Whit's Travels: Toronto

Hey crew

Kind of interesting that my Toronto post was from Niagara and my Niagara post is going to be from Toronto... but I'm technically in Transit in Toronto. I got in at like 4:30pm from Niagara, weighed up a couple of options thanks to the free wireless internet you can get in various buildings in Toronto and decided upon this one: Waiting 7 hours and then taking the midnight bus to Kingston that in fact takes 12 hours because it goes the most roundabout way possible, when it could really take like 4. This doesn't sound like the best choice ever but its the cheapest (don't have to find somewhere to sleep tonight) and gets me to Kingston the earliest, thus not wasting any valuable time I have in this part of the world. I would be totally sold on this option if it wasn't for my good mate Crumbles being in the same city as me, but being virtually uncontactable. No harm done, I'm fairly soon our paths will be crossing very soon, maybe even in Kingston for a mini-camp reunion with Tyler and Alex.

So, my trip to Niagara Falls was never really on the cards, but Alex (Perth Alex) suggested it, she and her road trip crew had been there and enjoyed it. I had basically done everything I wanted to do in Toronto but couldn't go to Kingston til Monday, so I though 'Why Not?. This thought led to more awkward public transit catching with my large pack in tow. However, there has been a rather revolutionary development in the carriage of the pack, backpack, tripod and guitar. The tripod goes on the side of the pack, the guitar loops around the back of the pack and the backpack goes on the front. I discovered today that you can clip my backpack onto the front of my pack. This sounds lame but it was like the most awesome thing ever for me. Back at camp, Crumbles and Billy were always strong advocates for the front-pack, but I remained unconvinced until today, when a pair of Poms from Somerset I met at the hostel put the idea of clipping a backpack onto the front of a pack into my head. Now I can walk for miles without being super unbalanced and getting stuck upside down like a turtle if I drop a coin.

Speaking of walking miles, I had googled the location of my hostel (Lyon's House Hostel)and seen that it was a mere 3.5km from the bus terminal. In the interest of saving money and getting some exercise, I decided to walk. I'm still of both minds about that decision. Luckily I managed to miss the freak snowstorm that blew in and out literally half an hour before I arrived. Also, the walk led me from the normal Niagara Falls through to the tourist district of Clifton Hill. As I came upon Victoria Ave, I was really feeling the 25kgs or so I was lugging about. However, as I looked toward the skyline, my spirits were lifted by the beautiful sunset staining the skies hues of pink and purple. I could only imagine how beautiful the Falls must look in that light. The wonder of the natural beauty of the heavens was somehow deadened as I got closer and closer to Clifton Hill. To be honest, the thing that first led me to the Bad Vegas conclusion was a large glass walled building with the letters WATERPARK emblazoned in crimson across its roof. The giant ferris wheel and fiberglass Frankenstein holding a Burger King Whopper didn't help either.
Before I knew it, I reached my destination and met the friendly hostel owner Patrick. He was super cool, really welcoming and liked a chat. The hostel was awesome, a convereted apartment building with the healthiest and best free breakfast I've ever seen! Homemade rasberry-bluberry muffins every day!
That evening in front of the TV I met 2 girls, Shonelle and Lindsay, an Aussie and a Yank who had met whilst Shonelle was studying abroad in Nashville. They were cool, it was their first time in Canada and they had walked in to the country. Literally! They had flown to Buffalo, caught a bus to the Rainbow Bridge that joins the USA and Canada across the Falls, hopped off, walked along the Bridge, gone through customs and then strolled on down to the hostel, which is a 5 minute walk from the waterfront.

The following day, Patrick sent Shonelle, Lindsay and I off in a cab on the 'Disorganised Organised Wine Tour'. We drove along the waterside to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a cute little township that looked more British than Canadian. After stopping to see a few sights, the Whirlpool (a tight bend in the river where the water forms a current that can trap debris for weeks at a time) and the 'World's Smallest Chapel' (see the photo below... it's pretty small) we made it to Jackson-Triggs winery. We walked in and were the only people there so a nice young man called Austin took us for a tour and tastings. The tour was cool, he let us eat grapes off the vine, we learnt a bit about why the region was so well suited to grapes (the Escarpment stops warm air escaping so the area is always a few degrees warmer than the surrounds). We got to go behind the scenes, see how they loaded grapes into the machines, learnt the differences between fermenting red (horizontal machine where the wine is agitated so as to extract the dye from the skin) and white wine (vertical machine that allows the skin to float to the top), and saw the cellar where they let the wines mature. Even the barrels are an important part of the process, the usual American and French woods were used, as long as some experimental work with Canadian and Hungarian woods. After the tour we got down to the business of tasting. Now I'm no wine connoisseur but I thoroughly enjoyed the couple of reds and whites we tried. However, my absolute favourite was the icewines. Icewine is made by leaving the grapes out so late in the season that they freeze. Pressing frozen grapes results in a much sweeter, dessert wine that you can only drink in very small amounts. The Cabernet Franc was absolutely delicious! If I was able to afford/transport a $65 bottle of the stuff I would have done it in a snap.

After trying way more wines than we were supposed to, and getting free corkscrews from Austin (it probably had something to do with the fact that we were three lovely young ladies and he was a not half bad young man) we set off to walk back to Niagara-on-the-Lake. Lindsay and Shonelle, being Canadian newbies, had yet to go to a Tim Hortons, so I ensured that this sad fact was rectified. They were impressed... mostly by the prices.
Once we made it back to the town we looked about in the many small artsy shops and galleries. It was quite a nice change sightseeing with girls. I had done it so many times with the guys at camp which was super fun, but we definitely didn't get to look in little boutiques and the like.
That afternoon we were back to the tourist trap. Shonelle and Lindsay head off to Toronto, and I decided to go and check out the Falls.
I must say, they are very impressive. There are actually 2 Falls that make up Niagara Falls, the American Falls (the smaller one) and the Horseshoe, or Canadian Falls. This is the one that most people think of when they think Niagara Falls. That one totally trumps the American one. The thunderous roar of a million bathtubs a minute flowing over the slowly eroding rock is really quite something. At night, the Falls are illuminated by these giant beams of light. I thought this was kinda tacky, but it did make for some cool photos.

My last full day in Niagara I hired a bike from Patrick and set off for a ride to Niagara Glen, a bouldering and hiking site around the bend in the river. It was nice to get out to nature, I felt quite starved of it after being in the cities for the past 2 weeks or so, especially considering I pretty much lived outside for 6 months. Niagara Glen was really nice. I hiked around through heaps of boulders and forests, all the way down to the waters edge. So many seagulls soaring over the water's surface. It was super picturesque. The hikes were nice too, so many yellow and brown leaves everywhere for me to crunch. That never gets old. EVER.
That night the Winter Festival of Lights was opening by the waterfront. A whole bunch of illuminated displays, particularly of Disney characters, had been erected by the Falls. It seemed an odd sort of thing to do, but hey, the people and their kiddies were flocking! Personally, I was a big fan of the fireworks. My we are such a strange race, to celebrate by firing massive balls of light that explode into many colours into the night sky.

My final morning I capped off with my last sight I had yet to see, The Journey Behind the Falls. A large tunnel had been dug over 40 years ago underneath the Horseshoe Falls, so you can go there and watch the water plummet in this massive white sheet in front of you. There is also a lower viewing platform where you literally get to shower in Niagara Falls. The massive rainbows and amazing sight of the water rushing was totally worth the mild saturation.
Then back to the hostel to share a cab to the bus depot, onto the 2pm bus and here I am, back in Toronto. Just watched the new Coen brothers movie and have since been chilling in a foodcourt with free internet just down the road from the Greyhound station where I stowed my pack in a locker. But there is a dude trying to pack it up so I best skedaddle. Wish me luck for my 12 hour bus ride to Kingston! I'm sure it will be a ball.

What trip is complete without a ridiculously long and uncomfortable bus ride. I suppose at the least it won't be too busy.... I hope!
I'll post the photos a bit later.

Hey crew

Just thought I'd clarify, I am in Toronto at the moment, but this post is intended to be about Phoenix where I just was. I would have posted from there, but I was having way too much fun with Dave, Vicki, Summer, Kylie and Mum to spend the time it takes to write a post. However, being in Toronto by myself provides a multitude of time. Mainly because I decided I didn't really want to be too far from the apartment I'm staying at after dark.... and it gets dark at like 5pm. Anyway free Toronto Public Library Internet sounded pretty good to me.

So Phoenix was a really sweet time, the Vacala's picked me up from the airport and from then on they were the best hosts ever. It was like luxury, having my own room, not having to sleep in a sleeping bag, getting to choose what we ate... heaven! Vicki even took me to Sprouts to buy trail mix as I told her I'd been craving nuts since camp is a nut free zone. It's crazy how much Summer and Kylie have grown since I last saw them about 4 and a half years ago. They're so big! And fun to hang out with. We had some good times playing airplane and walking to Walgreens to buy Arizona Iced Tea. You know it tastes even better in Arizona... and at only $1 a giant can how can you say no?

Anyway so Mum arrived a couple of days later (after Vicki and I went and bought amazing Belgian chocolates and even more amazing Belgian chocolate drinks) and I was pretty stoked. It was so nice to be able to see someone from home, especially Mum, after quite a while. At first it was kinda weird having a Mum again, but I liked it!

We got down to business once Mum arrived, going to San Tan Flats for dinner... best burgers ever!! Then we went hiking at South Mountain amongst the most cacti I think I have ever seen in my life.
Vicki drove us to Sedona to go on a Pink Jeep ride through the red rocks. It was spectacular, despite being incredibly windy and a little chilly. For a while I had an advantage coming from BC to the much warmer climes of Arizona, but after a week or so my internal thermostat seemed to revert to Australian sensitivity. However, I thought I was going to be colder once I got to Toronto, but so far 8 degrees and one hoody seem to be doing ok. We'll see how it goes if it snows on Thursday like the forecast says.
Anyway.... that night we spent at the college town of Flagstaff. It was amazing to be able to literally see the climate changing as we drove to higher and higher elevations, the cacti quickly disappeared to leave large shrubs which progressively became tall Alpine trees. It was pretty sweet. Flagstaff was neat, had an amazing dinner at this place Vicki frequents that was really good but I can't remember the name of for some reason. It sort of snowed that night, just like the blowy stuff that is really more of a nuisance than anything else but Mum and I didn't think so. Novelty of falling snow definitely not worn off yet. I'll keep you posted as to when that will happen. Don't hold your breath.
Before we headed south to warmer climes, Vicki drove us to this really large crater that was quite literally in the middle of nowhere. And when I say nowhere, I mean nowhere. Like, it was so nowhere there weren't even trees or shrubs or anything. Just kind of lame looking grass and a few rocks. But the crater itself was cool, it was like 50 000 years old and created by a very large iron meteorite. It was so big, you couldn't see a 6ft tall painted person at the bottom with the naked eye from the viewing platform on the edge. Just large. You could fit like 6 football games in the bottom or something. I thought it was pretty cool.

Once we returned safely to Chandler, having narrowly missed a decent size dust storm, Mum, Vicki and I got down to proper business. Shopping. Mum found lots of interesting shops and ideas to no doubt pester the family with upon her return. JOKES MUM LOVE YA! I actually think they are good ideas! Saw a couple of Williams-Sonoma stores in Toronto today. Anyway I discovered a Vans store so promptly spent the most money I have in AGES... but well worth it I feel.

I really hope that's not rain I can hear.... I don't want to walk home in the rain!

Digression? A tad. Anyway so Dave and Vicki had a little partay on my second last night which was super cool, Mum and I got to meet a bunch of their mates. It was really fun, they were all super nice and asked me heaps about my trip and stuff. Loads of them had traveled a decent bit too so it was cool to share stories and that.
My last night was Halloween, and I was lucky enough to be taken trick or treating for the first time, at the ripe old age of 18, by 2 genuine Americans in a genuine American neighbourhood. Result? 173 pieces of candy. Yep. And apparently that was a low figure as the neighbourhood isn't finished yet. Last years take was in the 300s. Ridiculous? Delicious! It was actually super fun walking around seeing everyone in their costumes, all the houses were like super decorated with pumpkins, lights, fake gravestones, inflatable skeletons, music, dry ice, the whole shebang! All the parents were like chillin out the front of their houses drinking beer and handing out lollies. It has a really cool vibe actually, maybe we should try and see if it will catch on at home. Upsetting for me, I couldn't physically take the gigantic piles of candy I had managed to stockpile, but Summer and Kylie were more than happy to take the rejects off my hands. I will probably not have to buy a chocolate bar until I return home, which I suppose from a budget perspective is pretty good.

So to sum up my trip to Phoenix I must say it was really enjoyable. Staying at the Vacala's house was awesome as it was like living with a family again. Also, the places I went and the people I met helped me shrug off the unfair stereotype of 'Americans' that is constantly perpetrated by overseas media and formulate my own opinions on the country and its people. Sure, there are those who can be ignorant or racist or whatever (just a quick note, I always knew Dave and Vicki were definitely not the stereotypical American Aussie media likes to scapegoat... just in case it sounded weird), but they are certainly not even close to being as widespread as the Australian and UK media would have you believe. Also, the country itself is not an urban wasteland, but home to some beautiful scenery and untouched ecosystems, that are quite hard to come by in modern times. What I mean by all this is, I urge any non-American, next time you have a go at the Seppos, try to avoid generalizing them or their country, as it is a pretty amazing place home to some really cool people.

Anyway, enough rambling. Photographs often tell the story better than words, so here are some of the shots I took whilst in Arizona.