flipflopexplorers.co.uk

The End for FlipFlops

daveyps — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 20:31:28 +0000

As Robert Green was showing off his mightily impressive handy work, our travels drew to a close as we flew home from Miami to Heathrow completing our round the world trip. It has been an incredible adventure through a variety of countries that we enjoyed every minute of. Thanks for all the messages over the past few months, just to finish up here are some journey statistics;

13 Countries Visited
23 Cities
53 Hotels, Motels & Hostels Stayed In
52 Nights Spent Camping & Campervan
15 Flights Taken
37845 Miles Travelled By Air
4800 Miles Travelled By Campervan in NZ
1800 Miles Travelled By Car in US
4 Times Debbie Slipped Over
4 Hot Springs
3 Rafting Adventures
4 Kayakking/ Canoe Trips
1 Bungy Jump
2 Tarantulas
4 Dodgy Bellies
1 Cold
14 Books Read (10 Debs, 4 Paul)
21 Boats Sailed
4000 Calories Eaten in Cheesecake Factory
6 Coke Refills (Most in One Sitting)
13 Beaches
1 Jellyfish Sting
1 Shark Attack Near Miss!!
4 Beard Trims
1 Campervan Breakdown
1 Police Pullover
Too Many Insect Bites
10 Black Bears
1 Far Away Moose
2 Grey Whales

Paul & Debbie
FlipFlop Explorers

Homeward Bound via Miami

daveyps — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 16:43:48 +0000

After 3 weeks camping in Canada we finished our trip with a serious pig out in the world famous Cheesecake Factory, Seattle. The calories totalled near to 4000 but after dishes including Parmegano Chicken, Lemon & Raspeberry Cheesecake and Debbie’s Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake we were well and truely stuffed. It was our final week so we needed to find some sunshine to enjoy before returning to the English weather, South Beach Miami was the answer. The whole week has been spent on the beach relaxing in the 32C plus sunshine. We narrowly escaped a possible shark attack while playing bat and ball in the sea as it swam right in between groups of people and about 8 foot from us until I saw the fin and Usain Bolted out of the water!!

Whale Watching: Canadian style

daveyps — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 03:51:15 +0000

Vancouver Island was our next stop, more precisely the town of Tofino on the Pacific Coast. At 8am we boarded a speedboat and set off for some stormy whale watching, unsurprisingly some people got sea sick but this was soon forgotten when we spotted two grey whales chilling in the ocean!! We then headed to some natural hot springs for some much needed heat, even though we were padded out in huge survival thermal waterproof suits it was still cold!!

It was great to see the whales in their natural habitat, plus we saw a few sea otters chilling, the little guys just chill right in the middle of the ocean, a cool day!!

A Tale of Two Cities

daveyps — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 03:15:04 +0000

In between the cold nights spent in a tent we managed to get a bit of respite in the city of Vancouver which sits beautifully inbetween the ocean and mountains, meaning at certain times you can surf in the morning and ski in the afternoon! Cycling through Stanley Park is one of the top things to do in the city and provides great views of the city and surrounding mountains plus there are loads of totem poles in the park. Coffee and cake was the order of the day as we missed these during our camping trip, amazing how much you miss the silly things when roughing it a bit!

The second city we visited in Canada was Victoria the state capital and you can’t help but feel a huge chunk of Englishness as you walk along through the picturesque harbour and past the impressive Emperoress hotel famous for afternoon tea, although tempted we kept on walking!!

Wilderness Canoe Trip into Wells Grey

daveyps — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:04:20 +0000

Next up was the much anticipated overnight wilderness canoe trip, where we packed our tents and food into our canoes and set off for a bit of backcountry action! We canoed about 8km, along Clearwater Lake, a stunningly beautiful and tranquil lake (where we didn’t see any other humans) and set up camp for the night on a site overlooking the lake, with no facilities but the night-time canoeing made up for it, a great experience and a highlight of our trek America trip.

Bearware in Jasper National Park

daveyps — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:41:53 +0000

Bears are like buses, we waited days for a sighting but once you see one you see lots and that was the case on our way to Jasper National Park. Ironically the side of roads appear to be some of the bears favourite hang outs as they much through some dandelions and the occasional wandering hitch hiker. We spotted 7 black bears in total as we cruised along. The cold weather continued but the scenery was spectacular as we drove to Lake Louise, with glaciers appearing around every corner. Many of the lakes are still frozen which when considering this is Summer makes you realise that perhaps England isn’t that cold in winter!! We continued onto Jasper through the Columbia Icefields which are fields of ice hundreds of metres deep, in total the size of Vancouver with rivers running from it to 3 oceans, Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic to give some scale.

Jasper itself is a small town surrounded by hundreds of walks and mountain bike trails which I took the opportunity to burn up, although I was always wary of turning the corner straight into a supposedly wandering grizzly bear.

Bearing the Elements in Banff

daveyps — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:51:57 +0000

Banff National Park was to be one of our major stops on the 3 week tour of Canada, perfectly located in the Rockies to provide spectacular views of the National Park. When we booked the trip we knew camping was going to be a complete change of tact for us, but the weather decided to challenge us even further. Days before we arrived 20C days were the norm, upon arrival we faced 3 days of 8C highs and sub zero temperatures at night, all in the comfort of our 7 x 5 foot tent. It was definitely a shock to the system and we quickly realised that our shorts and vests would remain in the bottom of our rucksacks. Banff itself is a ski town throughout winter with a number of charming shops and coffee bars along with lots of hiking trails to help you spot wildlife. Despite lots of reports of sightings bears remained out of sight in Banff but we glimpsed plenty of elk, deer and cheeky chipmunks. A day trip to Lake Louise allowed us to take in some incredibly scenic views but the snow and ice made walking quite tricky. Luckily Banff served up some traditional hot springs to warm everyone up, even providing traditional swimming costumes for a bit of a giggle.

Howling Around in Yoho

daveyps — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 21:40:41 +0000

A wolves sanctuary was our first stop, a refuge for wolves that had been rescued and unfortunately cannot be reintroduced to the wild. However, they seem to have a nice life at the sanctuary, as the staff were great. We met several wolves, mainly Wylie, a big wolf but very photogenic!! We even got the chance to howl with the wolves, which was fun!!

Getting Wild in Canada

daveyps — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 02:36:33 +0000

The US provided us with some real comforts over the past few weeks so as we joined a tour to lock horns with the Canadian wilderness we knew things were going to change drastically. Grizzly Bears, Black Bears, Wolves and Cougars were just some of the wildlife waiting to greet us in our tent over the next few weeks, things were definitely going to be wild.

Espresso Trip Through Seattle

daveyps — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:00:19 +0000

Seattle is probably most famous for Starbucks (the first ever), the space needle, a few rom-coms and the ever-present rain..however the sun was out all weekend for us! Seattle is an amazing city, which we completely underestimated, Debbie (the city lover) has added it to her “best city” list. The main attraction is the Pike Place market, a charismatic original market selling everything from fresh fish to cool skater gear, and is also the home to the first EVER Starbucks! Seattle is also the “fittest” city in the USA, so we joined the masses and jogged along the sea-front passing all the piers, homeless people, jugglers and millions of fish ‘n’ chip shops, yes of course we shopped there on the way back for dinner! The space needle is also a main attraction along with some nice parks, shops and just a general “cool” vibe. Sleeping in Seattle is definitely not recommended!!