world tour '16

August 2016 - February 2017

A 171-day adventure by Gone walkabout Read more

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Gone walkabout world tour '16
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- Aug 30, 2016, 4:40am
- 🌙 16 °C
- Altitude: 322 ft
- Canada Ontario Falls View Horseshoe Falls 43.08008, -79.0763743°4’48” N 79°4’35” W
Day 11
water to wine
August 30, 2016 in Canada ⋅ 🌙 16 °C
What an absolutely mind blowing day, first up..I'm shattered so I will probably come back and add more to this at some point but for now....

An earlish start to the day, picking up a car at 8am (yes that's right, me who has barely driven in the past 3 years was let loose on Canada), dive the hour and a half down to Niagara falls today not really knowing what to expect and preparing to be underwhelmed by a big waterfall....oh my god, so wrong, absolutely spectacular. All told I think I was at said waterfall for about 4 hours, just looking, finding different vantage points, taking a million photos (https://goo.gl/photos/HDz9vA6NRRm9SwQv8 )....just amazing

After that I was a bit stuck for what to do as I know there are a million tourist things in and around Niagara and I just couldn't decide, I thought rather than do the tourist trap planet Hollywood or hard rock I would head out of town a but and see what else there was to see...well...best decision ever.

I put "Niagara on the lake" (a smallish town) into the satnav and started driving, the busy city streets and neon signs of Niagara falls quickly gave way to industrial and retail areas, some quite run down...but then just as quickly that gave way to some of the most scenic, rustic, beautiful landscapes. Long winding, tree lined roads past beautiful country villages offering farmers markets, pick your own peaches and about a million happy and tanned cyclists.

After driving for half an hour or so the tree lined roads started giving way to huge vineyards as far as I could see and lots of signs for tours and tastings.... Who was I to argue.

A beautiful few hours were had in the grounds of the Andrew Peller winery, tasting some interesting, very young wines, none of the vines are over 10 years old and the wine makers are still being very experimental to find the grapes that grow best on the Niagara peninsula. Their speciality however is ice wine, an amazing desert wine picked from hardy grapes well into winter. After 3/4 samples I thought I should probably get some food on board and drink some water and so I made my way over to their bar/ restaurant and had a great pulled pork and a couple waters before jumping back in the car and doing a 2.5 hour drive out to Elmira too stay with Bev and Barb (friends of mum and grahams) who couldn't have been more welcoming and friendly and have some very cool interesting local stuff planned for me the next couple days....

Fyi I was so shattered writing that I feel asleep and just woke up 6 hours later to finish it

Edit: made a video of Niagara https://youtu.be/UBVh2DxSpbgRead more
You're quite good at this camera malarkey, aren't you!
8/30/16Reply
Gone walkabout Yes...yes I am Mr/Mrs anonymous lol
8/30/16Reply
Gillian Hollamby I'm delighted to hear you are loving Canada as much as we did. So glad you managed to taste the Ice Wine - so unusual. Brilliant photos. Have a lovely time with Bev & Barb. We've just finished stashing away all your stuff. There was more than we'd expected but we've managed to find spaces for it all. Lots of love Mum XXX😀
8/30/16Reply
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Gone walkabout world tour '16
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- Sep 1, 2016, 2:58am
- 🌙 13 °C
- Altitude: 1,214 ft
- Canada Ontario Floradale 43.60269, -80.5770743°36’10” N 80°34’37” W
Day 13
hospitality done right
September 1, 2016 in Canada ⋅ 🌙 13 °C
In the 60 hours I spent in Elmira Bev and barb have been amazing hosts and I've squeezed in....horse racing(sulkies...apparently), farmers market, steam trains, horse auctions, Mennonite history exhibit, brewery tasting, my first ever covered bridge, personal tour of a grain processing factory and still had time to sit down and get know my awesome hosts! Oh and let's not forget all of the awesome food, ham hock as big as a baby's head, amazing fried chicken, venison sausages and my first experience of "Puff balls"....giant wild mushrooms, bigger than a cabbage!

I got here early evening on Monday pretty exhausted from the drive up from the falls and a little concerned that I was staying with friends of mum's that I had never met in an area I knew nothing about....that lasted about 30 seconds after Bev answered the door(if that long)... Big old hand shake from Bev and a big ole hug from Barb and the next thing I knew I'm sat on their deck, beer in hand, chatting like old friends and then the magic words, you like country music right? If my brother reads this his head may explode 25th jealousy but I spent the next couple days being driven around in Bev's pick up, through the country with the country music on the radio, old dirt roads and all.

For those of you that want to see the rest of my pictures from this spot...

For those of you that want to hear my thoughts on Mennonites and religion, read on...warning though, religious views can be pretty devicive.... https://goo.gl/photos/bV44Pz6nrnb8wn5JA

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Quick note about this being Mennonite country, not a lot of people will know what that is, some may be familiar with the Amish who have similar views, but if anyone like myself has a vague idea of what they are but has not bothered to find out(like me for years)...take a minute, we might think that the buggies and old school clothing is a bit weird, but there's a reason behind it that makes a lot of sense to me and, as an atheist with a very logical mind some of their core beliefs are to me what Christianity was supposed to be.

Essentially, in a super quick nutshell,

They said: "we shouldn'tbaptize at birth because children should be allowed to grow up and choose their religious path"

Catholic church said: "we decide, we are the one true church, deal with it"

They said: "no thanks, we will be off then, but it's ok because God loves everyone and the whole point of religion is to live in service to him and your fellow man"

Church says: "nope, you best start running"

And run they did, hangings, torture, meeting in caves, being driven from their home lands, being told that when they died they didn't have the right to leave anything to their children and it would all go to the state... Ain't religion great

The clothes and buggies and super plain churches come from conscious desires to
a) not integrate into a society which persecuted them for so long
b) a belief that everything and everyone is sacred so we don't need to tart up our churches or people
C) cars and modern life are too fast and you don't get a chance to stop and smell the roses
D) by working hard and dressing humbly they are showing appreciation to God

Now I'm not saying for a second that I've found religion, all I'm saying is, to me...that's the truest interpretation of Christianity I've heard...thus endeth the lectureRead more
Gillian Hollamby This brings back a lot of memories of our trip to Elmira. So glad you had a wonderful time and saw a side of life you would not normally have come across. New York will be quite a contrast! Really enjoying reading your blog. Lots of love Mum XXX😀
9/1/16Reply
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- Sep 2, 2016, 5:05pm
- ⛅ 26 °C
- Altitude: 36 ft
- United States New York Queens Long Island Saint Johns Hospital (historical)40.74727, -73.9453140°44’50” N 73°56’43” W
Day 14
Mad dash to New York
September 2, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
Yesterday was loooooooooong, I woke up at 3am(for some crazy reason) in Elmira knowing that I had to leave at 6 to fight my way through Toronto rush hour and catch my flight...I managed to get back to sleep....at 5 am, approx 15 mins before my first alarm went off 😤 , Bev sorted me a nice strong coffee and after a quick shower I was on the road again.

The drive down to Toronto started off fine, pleasant even with a beautiful sunrise with country music soundtrack and I was making awesome time, at one point Google had me getting in to Toronto at 7.15. At this point I should make clear this is offline Google with no traffic info... Then I got to about 20km outside the city and everything just stopped, crawling through rush hour traffic on foreign roads with multiple exits on either side, Sun directly in your eyes and a bladder full of coffee and red bull it's enough to make you forget about beautiful sun rises...never mind though, got to Toronto with an hour spare, filled up the car with petrol and dropped it off, I hustled to the nearest cafe for breakfast and much more importantly to relieve myself.

Made the decision to do the 25 min walk out to the airport 25th my bags as some sort of exercise, once again forgetting how heavy they are and how Crap I am with any sort of heat....needless to say once again Mr Stewart "sweaty mess" Jardine showed up as I arrived at the airport. Got checked in, got through security (no beeps for the metal in my arm.. Tsk tsk Toronto city airport, someone needs stronger metal detectors) and was shortly thereafter told of 20 minute delay to my flight which wouldn't have caused any issues except that by the time we took off it was closer to an hour and twenty.

After a very rigorous grilling from American immigration (I think the dude was totes jel of my trip) they let me into America, the fools, mwhahaha...i needed to make a mad dash from Jersey into queens, find my airbnb, shower and get back out to jersey for the football 🏈 🏈 . I owe a big thanks to 2 lovely ladies from home who I was frantically texting as I stressed out and tried I figure out a plan for keeping me calm in a city I didn't know but they do very well...Big love

I made it out to MetLife, just as the game was kicking off and found my seat up in the gods...I'd love to say it was an exciting action packed game...buuuuuut it wasn't, still great experience (not just paying £18 for a pint and what appeared to be a chicken and chips school dinner and tasted about as good) but I think it was worth it... The trip and stress not the food.Read more
Glad you made it safely - wondered about the traffic
9/2/16Reply
Gillian Hollamby Sorry the journey was so fraught. Hope the rest of your stay in NY makes it worthwhile. Lots of love Mum XXX😀
9/3/16Reply
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- Sep 3, 2016, 4:05am
- 🌙 19 °C
- Altitude: 89 ft
- United States New York New York County Harsenville (historical)Strawberry Fields 40.77574, -73.9745640°46’33” N 73°58’28” W
Day 15
strawberry fields forever
September 3, 2016 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 19 °C
After the craziness of Thursday I had to wonder what yesterday would bring, based on what I had seen through airport transfer bus Windows, on subway cars and at the game, all I had to look forward to were bustling crowds of people with no time for anyone outside their current life and high prices....back in London so soon??? 😝

I set out with not so high hopes, but having had a pep talk from Rach about why New York is amazing and a shortlist of things to do I was gonna give it a shot. Jumped on the E train into town and got out at port authority bus station where I had been dropped by the airport transfer the day before and went for a semi structured wander around. First impressions where essentially... London with taller buildings and more neon (I realise how cynical and grumpy I'm coming off here but stick with it, I untwist my knickers pretty soon). Made my way over to times square, as I posted on Facebook...don't get it, lots of adverts and....i hate to be the one to tell them...not even square.

I decided I would head north and find the park, maybe some trees and grass would sort me out.... Boy did it, wow, central park is amazing, if I decide I like nothing else in New York(which I think is massively unlikely), central park in the sunshine makes the whole trip worth while. I walked down past some old guys doing batting practice like they thought they still might get a try out for the Yankees, a young kid being taught to pitch like he might one day play for the Metz, an all welcome kickball game that was in the process of teaching some Japanese tourists the fundamentals, a couple of volleyball games with an atmosphere dead centre between top gun and family fun day out, horse and carriage rides through the park with chatty drivers and a ton of smiling faces and beautiful scenery....and just like that New York began to sell itself to me.

I spent most of the rest of the day in the park, with a brief exit to find some lunch (fish tacos and a couple of beers) and won't bore you with every minute of it but my highlights have to be sitting on a secluded bench next to the pond, alternating between reading and staring out over the water and the recommendation from Rach to go to strawberry fields... For those of you like me before yesterday, that have no idea what strawberry fields is, it's a small memorial garden for John Lennon on the edge of the park right next to the Dakota where he was assassinated. I ... Like pretty much everyone I've ever met... Love the Beatles and have specific memories from growing up triggered by some of their songs, so to wander round with their music playing in my ears and imagine coming on in between was actually quite emotional. All up, yesterday Google tells me I walked just shy of ten miles.

The evening was pretty chilled, met my airbnb host and she drove us out to a new park area in queens for a beer and one Hell of a view and after a quick stop off at the local market I decided to chill with a couple beers and some chips and cheese salsa and watch some tv... It was on the sofa drinking said beer and eating, and I kid you not, "maple bacon" flavour crisps (designed rather successfully to taste like bacon with maple syrup) and giggling to Jeff Foxworthy stand up, that I fell asleep.

https://goo.gl/photos/Xn7n97UmSZRDQcX78Read more
Gillian Hollamby Lovely photos of Central Park. I remember walking round there with Marjorie. Such a shame Chris and Charlotte were not around as they live only 5 minutes away. Enjoy the rest of your stay. Mum XXX😀
9/3/16Reply
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- Sep 4, 2016
- ⛅ 23 °C
- Altitude: 177 ft
- United States New York Flatiron District Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site 40.73917, -73.989640°44’21” N 73°59’23” W
Day 16
bottomless brunch... offer/challenge
September 4, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
I've heard a lot about the concept of a bottomless brunch, I think for most it's a cool gimic that allows you to pay a set price for breakfast and a couple hours worth of mimosas....unfortunately my traditional British "get every pennies worth" mentality combined with my 50% Geordie "booze hound" mentality and the fact I was hot and thirsty and caused the perfect storm... I'm not gonna go into too much detail about what I did on Saturday, not least of all because it's fairly hazy or dwell on the fact that Sunday was a complete write off, only venturing out of the apartment to buy greasy chicken, let's just say I've learned from the experience.Read more
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- Sep 6, 2016, 10:53am
- ⛅ 24 °C
- Altitude: 16 ft
- United States New York Bronx County Concourse Village Joseph Yancey Track And Field 40.82964, -73.9261740°49’47” N 73°55’34” W
Day 18
sports sports sports....aaand cheap beer
September 6, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
Labour day was a full day of sport for me here in NYC.

I went out to yankee stadium to go watch my newly adopted Toronto blue jays play. Yankee stadium is cool, it's pretty huge and once again my cheap seats were up in the gods, but I had a great view, had a traditional foot long hot dog, drank some beer and enjoyed the game...despite the heart break of seeing a team I've been supporting for upwards of a week lose.

Yesterday evening was all about watching the ole miss game, I needed a bar, with cold beer, big tv's, warm/hot food and non New York level prices (I don't mean to keep going on about it bit if you voted out in the EU referendum...you're killing me).

Putting all of my googling skills to work I found a bar across town in Greenwich village called "off the wagon"...we won't dwell on the game, or the fact that the rebels threw away a 22 point lead...we don't even need to talk about the bland chicken sandwich that had a bone in it... What we do need to talk about is that after paying for 1 beer on the way in (happy hour until 8, everything half price) I decided to stretch my dollars and switch to bud light...now...I can hear you judging me...stick with me... I was feeling pretty buzzed by the end of the game having drunk my way through 9 (whatever size they were...less than a pint, more than a half)... I went to settle my tab and grab one for the road and the pretty little bar maid said that this one was on her...soooo I take my bill from her...I'm moving around to get more light, I'm rubbing my eyes...I'm wondering if she has given me the wrong tab...but no... What I wasn't aware of, was that after happy hour, domestic beer...$2 all night!!!Read more
Gillian Hollamby Now that really is a cheap evening!
9/6/16Reply
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- Sep 6, 2016, 1:00pm
- ☁️ 26 °C
- Altitude: 16 ft
- United States New York Richmond County Saint George Richmond County Bank Ballpark at Saint George 40.6466, -74.0764540°38’48” N 74°4’35” W
Day 18
postcards
September 6, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C
Postcards on Staten island is one of the most poignant places I've ever been, from a distance it looks like a nice looking statute, it is not surrounded by information points or security or anything really to tell you what it is. No signs to tell you to treat the place with respect or remove your hat (although something inside made me feel I should).

When you step between the two large wings you find 274 marble plaques, with 274 names, 274 dates of birth and 274 job titles. Each plaque has a silhouette looking straight out across the water towards the city, the centre line of postcards points straight to ground zero where in one single act of hatred 274 people's lives were extinguished.

I took the time to read every name on the two large "postcards to loved ones", and I shed some tears but that's nothing compared to what people must feel every day who lost someone that horrendous day. I cannot and hopefully will not ever be able to comprehend that pain.

On my last full day in New York, I have to say, I'm not the city's biggest fan...but in a similar way to London on 7/7 these amazing people have pulled back together, memorialized, never forgotten and stood together you say, you will not change us. And that is something that demands respect.Read more
Gillian Hollamby Very impressive memorial - very well described. Incredibly moving.
9/6/16Reply
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- Sep 8, 2016, 3:37pm
- ☀️ 34 °C
- Altitude: 614 ft
- United States North Carolina Mecklenburg County Ballantyne West McMullen Creek 35.06348, -80.8848635°3’49” N 80°53’5” W
Day 20
a lovely warm welcome
September 8, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C
Yesterday I left the hustle and bustle of New York behind with a big smile on my face knowing that I was heading to see some of my dearest friends, heading for some good old fashion southern hospitality and one of my favorite parts of the world.

I flew in to Charlotte with a big smile on my face and got an awesome welcome from Lauren but first from little Grayson, who, having never met me before, came straight up to me and said hello uncle Stewart and gave me a big hug. (I am under no illusions that he was well trained for this, but without promoting when we were walking to the car he asked if he could hold uncle Stewart's hand... Awwww).

Lauren and Clay's new house is nothing short of spectacular and the pooch (Connor) , seemed very excited to see me...I like to think he remembers me from my last visit.

Super exciting day today...got my laundry done, played with Connor, dried my laundry, played with Connor, unpacked, played with Connor, thought about taking a walk...realised it was 36 degrees...played with Connor, read my book in the sun for an hour....yup, played with Connor....God I miss having a dog lolRead more
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- Sep 13, 2016, 9:57pm
- 🌙 22 °C
- Altitude: 801 ft
- United States North Carolina Mecklenburg County Charlotte Downtown Chalotte 35.22714, -80.8431235°13’38” N 80°50’35” W
Day 25
Being a tourist again
September 13, 2016 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 22 °C
After spending the last few days catching up with my favorite American couple and getting to know little greyson, last night I decided today would be a good day to make it up in time to bum a lift with clay uptown and go do alllll the touristy things Charlotte had to offer....I love Charlotte, I could and would love tiki live here.....it is not a tourist town.

I woke up just in time to make the school run and after a quick lap of downtown....it's really not that big, I stopped for a decent southern breakfast, eggs, sausage, grits and biscuit....God I miss grits...for the English, picture a buttery, salty, sweet mess of porridge consistency goodness.

Thought I would go check out discovery place, charlottes science museum, I enjoyed the natural world stuff, cool fish and frogs and stuff but I was about 25 years too old for the target demographic and skipped most of it except the rain forest talk.

Met up with clay for lunch...just cos you know I didn't want him to feel left out.

I thought in the afternoon it would be a good idea to go check out the NASCAR hall of fame...why...I'm not sure, never seen a NASCAR race in my life but, when in Rome...

I actually thoroughly enjoyed the hall of fame, they had a ton of good exhibits, the cars were pretty cool and I had a really fun afternoon....

So touristy stuff done, I'm back to hanging out with my peeps and chilling with the world's cutest puppyRead more
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- Sep 20, 2016, 8:40pm
- 🌙 24 °C
- Altitude: 807 ft
- United States North Carolina Mecklenburg County Charlotte Downtown Chalotte 35.22751, -80.8419535°13’39” N 80°50’31” W
Day 32
cowboys, country music and more fish
September 20, 2016 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 24 °C
So it's been a while since my last post, mainly because I've just been hanging with my awesome peeps here, drinking beer with clay, chatting, chilling and shopping with Lauren and playing in the sprinkler and swimming with the boy Grayson.

Last weekend was awesome, Friday was boys night, I took the train uptown to meet clay after he got done with work, couple beers and a bite to eat at whiskey river and it was time to head off to the bull riding at time Warner cable arena...unfortunately clay is a right gangster and we had to get out of line to go drop his bad ass knife back in the car so it wouldn't get confiscated...sounds better that way than to explain it was his dad's pen knife he carries to cut stray threads off his shirts.... After a quick walk three blocks we were back in the queue and with a plan for once we got in... Men's room, beer, seats...simple, effective.

After a statement about why America was the best country in the world and a moment of respect for those serving abroad and the national anthem...sure...if that's how you do it in your country...it was time for the cowboys to step up, it was awesome, including some surprises like a kiwi rider ending up #4 and some crazy fools hanging on for the 8 second ride a local boy won and the place went nuts...thoroughly enjoyable spectacle.

Saturday night was ladies night for me and Lauren out at PNC music pavilion for some awesome country music, the night was kicked off by the always impressive Maddie and Tae, who must be 2 of the most well travelled and hard working young ladies in country (I've seen then play in the UK twice in the last year). Next up was an act best forgotten, but did mean me and Lauren could have a laugh coming up with some bitchy comments. Then it was time for the main event Brad freaking Paisley!! I love this guy, every one of his songs seems to be a hit and he is just the nicest guy, he stopped after an acoustic song to sign his guitar and hand it to a young fan and tell him he would see him up on that stage in 10 years. He interrupted one of his slower more romantic songs by saying he had been planning something on Twitter the last few days and brought out a young couple with the guy proposing on stage and later pulling a young fan up on stage for a selfie...tie that in with an awesome set for an hour or so to which I knew every word and I had a absolute blast!

Sunday was a cool day with a trip to the local pool in the morning and a couple bars in the afternoon.

Interspersed with that was watching an awesome all blacks game (at 3 am Saturday), Singapore grand prix, and qualifying, the titans game in a local bar, far too many beers and a general lack of sleep and Monday was a complete write off, the highlight of which was opening the door to the pizza delivery guy.

Today I took Laurens car out to concord mall to see the fishes...not overly exciting and only worth about assign hour of my time but still had fun and got a few good photos.

This weekend...family road trip to Charleston!! Whoop whoopRead more
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