Hiking The Kungsleden

The Kungsleden or King's Trail stretches south from Abisko for about 400km, with well maintained hostels located every 15 to 20km. We planned to hike 75km of the northern trail over 4 days and although the hostels provided comfortable beds, cooking facilities and occasionally saunas, showers weren't part of the deal. Hiking in the far north during summer is an amazing experience because it is literally light 24 hours a day. Even a month after the solstice, the sun dipped below the mountains only briefly, replacing night with a surreal pink twilight. We made the most of the midnight sun, setting out at 2pm on our first day. Flat terrain, great weather and high spirits saw us reach the first hut quickly and I managed to convince (or perhaps trick) everyone into continuing onto the second, which was nestled at the foot of the mountains. We made it there just after midnight, having traversed 37km of picturesque countryside. Although I was still feeling olympic, the rest of my team were suffering. Chris was complaining about blisters and devastated that the hostels only sold light beer. Lauren, having brought enough fresh fruit and vegetables to last several months, was struggling under the weight and although Alana never complained, her otherwise excellent hiking boots had been indirectly responsible for a large blister on her heel. We decided we could afford the luxury of a rest day and spent it lazing around the hostel. In the evening Chris, Alana and I headed to the sauna and attempted the plunge - from 70 degree sauna to 5 degree lake. This plan was partially foiled by the steep, slippery 20m path to the lake which ensured we were already quite cold by the time we got there. At least it was like a bath. The next 8km of trail were the most scenic of our trip, winding through a valley between steep mountains, past glaciers and pockets of snow (Wes 1 : Alana 0). We stopped for lunch at a waterfall and watched as the weather turned from overcast to rainy. The final 10km were slow going, along a boggy, bug infested riverbed in the pouring rain and even I was glad when we finally reached shelter. We had arranged to meet up with a local speedboat driver who offered a ferry service to the nearby town of Nikkaluokta, shortening our hike by 12km. Unfortunately we'd arranged to meet by 1230 at a point 20km from our hostel, further along the boggy, bug infested riverbed. We awoke at 0530 and noted with excitement that it had rained all night and didn't look like stopping anytime soon. After a quick breakfast and a few prayers to the rain gods, we began the long trudge. Two days of rain had turned the vegetated sections of the trail into mush, while the rocky parts were more like small rivers. Things got a little hairy on a couple of occasions as we waded across small streams that had been turned into raging rivers by the torrential rains. The rain eased during the mid morning which allowed us to increase speed and arrive at the meeting place right on time, just as even heavier storm clouds rolled back in. Dripping wet, we boarded the speedboat for the coldest 40 minutes of my life. Frigid winds left Chris and I huddled together in the middle of the boat, while the girls were fairly sheltered at the front. I was still shivering 15 minutes later and it took about 30 minutes in the bathroom with warm water and a hand drier to thaw me out completely. At this point we discovered our bus had already left so we split into pairs and hitchhiked to Kiruna. Alana and I were picked up by a elderly Swedish couple who took us right to the centre of town while Chris and Lauren independently found their way to the "only car rental company in town," without too much trouble. We picked up our tiny rental car (Toyota Aygo) and drove back north to Abisko for hot showers and victory celebrations. Not the most enjoyable hike ever, but at least it was memorable!

Stockholm

28 hours of sleepless transit got me from New York to Stockholm but left me tired and plague ridden. I got to break up my trip with a couple of hours in London, grabbed lunch with Maz and then hurried back to meet ChrisV at Heathrow.

After a brief and tearful reunion arrived in Stockholm and immediately began spending inordinate amounts of money. $20 on a 20 minute train ride, $20 total for 10 minutes in a taxi and $60 per night for a bunk in a 6 person dorm room. I made the most of my bed emerging only twice in the next 48 hours to take advantage of the hostel's complimentary breakfast. Getting down to the basement rekindled traumatic memories from my last Europe trip, as I smashed my head on a door frame, a light fitting and a 5 foot ceiling all in the space of 5 minutes. Somewhat ironically it was Chris who suffered the first near-fatal head injury, impaling himself against the sharp wooden corner of his bed. Our hiking plans commenced in Abisko, well inside the Arctic Circle and about 18 hours north of Stockholm by train. Alana and Lauren joined us a couple of hours into the trip and a significant amount of duty free alcohol, comfortable triple bunk beds and some interesting stories from Swedish swing dance camp made the journey pass quickly. Next morning we gathered supplies, carefully removed the make-up and high-heels from Lauren's bag, donned matching "I <3 NY" tshirts and headed to the Kungsleden!

I HATE Airports (part 3 - The Revenge of Air Canada )

I can barely bring myself to recount my airport experience leaving New York. Just thinking about it makes me feel ill. Needless to say, my scheduled flight was cancelled. I had anticipated this and arrived at Newark airport more than 3 hours before my plane was scheduled to depart. What I hadn't anticipated was the complete incompetence of the Air Canada staff - 4 of the 5 staff 'working' at the check in counter had no idea what was going on, leaving the fifth to basically serve 5 people at once. My particular staff member tapped randomly at his computer for about half an hour before eventually giving up and seeking help from the supervisor who rebooked me on an SAS airlines flight to Stockholm, via Copenhagen and London in about 3 minutes. Dragging 2 huge bags behind me, I took a shuttle train to terminal one, where SAS was located but when I made it to the check-in counter, I was informed that my ticket needed to be authenticated by the SAS ticketing booth at the very other end of the terminal. Time was getting tight so I hurried to the other end of the terminal, only to discover that the good people at Air Canada hadn't given me a valid boarding pass and weren't answering the phone. With bags in tow I shuttle trained back to terminal 3, charged across to the Air Canada desk, singled out the one competent staff member, demanded he give me a valid boarding pass, trained back to terminal 1, sprinted to the SAS ticketing booth and then back to the the check-in desk at other end of the terminal, finally checking my 20kg bag with about 3 minutes to spare. If I never set foot in an airport again it will be too soon.

I <3 NY

From the moment I walked into Times Square, still bustling at 3am on a Tuesday, I knew I was going to have a great time in New York.

Geographically speaking, New York was about what I'd imagined but on a vastly bigger scale. I spent my first couple of days eating pizza whist hiking all over Manhattan Island, from Wall Street and ground zero in the financial district to the north end of Central Park. I probably clocked up 10,000 calories and 30km. Central park is literally big enough to get lost in and if the 3.4 square kilometers it comprises were subdivided, it would sell for $600,000,000,000. One misconception I'd like to dispel is that New York is an expensive place. With the exception of accommodation (one bedroom apartments on the island rent for US$3000/month) - food, transport and shopping are remarkably cheap. A $23 ticket allowed me ride the subways for the whole week and cheap, delicious food was available anywhere, at any time, from huge $3 pizza slices to a ridiculous $15 pastrami sandwich from Carnagies. Just for the record I did managed to finish it all, sustaining only a minor heart attack in the process. Other excellent meals included an Afghani dinner (something like a combination of Indian and Turkish), a fine dining, 3-course lunch and as many small Thai noodle bars as i could manage. After 2 months of Thai withdrawls I had a lot of catching up to do. One reason New York can seem expensive is that there are an infinite amount of things to do, so it's easy to watch your money divide into an infinite amount of tiny pieces and fly away. There are a good amount of free activities if you know where to look and I managed to check out the last 5 minutes of a huge, free outdoor concert by the NY Philharmonic orchestra. Broadway shows offer standing room tickets at vastly discounted rates ($20-$25), so I took the chance to see Avenue Q and Phantom of The Opera, both of which were top class. The same ticket allowed free entry into the Birdland Jazz club and I made it there for open mike(sic) night. Chelsea (who previously starred in Road Trip : New York) invited me to a games night with a bunch of her friends, so I spent my first Saturday in NY playing Balderdash and Cranium. I'm sure i would've been doing exactly the same back in Australia - just without the New Yorkers. A 2 hour boat cruise with excellent commentary gave me an overview of the city's history and I also absorbed my yearly dose of culture at the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Natural History Museum's Planetarium. The Statue of Liberty was impressive, but tiny when compared to buildings in the city. Looking up for the beer garden at my hostel gave an amazing view of the 80 story skyscraper situated right next door. Once again I met a bunch of fantastic people at my hostel. I shared a room with Daniel, a firefighter from Madrid, who was just starting to learn English. Trying to understand me, must have set him back at least a couple of years. I spent my first few days escorting Kerstin, a school teacher from Bonn, though the rioting gangs of Brooklyn and Harlem although we did also make it out to a live comedy gig, a Maximo Park concert and some great nightlife in the East Market. I joined forces with two students, Hiroki (Melbourne) and Stephanie (Paris) for the last few days of my trip, celebrating my final night, and Steph's birthday at an exclusive 'Employee's Only' club which stayed open until 5am on a Tuesday. New York retakes #1 position on my favourite city list, dislodging recently crowned champion Montreal. I'm not sure if I could stand to live there for an extended period, but for a few weeks of non stop excitement and cultural diversity, nowhere else even comes close.

I HATE Airports (part 2)

Flying anywhere near New York is a nightmare.

A small propeller driven plane got me from Quebec to Montreal without any hassles. I spent about 20 minutes searching for the US transfer area, cleared U.S customs before even leaving Canada, and jogged off towards my flight. As I neared departure gate 42, I couldn't help but notice that 10 angry Americans had laid siege to the check-in counter and were practicing some of their naughty words. An intercom announcement confirmed that my flight to New York had been cancelled due to 'bad weather'. All flights to anywhere in the New York area for the next 2 days were either cancelled or overbooked and because the issue was weather related, no compensation would be offered. As a final insult, everyone had to leave the vicinity of the gate immediately - for security reasons. In the area just outside the vicinity of the gate, I got talking to 3 New Yorkers who were independently stuck in the same boat as me. They let me in on the secret that 'bad weather' is actually code for 'more flights are scheduled into New York than they can possibly handle'. We all agreed that being stranded in Montreal for 2 days was not acceptable. The only reasonable alternative was to hire a car and take a road trip! So thrust together by fate, the four heroic travellers checked back through customs into Canada and jumped into an SUV. Spending 8 hours in a car with three complete strangers wasn't exactly how I expected to spend my evening, but as I rolled into Times Square at about 3am, I realised things could've been a lot worse. At least i didn't have to work the next day. Thanks again to Craig, Eric and Chelsea for a memorable journey and also for offering some great advice about New York. Chelsea, a finance company recruiter, even took the time to check out my resume, improving it to the point that it might actually get me a job. Perhaps one day - but not today...

Canada - Quebec City

A pleasant, three hour train trip got me to Quebec, the oldest city in Canada. Founded in 1608, the city is tactically positioned on a large cliff guarding the entrance to the St Lawrence river. Although the city now sprawls down the hill to accommodate 500,000 people, the European styled old town remains, complete with cobblestone streets and a city wall.

Just for a change, I arrived right in the middle of a music festival. The Quebec Summer Festival had 3 practically free open air stages and an impressive international line up including Michael Franti, Xavier Rudd and an amusing rock opera. Once again the people were friendly and the atmosphere was great.

In another fortunate coincidence, Griff was attending a Banach Algebra conference in Quebec the very same week. Don’t even bother asking what Banach Algebra is - unless you’ve got a postgraduate pure maths degree and a special interest in infinite dimensioned vector spaces. One of the members of the group jokingly suggested that one well placed bomb would all but remove Banach Spaces from the pool of human knowledge. I’m pretty sure no one would notice...

A liberation interpretation of ‘partners welcome’ saw me holding hands with Griff to join the group on a whale watching excursion. I’ve never really seen the appeal of whale watching but the scenery and buffet dinner made the day worthwhile. After being around ‘normal’ people for a couple of months, I was glad to be back in my element - obscure internet references and maths puzzles abounded. Matt (my musical twin) and Chris, both from Ottawa, were particularly good value.

The weather was very wet for my final couple of days in Canada so I stuck mostly to indoor activities, sampling a couple of nice restaurants, touring the parliament building and having a few beers with Matt, Chris and some friends from the hostel. I shared a cab to the airport with a friendly Swedish couple who offered me some useful advice about travelling in their country. Next stop, New York! Or at least that was the plan...

Canada - Montreal

I was greeted at Montreal Airport by my Quebecois friend David and stayed one night at his house in Saint-Hyacinthe, which sits directly downwind of a large chocolate factory. I think this explains why he has such a good looking girlfriend (CV - are you taking notes?). The next morning I taught him a thing or two about tennis before heading to my hostel in the city.

At 3.7 million, Montreal is the largest city in Quebec, the second largest in Canada and has as much cultural diversity as any I've seen. Although the official language is French, everyone is also at least semi-fluent in English and usually a couple of other languages too, just to make me feel inadequate. Almost every kind of food is on offer and i never had a bad meal – from 3am, $3 kebabs to a $40 French/Asian fusion extravaganza.

Purely by chance, my visit coincided with the world's largest 'International Jazz Festival'. For 10 days they filled five main stages and several smaller ones with incredible live tunes, from traditional Jazz and blues to more eclectic world music. Remarkably, all the outdoor stages were completely free with more than 50,000 people packing the streets around the most popular acts. There were also a couple of smaller pay-to-view indoor stages where little known artists like Van Morrison and Bob Dylan performed. I ebayed a ticket to my fourth Dylan show – the best yet.

I met a bunch of interesting people at my hostel, including Britney, an acrobat/gymnast from Vancouver Island, who joined me to ride rollercoasters and Salvatore, the quintessential middle-aged Italian. I was amazed at his ability to ask every good looking girl for directions, even when he wasn't going anywhere. He'd inevitably extend a dinner invitation, at which point they'd walk/run away leaving him to shrug and look for another. He wouldn't have to look far - the city has the best looking women I've seen anywhere in the world.

A series of late nights at Jazzfest saw me sleeping through most mornings, but I did manage to make the most of the afternoons. I biked around the Grand Prix circuit in the pouring rain, hiked up Mount Royal for a nice view of the city, and also explored the city's diverse architecture. Old Montreal has cobblestone streets and 17^th century buildings, while the business district is full of skyscrapers with an underground pedestrian network linking them all together. Although more of a novelty in summer, they tunnels apparently get a little busier in Winter when the outside temperature is 30 below.

Like most parts of the world with extreme weather, the locals really celebrate the long days and warmth of summer. There are huge outdoor festivals running from June through August and although the atmosphere is exciting and frantic, the friendliness of the Canadian people still shines. If you haven't already been to Montreal in summer, it really is a must – my favourite city in North America. I ended up extending my stay to 8 days, and could easily have stayed a month.

Thanks again to David for all his hospitality, unfortunately he had a very hectic week organising athletes in an international beach volleyball competition so I didn't get a chance to catch up as much I would've liked. I'm hope he can visit Australia sometime soon!

Canada - Winnipeg

After 7 busy weeks I was overdue for a break, so i headed to the flattest part of Canada to avoid the temptation of mountains. Located in the Manitoban prairies near the geographic centre of North America, Winnipeg has incredibly seasonal weather, ranging from +40 in summer to -40 in winter. Although the weather wasn't perfect, I was never in danger of freezing to death.

Although Winnipeg is a lovely, elm lined city of 630,000 people (with a surprisingly similar atmosphere to Adelaide) it isn't the most exciting or popular tourist destination. In fact the locals were so impressed with my visit that they immediately rushed me in to anchor the daily news bulletin.

Many thanks to Vince and Anna for letting me crash at their place and also for doing everything possible to make me feel welcome. They introduced me to their friends and family, loaned me a great bike, gave me beer and even remembered to take me out for my birthday. They both worked weekdays, which gave me a chance to relax and wander around, and at night we managed to fit in plenty of funness.

My trip coincided perfectly with the Winnipeg Jazz festival and I made it out to see a critically acclaimed experimental jazz band, (Vijay Iyer) and a blues guitarist, famous for being able to play whilst standing on his head (Guitar Shorty). On the weekend we took a road trip out to Lake of the Woods, a gorgeous weekend escape about 200km east of Winnipeg. I also fit in a some running, a little baseball and couple of great bike rides.

I've convinced Anna and Vince to come and visit Adelaide for a few months (provided i help them find work, which should be easy given my job expertise) so hopefully we'll get a chance to catch up again soon!

Canada - Whistler

I was a little disappointed to be leaving the Rockies, but the drive South-West to Kamloops soon cheered me up. Driving a brand new SUV in British Columbia was great fun. Good roads, a courageous co-pilot and magnificent scenery made time on the roads something to look forward to. The only negative aspect was all the road works, which i'm told are in preparation for the 2010 winter olympics. All up we covered 2660km at around 9km/L.

After stopping the night in Kamloops, the rest of the journey to Whistler was particularly scenic, along a spectacular and windy mountain road. The town is very modern, constructed in the past 20 years, and is a lot like a retirement village for young people. All parking is underground which allows the chalets and hotels to be packed tightly together and completely surrounded by pedestrian malls. Although the permanent population is only 10,000, this can increase more than 10 times during ski season. Although summer is the low season, there are still plenty of activities on offer. We started by taking a pleasant 'stroll' along Cheakamus Lake - anything which doesn't involve climbing a mountain through multiple feet of snow no longer qualifies as a hike. We did run into a crazed, chainsaw wielding park ranger though.

Next we joined an All Terrain Vehicle tour of nearby Cougar Mountain. With motorcycle style handlebars and a thumb lever throttle, the ATVs were quite tricky to control - especially through puddles and over rocks. Jo, who had never driven any kind of motorised vehicle before, found it particularly tough. Her first driving experience very nearly ended in disaster as she rolled her whole ATV sideways on a seemingly flat section of path. Luckily she was thrown clear of the falling bike and landed on some comfortable rocks, escaping with a few bruises. Despite her new found driving expertise I decided it probably wasn't a good idea to put her in charge of the SUV just yet...

We ended our time together with one of my favourite dinners ever at the Rim Rock Cafe and Oyster Bar - an absolute must visit if you're anywhere near Whistler. The caribou and halibut were incredible!

Canada - Icefields Parkway

The road between Lake Louise and Jasper is widely regarded as the most beautiful in North America. Climbing more than 2000 meters into the mountains it passes about 20 glaciers and countless snowy mountains. Despite retreating significantly every year, the Athabasca glacier is still only a few hundred meters from the road. A short hike from the parkway got us to Peyto Lake, the most brightly coloured i've ever seen. Distaster was narrowly averted after a terrorist caribou launched a suicide headbutt attack on our SUV, which missed by just a couple of meters. The black bear suspected of masterminding the attack was spotted soon afterwards running just meters from the road. Speaking of bears, i've had 5 separate "encounters" since arriving in North America - 2 grizzlies and 3 black bears. Only one occurred while hiking and thankfully that was at a very safe distance. I've seen plenty of other critters, including a moose, some eagles, horned sheep, marmots, thousands of squirrels and a little guy swimming in a lake that was either an otter or a beaver. We spent the night at a delightfully rustic lodge right on the parkway (after an unintentional but scenic 50km detour) and awoke to climb one of the peaks in the "Endless Chain" of mountains. The hike proved very challenging firstly because it was steep and slippery and also because there wasn't really a trail, just some sporadically placed orange tape marking a suggested route. We struggled up through bugs and mud for about 3 hours, losing and then reacquiring the trail a few times before reaching the very top of the treeline and clear view of the summit. We considered the steep 200m scramble over damp, slippery rocks for a while but, given the summit was shrouded in clouds anyway, decided to accept a minor victory and headed back to the lodge. Fantastic hiking again from Jo! It's an empowering feeling to sit back and enjoy a 3 course meal in a restaurant overlooking the mountain you've just climbed!