole scale of things to do when you visit China. However Dave was expecting a little more!! It is quite tired and the money coming in from the thousands of visitors every day doesn’t appear to be going into the upkeep of the site. However given this it’s still very impressive and is also host to a 4 star toilet facility! Well surely this is enough to go on it’s own merit!!

You can easily spend a day here as there are so many routes within the city, gardens and museums to explore. We opted for a long morning. The colours of the brickwork and walls within the Forbidden City are beautiful and we loved the textures that exist within this environment. Later that evening we ate at The Korean Bistro on Nanluoguxiang, a tourist Hutong area that has a mixture of western and Chinese food, gift shops and bars.

The following day we went on our first of two trips booked with the CCC. This one was for the Great Wall of China and we were going to an area of the wall that isn’t walked often, has no tourist traps and was around an hour and a half away from the city. It was lovely to get out of the city and the weather was again perfect from a photography point of view, although it was bitterly cold in the wind. Our local tour guide is from the village where we started the walk and he along with others from his family had helped to re-build parts of the wall so that people can hike in the area. He had even carried a table to a watch-mans tower so that we could stop there for lunch. We had a lovely group including Trisha and her two children from Portland, Joyce from NYC and Becca from England, our tour guide from the CCC Andy spoke excellent English and had great knowledge about the hike. Both he and the tour co-ordinator Michael were very dedicated in carrying hot water, coffee and snacks all the way. As you can see by the photographs the scenery is quite mystical with a very hazy layer on the horizon. We really enjoyed the walk and were breathtaken by the Great Wall itself.

As we got back down we were invited into the home of our local tour guide. We sat in their living room drinking tea and chatting away, it was a lovely finish to a great walk. When we got back to the CCC we were invited back to Joyce’s for beer and popcorn, Dave, Becca and myself took her up on the offer and before long we were sat in her serviced apartment in Sanlitun. We discovered Joyce is an author of 30+ books!! This is someone who has sheer dedication and is an inspiration to us all. We met up with Trisha minus the kids and went to a very local chinese fast food restaurant for noodles and chinese burgers. We ended the night with a hot chocolate at The Bookworm.

On sunday we went to a charity Christmas gift event at the Canadian International School of Beijing, we bought a few Christmas gifts and soon found ourselves back at The Bookworm using their free wi-fi. This was followed by a spot of shopping before we made our way back to the CCC for their noodle and dumpling making class. This was taught to us by a local professional Chinese chef who specialises in Chinese pastry. We made our dough for the dumplings, left it to rise and in the meantime we had a go at stretching and pulling the dough used for noodle making. This was loads of fun and many people ended up with theirs on the floor as the dough stretched too far. There is a real knack to this and it does take many years to perfect so one lesson wont do much!! For the dumplings there was a meat and veggie option for the filling. The meat is pork and vegetable and the veggie option is egg and spinach. We rolled out our dough, chopped it, flattened it out and then filled it with a little of the stuffing. After this you close the dough in and around the mixture and then make a nice pattern with the dough. We hope that the photos describe it better. Once they were ready they were boiled and then we ate them with a soy dip. They were okay! I’m sure next time they’ll be loads better!! Only a few people got to make the actual noodles but we didn’t cook them so it was more of a demonstration. It was a pretty cool little event, although it would be good to learn how to make the mixture ourselves rather than having it ready to go. We also met Jen from Tinyurbankitchen who is traveling with her husband and writing a food blog.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

Posting a blog post everyday which involves writing a mini diary and editing through copious amounts of photos takes up lots of time. Therefore we have decided that as we are a few weeks behind we are going to try and condense the posts into multiple days. Also here in China we have access to most websites that we need for general use, however there is no Twitter or Facebook, so we will be very quiet on these social networks until we leave China in early 2011.

So here we go…on our second day in Beijing we were on a mission to find out about trips and local sights aside from the more obvious ones. We obtained a street map from Templeside that gave us pretty good bearings on where we were located plus Frank had informed us of the nearest tube stops, bus stops and the like. What we didn’t really think about was the distance it takes to get from one block to another on foot. We had intended to go to the China Cultural Centre (CCC) to find out about trips and cooking classes on offer but several tube stops later, one taxi journey and a walk 20 minutes in the wrong direction we redirected to 798. We had intended to visit the 798 Art district early on in our visit here anyway so it wasn’t too much of a change of plan.

Although we feel that the many art critics and cynics out there would refer to 798 as art tourism, it still offers an eclectic mix of contemporary art and culture that isn’t so apparent anywhere else in the city. 798 is an old factory complex that has been renovated into around 70 or so art spaces, galleries, studios, cafes, quirky gift shops and restaurants. We thought it was pretty cool, although perhaps not all of the art on show is to our taste and perhaps some is trend for trends sake it does take you away from more traditional aspects of Chinese art and culture and perhaps brings it more inline with the graffiti lined walls of Berlin city. We do love Berlin though so that one is always going to be tough to beat!! But in our minds it did the trick and we quickly forgot about the directionless walk around the city. We picked up a mandarin phrase book which we think will come in very handy indeed whilst we are in China and we photographed buildings, spaces and art on show. (Copyright isn’t really an issue here as you can pretty much photograph any piece of art on show). The photography gallery showcased some interesting compilation work and we liked the Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art, although it seemed much of the space was closed off for an event. We did manage to find our way back to our new home that evening and cooked ourselves our first meal in the Hutong.

The next day we decided to stay a little more local and our first port of call was to visit the Peking International Youth Hostel. Helen was determined to pick up some information from a hostel and we also wanted to print out some information and directions to show taxi drivers. As a general rule they wont stop to listen to where you want to go but will look at the map or if you have where you want to go in Chinese written down bingo you’re in luck! Sometimes even if you speak Chinese but look western they wont listen!! So with that in mind we had some printing to do and our reason for going to the hostel was that we feel by being in the apartment, yes it’s great because we are in with a local community but you don’t really get to meet other travelers or get the best kind of advice. So if you can find out where the nearest YHA is often they will have the info and the passing travelers to meet!! We went away with our print outs, some info on tours and enjoyed an amazing ginger honey tea!!

Within walking distance of the YHA is Beihai Park. It costs around £2.5 to get in and there are a few temples and pagodas in the park. It was a really sunny day and the sky was pretty blue so the white pagoda on the top of the hill really did shine. It was a really enjoyable walk up through the temples and to the top where you have views across the Forbidden City, Beihai lake and beyond. We spent the best part of the day here and also came across the Chrysanthemum exhibition. Something of an anticlimax but it did offer some great photographic opportunities and the low afternoon light was perfect for this.

On our third morning at the penthouse apartment (he he) we ventured to the very local farmers market to pick up some fruit and veg and to generally take in the atmosphere that contains the place. The market sells not only fruit and veg supplies but household cleaning products, gas cookers, bikes, meat, fish, tea and clothes, alongside which was street vendors selling food to eat there and then or noodles to cook, meat off the bone and so on. It’s a very local place and it was loads of fun buying our grocery shopping. We were amazed at how cheap the fresh fruit and veg is to buy. for less than 20 pence we bought a bulb of garlic, one green pepper and two chili peppers…they have money that looks more like monopoly money for values under 1 yuan. We were moaned at for only buying 1 or 2 of any item. Still we went away filling our fridge with good quality fresh food. We explored the local hutong further before heading back for more catch up time on editing.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)