The blog is starting up again!

This is the official re-opening of the "Where in the World is Kim?" blog. During the hiatus, I have been in Toronto finishing off my degree and creating an eco-bridal collection in a whirlwind of excitement, stress and coffee. You can check it out at www.lillynichols.ca if you wish.
But now I am starting up again...
14 DAYS!!!
That's right ladies and gents. In 14 fun-loaded days I will be leaving my home for the last four years and trekking to Peru. Alot of emotions will be packed with my possessions, but I am so excited to help build a school and work with/play with the children that attend there. Very excited.
I will keep the posts as frequent as I can. Its only a 5 week trip, so I should be able to manage alright.

SO....

The countdown has begun.

I am going to stick out like the Grinch at Christmas....

Goodbye Blog!

Hello blog and blog followers,

Thank you so much for reading this over the last eight months. Its been really fun to write about everything an keep you up to date. Now, though, the Australian adventure is over and the final year of my bachelor degree is about to start. And yes, I am terrified. However, I think I've got a pretty good idea for my collection and lets all hope it turns out beautifully.
I was back in BC for five weeks, to see family and friends and calm down a bit before I head back to the big city. Those five weeks were filled with fires and flat tires, an awesome trip to Tsuniah Lake Lodge and many great days at the cabin (before and after the Terrace Mountain Fire).
So great summer and now I'm back in Toronto and ready for the mayhem and chaos to begin. And then, when that is over, the next adventure will begin...and I may just find myself writing another blog about another terrific place and time. I'm hoping you are having a blast making your own magnificent stories and would love to hear about them!

Oh Sydney

So it has been over a month since I last wrote and my dear that is awful. I didn't really think that there was a lot to write about. But now I realise I have less than three weeks in Australia and I should probably recap. The last two months have been full of school and final projects. Kevin, Kristine and I took a study break to check out the breathtaking walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach. It takes over an hour and winds its way through a very old and equally large cemetary which was kind of creepy, but offers the best views of the ocean from the Eastern suburbs.
Then came exams and the end of school. Kristine graduated with her Bachelor of Arts and is no longer a student!
There was a very cool festival in the Rocks, which is the neighbourhood we live in. It was called the Vivid light festival and they lit up the Opera House with crazy colours for a full two weeks!
We've also had lots of visitors, which has been great and has kept us busy. Mal was here from Toronto and my cousin Britt and her boyfriend Carey were here from Calgary.
So know Kristine and I find ourselves with a week in Sydney catching up with the friends we've made, then Kristine's mom comes for a visit, they head to Cairns, I head to Perth and then we move out of the apartment and I fly home!
So much in so little time!
There really isn't much else to shock you with - no more falling out of planes and crawling kilometers underground. But I will write once more before this adventure is over and then its back to Canada, Toronto and school for me.
Hope everyone is having a great summer and see you soon!

Sweet As!

Alright, so I am finally writing – apologies it has taken so long. Storyboards and men’s vest and pants got in the way. But hey, now you get photos AND stories. Oh goody!

So, get out your map of New Zealand and follow along:

We flew to Auckland, followed very quickly by a flight to Queenstown, a car ride to the Karawau Bridge and a 47m jump to the Karawau River.

Then back in the car to continue on to Wanaka. Are you still with me? We were moving very fast. When we got to Wanaka we went and checked out the sites and added a little Canadian humour to the scenery complete with an engraved piece of wood reading “New Zealad 2009” (I typed it just like I carved it). If found please return to #17 Lower Fort Street, Sydney.

The next day we just wanted to lay low and recover from the bungee jumping. HA! All jokes - we went sky diving. Not many other experiences can be equivalent to falling from 12,000 meters at 200 km/h. One piece of advice: don’t open your mouth, because once its open you are not closing it. Second piece of advice: Its impossible to not open your mouth because you are smiling like a crazy person the entire time. Oh, and you also have no control over your extremities.

Next came the journey from Wanaka to Franz Josef Glacier. We didn’t get in until way after dark cause we didn’t finish our dive until 5pm, but we went and checked out the glacier the next morning. Absolutely stunning – a glacier in the middle of a rainforest. Mindblowing really.

The next day brought a very long drive up the West Coast of the South Island until we turned onto Arthur’s Pass and drove through the mountain ranges to Christchurch. We stayed in Christchurch for a night and then drove up the East Coast of the South Island to Kaikoura where we stumbled upon their fur seal colony. Seriously, I nearly tripped over one of them!

We then drove further up to Picton where you can catch the ferry from the South Island to the North Island. We couldn’t get a hostel in Picton so we referred to our extremely accurate YHA map and discovered that there was a hostel called Anikiwa that was right beside the Picton YHA. The Anikiwa YHA circle was actually touching the Picton YHA!
Wrong.
We drove out to Anikiwa, with very little direction. Actually that’s not true. There was lots of direction. First we went south, then east, west then north and finally we discovered this road that turned into another road that turned into the road we needed to be on which ended up being so windy it made Westside Rd. look like Saskatchewan highway. The hostel was half an hour out of town down this lovely road and was very very cool. It was in the middle of Queen Charlotte Sound, which is a mass of connected islands emerging from the water. It is home of the 5th best hike in the world and the oyster capital of the Southern Hemisphere. The hostel was in the bottom portion of a large home, so sitting in the tv room felt like we were sleeping over at a friends house.

Eek. Long catch up that one was. I’ll try to keep this shorter…

The North Island!
So we made our way across on the ferry to Wellington, then drove up to the coastal town of Paraparaumu where we stayed at what can be best described as great-great-great grandma’s house. Then we made our way to Hawkes Bay where we met up with a one Miss Katie Van Massenhoven and her lovely Kiwi roomie Monique. It was Monique’s birthday so we went out on the town and then stayed at her parent’s lovely farm. Thank you very much, it was absolutely wonderful and unbelievably hospitable.
So now the three Ks made our way up to Lake Taupo and Rotorua, where we checked out the Craters of the Moon, which were the coolest creepiest alien-movie location I’ve ever seen.

When we woke up in Rotorua it was Kristine’s last day in New Zealand, so we had to make it count. Nothing does that better than donning a wetsuit, lifejacket and helmet, grabbing a paddle and jumping in a raft with two guides and no one else. You would think that with two guides we would be safe, but the 7m waterfall had other ideas. It was a lot of fun, despite us getting extremely wet, tossed head over heels and flooded. But very very fun.

So Bean left for Sydney and Katie and I headed back south to do some repelling, caving, black water rafting and rock climbing. Ya… pretty cool. Used that word too much. Absolutely fantastic. I’m running out of adjectives.

The trip was amazing. You don’t go to New Zealand for the cities. You go to experience what they are known for and what they do best. You go for the Mauri culture, the outdoors experience and the adventure sports. And the fact that such a small island has everything from great Kauri trees to glow worms, huge mountains and windy roads to beautiful coast lines and dense rainforests.
So what is the verdict? You should go. Go and conquer some fears or just prove that you don’t have any!

Hey hey!

Cheers from New Zealand!
We've been here for a couple days now. Can't think of a better place to spend Easter - other than home of course :)
Its been great so far. On friday we flew to Auckland... at different times. It turned out ok though. Kev as in my brother and his friend Thomas picked Kristine up at the airport and then Thomas went off to a date and Kev and Bean hung out all day together - never saw that one ever ever happening. I guess thats why they never say never. Turned out alright though! I got in really late and the boys were kind enough to pick me up to. Crashed as soon as I got to the hostel. Well tried to...a car alarm went off for a couple of hours so definately didn't sleep during that.
After less than 11 hours in Auckland for me, we flew to Christchurch and then on to Queenstown. We started descending inbetween moutains that looked just wider than the plane's wings and the airstrip is on the only flat piece of land in the mountainous valley.
So Queenstown......
absolutely breathtaking and amazing and reminded us incredibly of Banff. Same atmosphere, same touristy feel, same outdoorsy vibe, good night life. Really awesome place and would love to go back.
Today we picked up the car and drove towards Wanaka, stopping at Katarua Bridge to jump 43m attatched to a large elastic band. FANTASTIC. I screamed a little. Touched the water with my hands and unintentionally with the top of my head, but the weather was great - blue skies and a relatively decent temperature. So wonderful. I will definately be posting pictures soon.
But for now I have to get off before my minutes run out, so until next time:
don't worry, I'm safe and unhurt. The bungy jump actually did wonders for my back.
And happy easter!!!
Sweet as!

St.Patti's day and Waratahs Rugby Game

The four non-Aussies, non-rugby playing (I understood most of it, and had to explain what I could - if only my memory were better would actually sound like I completely knew what I was talking about) ladies!
Go Tahs! (they are in the red)
A very excited and entertaining audience of 30,000
The ANZ stadium at the Olympic Park - pretty cool place. Kings of Leon were playing next door that night.
St. Patti's day!!!!! my day to shine. Three Canadian girls, and we didn't meet one Aussie! (other than Holly's boyfriend) We did however meet a couple Americans and a Frenchman who pulled down his pants in the middle of the bar to see what size pant he wears (we were looking for a model for my menswear class)

Finally pictures...

The Blue Mountains. Gorgeous and a welcome excape from the city
The Three Sister's Rock formation
One of my favourite things: an amazing waterfall
More mountains