Destination YEG
12:10PM August 15, 2015 11°C

It’s funny how even with months of planning things end up being left to the very last minute. Only a couple hours left before departure and I am scrambling to purchase a suitable travel diary. Chapters carries multitudes of stationary and the closest one to the airport was located on Calgary trail. Therefore it only seemed fit after our goodbye brunch with my family at the neighboring I-HOP, to stop at the bookstore to pick up a journal. I was also keen to find an engagement gift for my dear Australian friend with whom we would be housed by upon our arrival across the world in Perth, Western Australia. I settled with a journal from Adventure Co. with a lovely quotation on its cover: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page”. The quotation caused me to ponder further the first adventure S.A. and I were about to embark on together. I wondered what exactly we were getting ourselves into, our respective travel habits, and, thanks to S.A., the curious creatures that we were sure to encounter once we arrived in Australia. Leading up to the trip, S.A had been sure to show me videos of various deadly spiders, sharks, snakes and other critters that called Australia home and, according to the most fantastic videos, the ‘deadliest place on the planet’. Despite all of these deadly possibilities awaiting us in Oceania’s Continent, I was excited to be off.

Corporate Travel Chill
4:50PM-ish March 15, 2015 11°C

Upon our arrival at the airport, we soon learned that we had made a mistake. A mistake that may have jeopardized our travel plans. According to the agent at the West Jet front desk we needed to have purchased an Australian Visa prior to arriving at the airport. S.A and I immediately thought that all our travel plans were about to be washed down the drain. However, the agent quickly assured us that this wasn’t too much of a problem since we could apply and purchase our visas right there at the counter and then proceed on our journey without further delay. It looked like our adventure was very much on its way after all. After a brief pre-boarding lunch at Chili’s at the international airport, this portrait was taken next to the travel diary around 4:50PM, and, shortly thereafter, we began boarding the airplane. When we lifted off we caught the last glimpse of the patchwork quilt of canola and grain fields while the flat empty horizon before us would soon be replaced by the jagged peaks surrounding the skyscraper-crowded Vancouver skyline.

Vancouver, BC-E?
5:57PM ("Vancouver Time") August 15, 2015 12°C

I always loved visiting Vancouver. I loved how big the city felt in comparison to Edmonton; I loved how it seemed to buzz with energy and how there was always something to do around the city. It wasn’t as spread out as Edmonton and the Sky-train was a much better alternative to Edmonton’s LRT (Light Rail Transit). However we wouldn’t be staying here long. This was only the first and shortest leg of our trip after all! We only had two hours in Vancouver so we stopped at a local eatery. S.A. and I shared a conversation with our bartender while enjoying fish and chips and a couple Grandville Island beers. Our bartender was wearing a lanyard around his neck that was covered in Spiderman logos and a Dead Pool belt. My two younger brothers were especially found of the super hero so we asked him where he purchased the items. He told us about a store in Seattle called Hot Topic which carried a lot of different superhero products along with other animated character merchandise, and I made sure to make a note of it since I would be visiting Seattle after our month away for my cousin’s wedding. I secured the carving on my necklace, which would be it’s carry device from this point forward since I was informed earlier about the strict restrictions that Australia had regarding foreign product being brought into the country. This is a photo of the carving and my necklace in front of a tall glass of water. The glass reminded me of how perhaps the water in Canada may taste differently than it might taste in Australia since perhaps they have different water treatment systems. At the time I was more than ready for the plane to board and soon enough we were siting at our gate waiting for boarding.

Art Apart
Later, Dude ("Vancouver Time") August 15, 2015 12°C

Just before getting in line to board I snapped a second picture of the carving resting in front of a piece of "anonymous" Aboriginal art. Having taken a Native Studies course just before finishing my degree at the University of Alberta, I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not the piece was done by an Aboriginal artist or if it was just commissioned by the City from some other non-Indigenous artist to ‘pay tribute’ to the Aboriginal community as frequently happens throughout the Americas. Was the piece yet another "colonizing" misappropriation along the lines of those that frequently blur the lines between History and ‘Public Memory Art’? In short, I think that the City should have properly identified the anonymous work.

Auckland, New Zealand
11:00AM August 18, 2015 10°C

We arrived at Auckland around 4:30 and weren’t even that tired from the flight. We decided to take a nap in the international airport lounge while we waited for our connecting flight to Perth. It’s so interesting to sit and watch the people buzz by as they rush to their gates. Its such a place of movement. No one is really home here but you could tell who the regular fliers were. They were organized and on a mission, in comparison tour groups such as a Japanese school trip which seemed to be lost in the International Lounge. The International Lounge was quite a bit smaller than S.A. and I expected. They had a few small bars to get a drink, a breakfast/lunch bar, a sushi bar and, of course, a flavor favourite of the West, Burger King. There were also various souvenir shops that were littered with goods ranging from wool to carved wooden figurines of kiwi birds. We decided to have a breakfast that morning at the airport since the food they served on the flight hadn’t filled us up and we were hungry after our nap. We were surprised that breakfast ended up costing us fifty New Zealand dollars! Despite the costly breakfast, it was delicious and the servings were much larger than what we are accustomed. A few hours after breakfast we decided to have a drink at the Heineken Bar. This vignette is taken at our table, the roof of the bar was completely made out of empty Heineken bottles that were turned upside down and created a funnel shape. We thought it was pretty cool and a nice looking way to recycle.

Mundaring Dam, Western Australia
Late G'Day August 18, 2015 18°C

To finish off our first day we traveled to the near by Mundaring Dam. Built on the Helena River valley the dam takes up land that was once occupied by the Whadjuk people who traveled the river valley during the cooler seasons to collect and hunt food. The area then became important for the timber industry, which supported the growing Swan River Colony, which is today known as Perth city. The dam was built to supply drinking water for the goldfields that began to open along Mundaring Weir, and a 550 km long pipeline from Lake O’Connor to Kalgoorlie was created. The dam was beautiful. It was hard to imagine how the early settlers of Australia in the mid 19th century were able to create such a long pipeline in order to facilitate the growth of the gold industry in the hills. Thus also building the foundation of the most isolated city in the world, which we were now about to visit. .

Perth, On the Soccer Field
3:00PM August 22, 2015 21°C

This was a busy day. Our lovely friends F.B. and B.F. had their engagement party planned for tonight. The morning was spent preparing all sorts of food for the dinner guests and making sure that the venue was all set. But before we got to kick off the celebrations we had to catch some real football. So off we went to the pitch. F.B and both of her younger brothers play football every Saturday with the local Christian league, so despite the big plans for the night we got to sit and watch the games and enjoyed learning about all the strange Australian slang words from new friends. We were once again surprised to learn that even in the heat of Australia the grass is still green.

Bali Beach Tableside
Watch Left Unchecked, August 24, 2015 33°C

The walk to the beach was filled with distractions, it took us most of the morning to finally reach the coast. There were vendors everywhere selling wares ranging from bottle openers, decorated surfboard figurines, t-shirts, selfie sticks, magnets and ‘designer’ sunglasses. This vignette is taken beachside on our shared side table as we lounged under a Coca-Cola Umbrella and lay back against our long chairs. We rented the chairs and the umbrella for the equivalent of $5.00 an hour, a local way of making ends meet. It was shocking to think that while five dollars was relatively nothing to us it was equal to 5000 rupee, which could buy quite a bit in Bali.

Beached, Too
3:30PM August 25, 2015 35°C

It was yet another beautiful day on the island. We enjoyed lounging on the beach so much yesterday afternoon that we decided to make a day of it today. So back we went. However this time we decided to stay a bit later. The restaurants limning the beach start to pull out giant multicolored beanbags around 3:00pm and are open to sit on after 4. They also provide colorful umbrellas decorated with tassels and stringed with multi colored lights. Once the sun goes down there’s nothing more beautiful than looking around you and seeing a colorful glowing mass of lit umbrellas and hearing the laughter and joy of the hundred of people around you enjoying their vacation. Unfortunately our camera could not capture the lights very well so this vignette is taken as they were setting up the umbrellas and beanbags, which had been, stored overnight in a huge pile underneath multiple tarps.

Garuda Wisnu Kencana Park
11:00AM August 26, 2015 34°C

It was our last full day in paradise. We decided to take more of a cultural tour of Bali. So we hired a driver from the hotel named Abi who gave us a day tour of various cultural sights. The first sight we visited was Garuda Wisnu Kencana Park. This park is famous for its cultural dance performances and will be the site of the largest statue in the world. The statue will be of Vishnu riding on the back of a ‘garuda’ (a super natural eagle like being). Close to the statue is Parahyangan Somaka Giri, this is a sacred fountain with magical healing powers. The water is rich in important nutrients and is believed to have healing abilities. We took three photographs of Squirelly Tail Sprout at this site. One is taken on the stairway up to the statue where there was a larger serpent like sculpture coiling up the staircase. The second is closer to the top where the vignette is balanced on a ledge to show a glimpse of the finished top half of the Visnhu statue. The last photograph was taken balancing on a pillar and highlights the completed head of Garuda (not seen here, but, instead as the main photo with the link to this e-travel space).

Fremantle Fishermen Recalled
12:00PM 1 August 30, 2015 18°C

After attending Baptist church service with the family we were staying with we headed on a tour of a culturally rich area of Perth. Fremantle is a close-knit city comparable in size to the communities of Sherwood Park and St. Albert, Alberta. The human and cultural environment of Fremantle, however, seemed to us a more like the area in and around the Whyte Avenue district in Edmonton. Fremantle is a port city that is the hub for trade in Perth. From the port you can catch a glimpse of Rottnest Island and various large shipping tankards coming in from around the world. There are various markets here held every Saturday and Sunday, sporting local goods. The streets are also lined with street performers. One tired to impress the crowd with is witty jokes and his unicycle and another showed his talent on a colorful upright piano. We enjoyed perusing through the small shops and taking a look at the memorials for the fisherman who were lost at sea. One of photos was taken by the statue for the fishermen that Fremantle erected in honor of those lost at sea while the other vista overlooks part of the harbour.

Monument Hill
5:00PM August 30, 2015 15°C

On our way home we stopped at Monument Hill. Throughout our trip we had noticed that there were many war memorials in Perth, this was one of the larger ones and it over-looked Fremantle. This vignette is taken along side the war memorial tower. It told of the lives lost during World War I and was erected by the people in Fremantle in 1928. Monument Hill is the highest natural point of elevation between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Ranges. Monument Hill was identified early as one of the best vantage points in Fremantle.