All the picture albums can be seen at the following link. Sorry you will have to paste it into the toolbar.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney
I had a fabulous experience.
Thursday, 30 August 2007
East Coast of Canada and Pictures
The last two weeks of my trip were spent on the East Coast of Canada with my friend from work, Michelle. We toured around Nova Scotia, PEI, New Brunswick and came home via Maine and New Hampshire.
In Nova Scotia we toured the Keith’s Brewery and in PEI we went to the St. Anne’s church lobster supper and to the Anne of Green Gables musical. We went to these things with my brother Dennis, Carol, Laura, Jack and Carolyn.
In New Brunswick we spent lots of time at Michelle’s grandparent’s cottage. We were put to work while we were there. We bottled lobster. We ended up doing two batches so we “put down” 82 lobsters. They are cooked, then taken out of their shells, cleaned, bottled and boiled again. It was a true maritime experience. We went to the wharf and picked them up also.
Check out the following link for pictures of the East Coast. You will have to paste it into your toolbar.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/EastCoastOfCanada
In Nova Scotia we toured the Keith’s Brewery and in PEI we went to the St. Anne’s church lobster supper and to the Anne of Green Gables musical. We went to these things with my brother Dennis, Carol, Laura, Jack and Carolyn.
In New Brunswick we spent lots of time at Michelle’s grandparent’s cottage. We were put to work while we were there. We bottled lobster. We ended up doing two batches so we “put down” 82 lobsters. They are cooked, then taken out of their shells, cleaned, bottled and boiled again. It was a true maritime experience. We went to the wharf and picked them up also.
Check out the following link for pictures of the East Coast. You will have to paste it into your toolbar.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/EastCoastOfCanada
Monday, 20 August 2007
Pictures, Pictures, Pictures.
Well a little more on Africa. It is very cold at night. I had this misconception that Africa is hot. Well I went in their winter and some days it is hot during the day and others, not so hot. In the evening it gets mighty cold. One evening it went down to -7 degrees. I was freezing. I lay in my sleeping bag with three pairs of pants, two pairs of socks (should have been three), two t-shirts, three sweaters, a light coat, my sarong as a scarf, toque and mitts. Luckily Christine in Hong Kong gave me her toque and mitts to borrow. Thanks again. Man it was cold at night. I wore them each night. I lay in my sleeping bag hoping to god it would hurry up and be six am. That was the time we were to leave that sight. They knew it was a cold location (a guy the week before got hypothermia) so we were to get up and take down the tents in the morning and get on the road. Usually we have breakfast, but it was too cold and we were going to stop around 9am to have breakfast. It was still freezing at 9am and we became hobos. We lit a garbage can on fire for warmth at our roadside breakfast stop. It was interesting. They did not check to see what was in the can, so there were little explosion going on and off. Then the can actually caught fire on the outside. It turned out to be burning the paint off the outside of the barrel. Needless to say the next town we hit I bought think socks and a wool blanket. These items made the evenings much more enjoyable.
We had some trouble with our truck or trucks. We ended up breaking down six times and having to switch trucks four times in the last few days. It was a big job to unload every single item off of the truck, but we hoped the next truck would be better. We just kept getting teased as the trucks were just borrowed from another group for a day or so and then we would have to carry on with our sh*t one.
We spent the night in the dessert. It was interesting. We broke down at 11 am. We entertained ourselves by playing dessert Olympics. We had the discus, javelin, shot-put and hurdle events. Then we played musical chairs, pass the toilet paper and finally we put a guy on the roof of the truck and made him be the hoop while we took shots at him, dessert basketball.
I went to the sand dunes and went sand boarding in Namibia. I climbed the 100m dune with my piece of wood (my sled) and slid down the dune head first at 76 km/h. They had a radar gun and I was the fastest person to go down. For each step we took up the dune, we slid two steps back. By the time I would reach the top I would have to empty a cup of sand out of each running shoe. We were to wear covered shoes as our feet were our brakes.
We visited a township on the last day and saw how the poor live in Africa. It was interesting. You are either very rich or very poor in Africa. It was interesting. We saw a dorm room for migrant workers. In each room a minimum of two families live in an 8’ x 10’ dirty room. In the township there were dorm rooms, shacks made of left over lumber and steel or proper houses.
I went to Victoria Falls, a waterfall that is 1.7 km wide. The falls are one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was spectacular. I flew over it in a micro light airplane. The micro light looked like a large kite. The falls are in both Zambia and Zimbabwe. So when I was flying I flew through Zimbabwe.
The animals and scenery were absolutely spectacular in Africa. There is some much to offer there. I feel like this was the animal tour, but I know there is so much more culturally to offer, so I will have to go back.
Check out the following links for African pictures. I separated them into four albums in the hopes it would be quicker for you to up load them. Also included are my Ireland pictures and a couple videos.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Africa1Album
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Africa2Album
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Africa3Album
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Africa4Album
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/IrelandAndMyWelcomeHome
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-6874432063335198577
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=2108636978677755654
We had some trouble with our truck or trucks. We ended up breaking down six times and having to switch trucks four times in the last few days. It was a big job to unload every single item off of the truck, but we hoped the next truck would be better. We just kept getting teased as the trucks were just borrowed from another group for a day or so and then we would have to carry on with our sh*t one.
We spent the night in the dessert. It was interesting. We broke down at 11 am. We entertained ourselves by playing dessert Olympics. We had the discus, javelin, shot-put and hurdle events. Then we played musical chairs, pass the toilet paper and finally we put a guy on the roof of the truck and made him be the hoop while we took shots at him, dessert basketball.
I went to the sand dunes and went sand boarding in Namibia. I climbed the 100m dune with my piece of wood (my sled) and slid down the dune head first at 76 km/h. They had a radar gun and I was the fastest person to go down. For each step we took up the dune, we slid two steps back. By the time I would reach the top I would have to empty a cup of sand out of each running shoe. We were to wear covered shoes as our feet were our brakes.
We visited a township on the last day and saw how the poor live in Africa. It was interesting. You are either very rich or very poor in Africa. It was interesting. We saw a dorm room for migrant workers. In each room a minimum of two families live in an 8’ x 10’ dirty room. In the township there were dorm rooms, shacks made of left over lumber and steel or proper houses.
I went to Victoria Falls, a waterfall that is 1.7 km wide. The falls are one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was spectacular. I flew over it in a micro light airplane. The micro light looked like a large kite. The falls are in both Zambia and Zimbabwe. So when I was flying I flew through Zimbabwe.
The animals and scenery were absolutely spectacular in Africa. There is some much to offer there. I feel like this was the animal tour, but I know there is so much more culturally to offer, so I will have to go back.
Check out the following links for African pictures. I separated them into four albums in the hopes it would be quicker for you to up load them. Also included are my Ireland pictures and a couple videos.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Africa1Album
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Africa2Album
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Africa3Album
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Africa4Album
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/IrelandAndMyWelcomeHome
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-6874432063335198577
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=2108636978677755654
Tuesday, 31 July 2007
Ireland
Well some would say I had the gift of the gab before I visited the Blarney Stone, but if I didn’t have it before I should have it now. For those that don’t know by kissing the Stone you are to be filled with Blarney.
The Blarney Castle and house were on beautiful green grounds. It was lovely to check it out and walk around the premises.
While in Ireland I was able to get in a nice twilight game of golf with Louise. It was great.
I visited Cobh, which was the last port of call for the Titanic. It also has a large Cathedral that we also visited. I went to the Cliffs of Moher, it was gorgeous. That was the only day it rained on me and it only rained for half and hour while we were walking around. It has rained everyday this summer in Ireland.
We went to Malahide for dinner with Louise’s brother and his girlfriend. We went to the local pub and for my fellow Fruli drinkers (a nice strawberry beer) they have it on tap and I had a pint of it. In Peterborough you can only get it at one establishment and the bottles are less than 250ml. It is a great appetizer beer.
I went to Galway bay, Limerick, Cork and through most of the south. I tried to pack in a lot in the week. It was fabulous.
Louise my friend lives in Bray which is 40 minutes outside of Dublin. I got to check out her apartment that she bought (condo I guess here). It is a one bedroom apartment that she had to gut and it cost 260 000 Euros, and you thought housing was expensive in Canada.
We went on a tour around Dublin and went to the Guinness factory. The factory is situated on land that is worth 13 billion Euros. So it is expected that the land will be sold. They have a great museum and tour that will probably remain on the site. It was great to check out the factory and production. They make 13 million pints of Guinness a day there.
I had a fabulous time in Ireland. It was so neat coming down on the airplane into Dublin. It looked like one big green patchwork quilt with all the different shades of green and the bushes separating the fields.
I was met at the Toronto airport by the Keating clan with some GREAT artwork. They had made bristol board signs welcoming me home, Jack helped too. Thanks for your warm welcome and great signs.
Home for a week and off to the East Coast with Michelle from work for a couple of weeks.
The Blarney Castle and house were on beautiful green grounds. It was lovely to check it out and walk around the premises.
While in Ireland I was able to get in a nice twilight game of golf with Louise. It was great.
I visited Cobh, which was the last port of call for the Titanic. It also has a large Cathedral that we also visited. I went to the Cliffs of Moher, it was gorgeous. That was the only day it rained on me and it only rained for half and hour while we were walking around. It has rained everyday this summer in Ireland.
We went to Malahide for dinner with Louise’s brother and his girlfriend. We went to the local pub and for my fellow Fruli drinkers (a nice strawberry beer) they have it on tap and I had a pint of it. In Peterborough you can only get it at one establishment and the bottles are less than 250ml. It is a great appetizer beer.
I went to Galway bay, Limerick, Cork and through most of the south. I tried to pack in a lot in the week. It was fabulous.
Louise my friend lives in Bray which is 40 minutes outside of Dublin. I got to check out her apartment that she bought (condo I guess here). It is a one bedroom apartment that she had to gut and it cost 260 000 Euros, and you thought housing was expensive in Canada.
We went on a tour around Dublin and went to the Guinness factory. The factory is situated on land that is worth 13 billion Euros. So it is expected that the land will be sold. They have a great museum and tour that will probably remain on the site. It was great to check out the factory and production. They make 13 million pints of Guinness a day there.
I had a fabulous time in Ireland. It was so neat coming down on the airplane into Dublin. It looked like one big green patchwork quilt with all the different shades of green and the bushes separating the fields.
I was met at the Toronto airport by the Keating clan with some GREAT artwork. They had made bristol board signs welcoming me home, Jack helped too. Thanks for your warm welcome and great signs.
Home for a week and off to the East Coast with Michelle from work for a couple of weeks.
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Alive and well
Hi everyone. I am alive and doing well. Sorry I have not updated the blog in ages, the internet in Africa, is a little hectic and the opportunity to use it almost non existent.
Africa was amazing and we survived. One day we broke down in the dessert and were 150km’s from a town on the right and 220km’s from a town on the left. Needless to say we were stuck there over night and camped at the side of the road. Luckily they had just done the grocery shopping and we had lots to eat. It was an interesting day. We broke down at 11 am and hung out all day in limbo waiting for it to be ‘fixed’ for the 6th time. Did I not mention this was the 6th time to brake down, of I forgot. At 6pm as the sun was setting we sent up our tents and hoped the mechanic could ‘patch’ the truck over night so we could carry on the next day. The mechanic quit at 1am and it was not fixed. At 4:30am we packed up the truck and moved everything, cooking supplies, books, every last thing in the truck to a temporary one and headed down the road. I will continue this story at a later date along with some more.
Just wanted to let you know I am alive and currently in Ireland. I toured around Dublin with my friend Louise yesterday. I am staying with her for the week. We are off on a road trip today and golfing in the afternoon. Tomorrow I will head to Cork and kiss the Blarney stone on the way. Louise will not be joining me as her friend is getting married tomorrow (Thursday). She says it is cheaper for people to get married in the middle of the week, so some do it then.
Keep checking back once I am home. I will update the blog with more stories and of course the photos.
Africa was amazing and we survived. One day we broke down in the dessert and were 150km’s from a town on the right and 220km’s from a town on the left. Needless to say we were stuck there over night and camped at the side of the road. Luckily they had just done the grocery shopping and we had lots to eat. It was an interesting day. We broke down at 11 am and hung out all day in limbo waiting for it to be ‘fixed’ for the 6th time. Did I not mention this was the 6th time to brake down, of I forgot. At 6pm as the sun was setting we sent up our tents and hoped the mechanic could ‘patch’ the truck over night so we could carry on the next day. The mechanic quit at 1am and it was not fixed. At 4:30am we packed up the truck and moved everything, cooking supplies, books, every last thing in the truck to a temporary one and headed down the road. I will continue this story at a later date along with some more.
Just wanted to let you know I am alive and currently in Ireland. I toured around Dublin with my friend Louise yesterday. I am staying with her for the week. We are off on a road trip today and golfing in the afternoon. Tomorrow I will head to Cork and kiss the Blarney stone on the way. Louise will not be joining me as her friend is getting married tomorrow (Thursday). She says it is cheaper for people to get married in the middle of the week, so some do it then.
Keep checking back once I am home. I will update the blog with more stories and of course the photos.
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
South Africa, Botswana and Zambia
I am loving Africa, it is spectacular. I am doing an Acacia tour for 25 days through, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia. We have been through the first three and are looping back tomorrow through Botswana again. We will be in and out of some of the countries. Anyway, it is great. There are 21 people in my group and we travel around on a large truck. It is comfy, way better than I thought it would be. It has tables between some of the seats so we are able to even play cards while driving down the road. Some days we travel 500 km’s. Tomorrow our group splits up and we get new people and carry on to Capetown, the very tip of South Africa and the others go to Nairobi.
It is cool when you have to watch out for elephants and giraffes crossing the road. We see these animals at the side of the road often and stop to check them out.
We have been on game drives, cruises and stayed at many different campsites. The tents are nice and we have mattress pads to sleep on. It is very cold at night and I sleep with 3 sweaters on and two pair of socks and pants some times. In the day it is pleasant and I layer a lot of my clothing.
We saw cheetahs eating an impala (a small antelope) only 4 feet from our jeep that we took on a safari. They had just caught their kill. The national park is not fenced and our vehicle was open so there was no protection from the wild animals that were only 2 – 4 feet from our vehicle. It has been really cool.
We saw a pack of lions and then we saw a male lion, like the one in lion king approaching our vehicle and his lioness. They were about 200m’s away and walked right up and around our vehicle and carried on to where they were going. That was awesome.
We have seen many elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes and impalas. The animals are spectacular and we are so close to them. It is hard to imagine they are everywhere. When before this I had only seen some of them in a zoo.
The group of people are great and we went on a booze cruise last night and everyone partied it up. It was well deserved. It was all you can drink for 2 hours. We saw a crocodile, hippos and elephants.
In a couple of hours I am going on a micro light plane (it looks light a large kite) over Victoria Falls, which is similar to Niagara Falls.
Sorry I will have to post the photos at a later date as we do not have internet access very often and when we do it is really slow.
It is cool when you have to watch out for elephants and giraffes crossing the road. We see these animals at the side of the road often and stop to check them out.
We have been on game drives, cruises and stayed at many different campsites. The tents are nice and we have mattress pads to sleep on. It is very cold at night and I sleep with 3 sweaters on and two pair of socks and pants some times. In the day it is pleasant and I layer a lot of my clothing.
We saw cheetahs eating an impala (a small antelope) only 4 feet from our jeep that we took on a safari. They had just caught their kill. The national park is not fenced and our vehicle was open so there was no protection from the wild animals that were only 2 – 4 feet from our vehicle. It has been really cool.
We saw a pack of lions and then we saw a male lion, like the one in lion king approaching our vehicle and his lioness. They were about 200m’s away and walked right up and around our vehicle and carried on to where they were going. That was awesome.
We have seen many elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes and impalas. The animals are spectacular and we are so close to them. It is hard to imagine they are everywhere. When before this I had only seen some of them in a zoo.
The group of people are great and we went on a booze cruise last night and everyone partied it up. It was well deserved. It was all you can drink for 2 hours. We saw a crocodile, hippos and elephants.
In a couple of hours I am going on a micro light plane (it looks light a large kite) over Victoria Falls, which is similar to Niagara Falls.
Sorry I will have to post the photos at a later date as we do not have internet access very often and when we do it is really slow.
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Dubai U.A.E. - Pictures
Well I had an action packed few days in Dubai. It was great. What an interesting city. The place is completely under construction. Skyscrapers going up everywhere and therefore cranes everywhere you look. The workers work 24 hours a day 7 days a week, in the heat, oh the heat. It was 44 degrees Celsius each day. It was ok though as it was a dry heat. The suns rays during the day burn off the humidity so I was not sweating profusely.
I went on a desert safari and went off-roading in an SUV over the sand dunes. It was scary. I thought we were going to roll the vehicle cutting across the sand dune sideways and sliding the other way. I got some confidence in our driver and then had a great experience. It was so cool. I even got to drive. That was crazy. It was pitch black and you didn’t know what was ahead after cresting the dune. It was awesome. I also went for a ride on a camel in the desert. It was a little bumpy, but very cool.
I went on a tour around the city for the day and saw all the buildings, malls and hotels, I don’t know who is staying in these places but they are extremely expensive and there are so many of them. The construction is fascinating I don’t know where the people are all coming from or for what. It is hard to believe they need so many buildings being built at once.
The malls are massive. Think of the largest mall you have been to and multiply its ground floor by 2 then add 6 stories. I went downhill skiing at the mall. Yes you read that correctly. It was 44 degrees outside and I was inside skiing on snow. It was interesting. For $50 you can ski for 2 hours. The cost includes skis, boots, poles, socks, a jacket and pants. Luckily Christine loaned me a toque and mitts for Africa so I was able to use those. You were to provide your own mitts and hat, or buy theirs. Speaking of which. I am now in South Africa and went from a temperature of 44 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees Celsius. The people at the airport in their snowsuits didn’t know what to think of my shorts.
May not be as frequent with the updates now, but I will try. I am doing a 25 day overland safari through Africa. It should be great.
Check out the following link for photos. Again it seems you will have to copy the address into the toolbar.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Dubai
I went on a desert safari and went off-roading in an SUV over the sand dunes. It was scary. I thought we were going to roll the vehicle cutting across the sand dune sideways and sliding the other way. I got some confidence in our driver and then had a great experience. It was so cool. I even got to drive. That was crazy. It was pitch black and you didn’t know what was ahead after cresting the dune. It was awesome. I also went for a ride on a camel in the desert. It was a little bumpy, but very cool.
I went on a tour around the city for the day and saw all the buildings, malls and hotels, I don’t know who is staying in these places but they are extremely expensive and there are so many of them. The construction is fascinating I don’t know where the people are all coming from or for what. It is hard to believe they need so many buildings being built at once.
The malls are massive. Think of the largest mall you have been to and multiply its ground floor by 2 then add 6 stories. I went downhill skiing at the mall. Yes you read that correctly. It was 44 degrees outside and I was inside skiing on snow. It was interesting. For $50 you can ski for 2 hours. The cost includes skis, boots, poles, socks, a jacket and pants. Luckily Christine loaned me a toque and mitts for Africa so I was able to use those. You were to provide your own mitts and hat, or buy theirs. Speaking of which. I am now in South Africa and went from a temperature of 44 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees Celsius. The people at the airport in their snowsuits didn’t know what to think of my shorts.
May not be as frequent with the updates now, but I will try. I am doing a 25 day overland safari through Africa. It should be great.
Check out the following link for photos. Again it seems you will have to copy the address into the toolbar.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Dubai
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