See you got your hot tub showroom pics on there you cheeky thing! Hawaii looks amazing! Carry on having lots of fun... and plenty of menacing.... see you! xxxx

Had an amazin time in Banff - absolutely loved it and definately plan to return; it's beautiful! Climbed up snowy mountains for snowball fights, stood on a glacier, have funny stories from Kelowna, been rollerbladin (for the first time ever) in Stanley Park, Vancouver. Then went ice-skatin a couple of hours later! Visited Whistler - nice. Went to Vancouver island, but missed the bears and whales! Been to Oahu, Hawaii. Visited Pearl Harbour and Waikiki beach. Went (in purple hair and a witches hat) to a Halloween Street Party in Waikiki - Crazy! Now in Kuaui - the garden isle. It's beautiful! Been for a swamp hike in the wettest place on earth, hiked the Na Pali coastline (used in many movies incl Jurassic Park) and been on a 1 hour helicopter ride - Awesome!!! Off to the Big Island tomorrow to see molten lava flow into the sea at night. Will add photos as soon as i get the chance - and will tell much more then. Keep me posted on how u are and what ur up to. x

John - Yep, Banff really is beautiful! I will return!! Didn't stay as I couldn't get a work permit until Jan. Not sure I would enjoy -40 temperatures either! Will return for a summer and just a couple of months of winter, to try snowboardin! Been up some snowy mountains in the Rockies, had snowball fights, seen glaciers! All good!! Going to Vancouver Island for 3 days and then maybe to Whistler. Then have to get outta the cold n to the beaches in Hawaii - get bac my tan! C u in Norway sometime - that looks good enough to add to my list!

Kev - thanks for the pics. He looks lovely, can't believe he's almost 1!

Was in a cool bar in Boulder last night, and they had snowboard movies on big screens. Some parts of the movies were from Banff.. Looked pretty decent, yep! How about Whistler, have you been?

Well some of us have to work you know!! take it easy!

I'm in Banff - it's awesome!! I went hiking up a mountain yesterday with 3 Aussie lads I met in the bar - beautiful views. Today I hiked through the forest and down to the river with another Aussie guy, Joe, who I first met in Vancouver. (He was also lookin for a party in the 'retirement home' so we partied together 'til 5.) Sat by the river for a couple of hours, gettin a tan!!! Stunning views!! Clear blue (ice-cold) water, forest and mountains; I love it here! (I'll post pics when I get these cds sorted - don't know what Walgreens have done but they wont load!) The hostel is beautiful, with mountain views from every window, the town is quaint and the sun is shining. I love it so much I'm thinking about cancelling my flights and staying a while! Found a job as an 'outreach coordinator' supporting women in abusive relationships; involves providing educational workshops - my kinda thing! It's forecast to snow on Sunday, can't wait! It'll be beautiful. Since I don't ski or snowboard tho mayb it's not worth me staying as you can't hike! So much too think about! We'll see!

Jez - Cheers man, I'll let u know what pub I'm in!! & cleaning and washing ur clothes - f**k that, what do u think I am!? I'm the best guest; I always make sure the fridge is stocked with beer! & then help u empty it! C u in Auckland. Job, u? u mean u occasionally drag urself outta bed? Impressive!

John - U'll hav 2 get ur ass over 2 Oz, then! Can't wait 5 yrs until we Safari in Africa!!

Oh, so this is where the Hawaii invitation is! Allright! Well, I would love to come, but don't think it's ever so popular with my employer atm.. I will be there in spirit!! ;)

You get to Auckland on a tuesday, so as some of us have to work!! You'll have to get the bus, and hang around auckland for a bit an i'll come get ya after work.

Mike - well random!! We're havin a good time hangin out.

Steve - Cheers bro! U can't, but e.mail them 2 me. Can't wait 2 hear frm the little uns; miss u all loads! (tell Soph 'loy ya too') & don't ever call me a yank!

Hey, how random is that, meeting my Yosemite buddy Mark!

Happy travelling.

A couple of short stories to keep u amused; Before I left San Fran i needed a couple of days to relax, but had done what i wanted to do in SF. Pete was off to Sunnyvale, a little suburb just over an hour away to line up some work thru friends of friends. I thought it might b nice 2 c the suburbs, so i went along. Arranged to meet him early evening back at the Irish bar. We asked a couple for directions to an Internet Cafe about 4 miles away I was heading for (photos!) and they gave me a lift. When done I asked the guys that work there which bus back. He gave me a lift as he had GPS. (Everyone in California is so much more friendly than NY!) I gave him the name of the bar - Fibbars Magees, Sunnyvale. He dropped me off and off he went...I was outside Molly Magees, Mountain View! Told I needed to go 1 stop on the train. walked to the tracks, got on...a little confused because when we came the stop was called 'Sunnyvale'. This seemed to be goin to a whole area called Sunnyvale and i needed to know which of 6 stops - well I didn't!! I'd got on a VTA instead of a Caltrain!! Get off and wait for another to return me to Mountain View and start again!!! Now getting close to the time I'm meeting Pete, but he has no phone so i can't let him know. Check with someone back at Mountain View to make sure i get on the right train this time heading in the right direction! No problem, I'm on the train but it seems like quite a while for just 1 stop! Seek out an attendant who says 'no love, this is the express train, we don't stop at Sunnyvale!' B*****ks!! I have to stay on the train to Tamien (half way to LA! well not quite, but it felt like it!) Then on the return journey they'll drop me off at Sunnyvale! What a day! I finally arrived 1hr15 mins late after 2hrs of getting to know the local transport systems. It would only have taken me an hr to walk and I'd have been on time!! (Thanks Ocean, don't trust ur GPS!) Pete, bless him was really worried about me as the last time he saw me i was getting in the car with people we didn't know. And it meant we'd missed free dinner back at the Tortoise. The Irish boys lined up the Stella for me - God they can drink! Before I'd finished my first pint, there were 2 more in front of me!! We left for the train about 10.15. I was so tired I told Pete which train we needed and told him to wake me up. 45 minutes later he said 'I think we needed that train I watched go by half an hr ago!' Of course it was the last 1 of the night!! What to do?? Back to the Irish bar and Liam put us up for the night. Pete wouldn't get up in the morning so we missed check out as well and had to stay another day in SF! Adventures!! I had no idea how much Pete had had to drink - he'd had about 8 pints of Guiness, plus about 4 of the Stellas lined up for me and an Irish coffee. What I didn't know was that for the 6 hrs i was wandering around the suburbs and he was lining up work, being Irish it consisted of a chat over 6 or 7 pints of Guiness before I even arrived! No wonder he watched the train go by!! I was happy tho because everyone had been so nice. The attendant on the express train even returned with a sweet saying 'u've had such a rubbish day i thought u might like a little sweetness!'

Talking about Californians being friendly, when the 3 of us were cyclin The Golden Gate Bridge (more photos to follow, it's just so slow to load em on, I've spent hrs already!) a woman stopped us and asked if we wanted our photo taken together with the bridge in the background. Very nice of her. Then she's chatting away to us about our trip to Yosemite the nxt day. Lovely, but since we had such a good night the night before, we've got very limited time to do the bridge and return the bikes. As a bloke walks past she yells over to him, 'hey, what do u wanna tell these guys about Yosemite' Off he goes...we learn about the ex-wife in ireland etc etc....

Story number 2; (You'll like this 1, Mike) Dreading 27 hrs on Amtrak. Get assigned seats. The lad next to me introduces himself, 'Hi, I'm Mark.' 'Hi, Nicky.' U know, the usual, shake hands and start with where ur frm. He's from Sydney! I always like to talk to Aussies and tell him "I'm on my way to live in Maroochydore.' 'Wait' he says and looks at me funny and I'm thinking what?! Then he asks such a strange question and I'm starting to think he's weird 'do you know an English lad called Michael?' What kind of question's that?? Turns out
that Mike I'd been hanging out with at the hostel had met Mark on a 2 day trip to Yosemite and told him about this girl he'd met who's movin to Maroochydore!!! How weird, such a small world! 27 hrs passed nicely and he's arriving at the hostel opposite mine later today (2 days after the train ride) so we'll have a cupla beers tonight. What do u make of that, Mike???

Anyway, I'm in Vancouver. It's not such a party place as everywhere else. In fact, it's almost impossible to get a drink after 1am. By day tho, the place seems lovely. Off to Stanley Park now (meant to b beautiful, might hire another bike!), and as a bonus the sun is shining, the sky is blue, it's warmer than SF! Tomorrow I'll walk the Suspension Bridge and Monday it's Thanksgivin. Tues I'm going on a Moose tour to The Rockies for 11 days - sounds stunning. When I return I shall go over to Vancouver island for a few days bear spotting and whale watching! 30th Oct I fly to Hawaii for some island hopping for 10 days and then over to Fiji for more island hopping. Over to Auckland on 21st Nov. Don't want this travellin to finish, realised I'm not in a rush to get to Maroochydore so will probably work for a few months in Sydney. I now know quite a few people who live or will be living there. Excellent!!