Tag: Canada

N – Niagara Falls

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December 2104 saw me tick a major milestone off my bucket list, a visit to Niagara Falls. We visited from the Canadian side which I loved as we got to go under the falls. The power of the water rushing past was deafening and awe-inspiring all at the same time. The bus trip from Toronto dropped us further up the Niagara River and we walked down to the falls taking in some amazing scenery as we went until we reached the spectacular Niagara Falls.

The journey under the falls and the view looking out into the wall of water.

American Falls and Bridal Falls on the American side of the Niagara River walking towards Niagara Falls.

Maids of the Mist take the winter off and are stored on the side of the river.

F – Future

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In the future my husband and I plan to travel back to Canada especially Newfoundland and spend 6-12 months exploring and soaking up the culture. We visited in 2014/15 enjoying it so much that we made an immediate plan to return after retirement, which can’t come quick enough.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/future/

#Blogging from A -Z 2016

Share Your World – 2016 Week #7

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What are you a “natural” at doing? 

I am naturally good at the balance sport—trampoling, roller skating and ice skating.

I am naturally good at resolving conflicts and being the go to person when people want a friend to talk to. I would get the ex best friends talking again and suddenly I was being ignored again.

I am a naturally good at knitter. The first time I created something my teacher didn’t believe that I had done it because it was too perfect and looked like my mother had knitted it.

Would you prefer a one floor house or multiple levels?

Having lived in both I definitely prefer an open plan single storey house.

What was your favorite subject in school?

I don’t remember having a favourite subject at school although possibly home science. I did okay at school but I had to work at it.

Complete this sentence: If only the rain.. would stop or turn into snow. This is what my husband and I said to each other last Christmas when we had traveled to Canada for a white Christmas and the rain kept washing away the small amount of snow we got.

 “What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?”

Last week I was grateful for the many learn opportunities I had at work through mistakes made. This week I am looking forward to giving my 10th advanced speech and receiving my Advanced Communicator Bronze award at Toastmasters.

Share Your World – 2016 Week 7

Weekly Photo Challenge: Life Imitates Art

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Mural of Quebecers

Old Quebec City has many murals however the first created, known as the mural of Quebecers is very special. It depicts life through the history of Quebec and its citizens. I could have looked at it for hours and still find something new. Cleverly disguised as part of the artwork on the building are:

  • Key historical figures
  • Architectural building and monuments
  • Coat of Arms
  • Physical attributes of the city — the wall and staircase
  • Cultural communities
  • Sports

If you ever get the chance to go to Old Quebec City seek out the Mural of Quebecers–its definitely worth a look.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/life-imitates-art/

Oh The Places I’ll Go!

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Tell us about the top five places you’ve always wanted to visit.

When planning my holidays I like to divide my time between Australia as well as international travel. For this reason I am going to write a buckets list for each.

Australia

  • North Coast of Western Australia
  • North Queensland
  • Tasmanian Wilderness
  • Northern Territory
  • South Australia

International

  • Alaska
  • England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales
  • Iceland
  • More of Canada
  • More of New Zealand

Starting with the South Island of New Zealand early next year these places are the basis of our next 10 year travel plan. I love the planning and discovery stage of new adventures as I gather the information and start to think about what I will see when my day finally comes and I’m off to great places.

Photo Credit: Google

Photo Credit: Google

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/the-wanderer/

Mallard Cottage

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It is 12 months ago today that my husband and I accidentally discovered Mallard Cottage, Quidi Vidi, Newfoundland, Canada. We were walking in the snow enjoying the picturesque scenery as the city turned from green to white, when we arrived at our destination—Quidi Vidi Village—a small fishing hamlet just outside St John’s. We arrived mid afternoon and hungry from all the walking decided to stop at Mallard Cottage for some coffee and cake, before continuing on our journey. Boy were we surprised. Coffee and cake were $10 from memory for—all you can eat homemade old-fashioned cakes. There were about 10-12 to choose from. They were amazing. We sat and relaxed for over an hour between us tasting at least a small amount of every cake—okay I admit it some thing more than once—because we could. Unfortunately we were too busy eating to take any photos, sorry.

While we were eating our cakes the friendly wait staff began telling us of the properties history. Mallard Cottage is one of the oldest wooden buildings in North America. Originally built-in the early 1700’s it is older than our country—Australia. This felt weird to think about given the beauty of the restoration and how perfectly it blended old and new. It also turns out that our accidental find has developed a reputation as one of the best restaurants in St John’s area. No wonder we want to go back. If your ever in the area, it is well worth the visit.

A Tale of Two Cities

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If you could split your time evenly between two places, and two places only, which would these be?

For a period I would love to be able to spend 6 moths in Australia and 6 months in Canada. There is so much natural beauty, flora and fauna and history in both places, devoting time to exploring it would be amazing. The question I would struggle to answer is where to begin? Maybe I could use the following acrostic poems as a guide.

 

Adelaide

Uluru

Sydney

The Great Barrier Reef

Rottnest Island

ACT

Launceston

Illawarra

Albury – Wodonga

 

 

Charlottetown

Alberta

Newfoundland & Labrador

Algonquin Park

Drummondville

Arctic Bay

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/a-tale-of-two-cities/

One More Time

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If you were able to relive one day from the last 12 months, which day would it be — and why?

Given the chance I would relive 25th November 2014. The was the day my husband and I embarked on our 6 week Canadian adventure. We were so excited. However on arrival at Sydney Airport I became suspicious that our tickets were incorrect, so I asked at the check-in counter.

“Are these tickets correct, we are going to St John’s Newfoundland?”

“Yes they are correct they just used the abbreviation” replied the counter attendant.

So I settled and didn’t think about it again.

Then we arrived in Vancouver for some reason I became suspicious again. I checked with the baggage handler only to be given the same response,  so again I settled and we continued on our journey across Canada.

By the time our flight arrived in Toronto, we had been up for more than 24 hours and were exhausted. Being smart travelers we decided to check which gate our connecting flight went from before getting food or drinks. We wandered to the departures board where I discovered our flight number and destination didn’t match. Then I realised my gut instincts had been right.  The travel agent had booked us flights from Sydney to St John, New Brunswick and not our destination—St John’s, Newfoundland. We were devastated. The only good point was that we solved the problem before either our bags or we bordered the flight.

The gentleman at Air Canada’s service desk was excellent.  After about an hour he had made a plan to get us to St John’s as quickly as possible via Halifax arriving 24 hours later than we originally planned. To add humour to this difficult situation he told us this destination was a regular mix up for overseas visitors. The other common problem is people flying into Sydney, Nova Scotia when their destination was Sydney, Australia—a much bigger problem.

The moral of this story is mistakes are easily made and part of the journey.  Trust your gut instincts, triple check your airline tickets early and always pack your sense of humour when traveling.

Photo Credit: Google

Photo Credit: Google

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/one-more-time/

Weekly Photo Challenge: Victory

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I celebrate my little victories of life regularly as a way to encourage more positivity in my life. My most  recent interesting victory was getting my head around kissing a frozen cod-fish to take part in Newfoundland and Labrador’s famous Screech-In ceremony.

001 - Trapper Johns

My husband and I choose to be screeched-in at Trapper John’s Pub and Museum, once voted best pub in North America for its fun, food and hospitality. The pub was very interesting however dark which although adding to the ambiance made taking good photos difficult.

015- Trapper Johns - Best pub in North merica

The experience began with the ringing of the Screeching ceremony bell. This alerts all patrons in the pub that someone has requested to be Screeched-In.

005 - The 'Screeching Ceremony' Bell

We choose Sunday 5pm just as the pub was opening for the night for our ceremony. Because of this the pub had limited patrons however all stopped what they were doing, making us feel very welcome as we went through the ritual to become honorary Newfies—Newfoundlanders slang name for themselves.

006 - Michelle in the Ceremony

For more information about the Screech-In ceremony and our experience please visit my earlier post https://www.inspiringmax.com/honarary-newfies/

We loved Newfoundland so much that one day we hope to visit again, next time for several months.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/victory/

CN Tower’s Glass Floor

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For 36 years between 1976 – 2010, CN Tower was the tallest tower in the world at 553 metres in height. So last year when my husband and I visited Toronto, I was excited to reach the top and cross off one of the original things on my bucket list.

From the moment I entered the elevator I was amazed. It takes 58 seconds, yes less than a minute to travel 132 floors. There is also a glass panel in the wall and the floor so you can look out— if you dare.  From the main viewing platform, the views were spectacular as we had chosen a clear winters day.

My favourite part of the CN Tower however is its glass floor. Built in 1994, it was the world’s first glass floor. I had set myself a goal I was going to walk into the middle and look down. Initially, although I knew it was safe—I was petrified. I started with taking a few steps out, sitting and looking down. Determined to not let it beat me, I kept persevering until I could walk across the glass floor. My mindfulness training paid off and I was able to enjoy this unique experience even though our photos don’t show the distance below well.

If ever you visit Toronto, Canada take the time and experience the the joy and challenges of CN Tower.   In 2013, we visited Canton Tower in Ghangzhou, China which in 2010 became the tallest tower in the world however this honour is now changes regularly.