"New Pants"

So my trip is coming to an end...sad.

As I start to begin to think about life back home (BORE!) my mind turns to how i'm going to upload all 850 photos :-s obviously not everyone is going to want to see all of them...and if they do - they clearly have no life! So i think i'm going to upload them in different albums. 1) Landscape 2) Wildlife 3) ME! That way people can look at what they want. The albums will of course be called "Into The Wild".

I find myself in a very privileged situation. I’m sure not many people can say to themselves; right - let’s create a new dream as I’ve fulfilled this one. Having gone to the other side of the world and experienced ferocious wildlife, breathtaking landscapes and life changing experiences I really feel that the world was made to be seen. I want to go to every country on this planet and witness the spectacle of life there.

I have so much pity for people that stay in one place all the time. And bless them, they try to go on holiday to ‘luxurious’ places such as Majorca (lol), but at the end of the day - they lead such sad, pathetic lives. Where is their fire? Where is their motivation to share in each others’ cultures? Personally I think they’re pretty arrogant to think that Woking is the be and end all of life. BUT, I’m not wasting my time with those people anymore…thankfully!

So my next dream - live in Australia for a year. And this is going to happen in November 2012. If anyone from Outline is reading this - we need to talk :-p (I will come back, I promise!)

By November 2012 I would have graduated and my brother will be married to Jade (I <3 27) Peake. So it seems like the right time to run away for a year and live in a different country. I have some savings ready to be spent on such an adventure so let the excitement begin!!

Anyway, back to Alaska. I’ve just realized I need to be leaving my hostel about 2.30am and then it’s pretty much non stop traveling for about 30 hours - fun. (Actually, I love the traveling bit. Makes me feel free…oh jeez, how cheesy!)

So yeah, not a particularly interesting post today again, soz. Oh - yesterday I saw some polar bears and brought some cookie monster underwear - it was a pretty special day.
Ciao for now.

*Supertramp*

These are the pants:

"Everything"

You talk to me. You don't make sense.
Nothing is going in. You're a stranger to me.
My feet go numb. And my eyes fall shut.
You have no sympathy. As you break my heart.

The light falls dim. And the shadows come.
You move your hand away. And my body slumps.
Is this the end? Is that all it?
Everything we had. You're giving in?

(chorus)
And how can you, just stand there while,
I fall apart.
Did you believe, that I would be,
Broken deep this far?
Yeah...

Your words they rest. Heavy in me.
I don't know if I can. Breathe properly.
You stole my time. And you played my trust.
I took you in my heart. But you ran away.

- chorus x 2 -

You were all I wanted.
You were all I needed.
You were everything, everything.
You were all I wanted.
You were all I needed.
You were everything, everything.
You were all I wanted.
You were all I needed.
You were everything, everything.
You were all I wanted.
You were all I needed.
You were everything, everything.

- chorus x 2 -

You talk to me. You don't make sense.
Nothing is going in. You're a stranger to me.

(adapted lyrics for "Everything" by Lifehouse)

"Shadow Of The Mountain"

Do you ever get tired,
Of living in the shadow of the mountain?
Does it not ever pull you down so hard,
That you can’t rise up again?

I get tired,
Of living in the shadow of the mountain.
I grow restless.
I lack the energy I need sometimes to stay awake.
But the shadow is relentless.
And sometimes prove too much to stay hopeful.

(Chorus)
How is it possible to stay alive twenty-four-seven when there is no light?
How can you walk on by ignoring this constant eclipse saying it’ll be alright?
We can’t all live in this shadow for too much more.
So let’s go, let’s go.
We can’t all live in this shadow for too much more.
So let’s go, let’s go.

Do you ever grow restless,
Of living in the shadow of the mountain?
Does it not make you want to give up,
And never try again?

I get restless,
Of living in the shadow of the mountain.
I grow tired.
I lack the energy I need sometimes to stay awake.
But the shadow is on fire.
And sometimes prove too much to stay hopeful.

- chorus -

Do you ever get tired,
Of living in the shadow of the mountain?
Does it not ever pull you down so hard,
That you can’t rise up again?

I think this is actually my FAVOURITE picture EVER!! Made me miss Tobi so much though!

SEGWAY! I never want to walk again! This was so so much fun!!

Day ?? - Catch up day

So i'm not sure what day it is as i've spent the entire day today on a 12 hour train ride from Fairbanks to Anchorage.

Wifi in Denali and Fairbanks was limited to my phone so it was very difficult to keep this blogging going, so instead i'm just going to ignore the alst week or so and write how i'm feeling today.

I think it's something like 3 maybe 4 days until i return home and in all honesty, i cannot wait! Don't get me wrong, i really do love it here, especially in Denali, but i miss Tobi so bad. Lord knows how i'm going to spend a year in Oz?!

Denali has my heart. The whole place was just perfect and i found it very difficult to leave there. I made a lot of friends, with 3 very special friends - Skadi, Boleck and Cristina. We sat around a campfire and ate s'mores. we hiked up mountains. We interacted with sled dogs - it was all so special. I hope our paths meet again.

Fairbanks was ok - sadly i naturally compared it to Denali and it didn't even come close, although i did get to ride a SEGWAY which was pretty cool! (See picture). It's nice ot be back in Anchorage though slowly winding down and preparing to get back to reality.

When i get home i have a lot of assignment work to do. Basically i have 2500 words to write in 2 days. I tried doing a little bit a week or so ago but i had no motivation. The thing with Alaska is that because of the lack of darkness, sleep is a luxuary. I'm always so tired from hiking all day and not getting much sleep at night. But i'm going to relax the next few days.

My plan for tomorrow is to go to the Zoo and see some Polar Bears. No doubt i'll take thousands of pictures! i think the picture count currently stands at 834...jeez.

Right, going to sign off now. Sorry this wasn't all that interesting but i'll post some photos for entertainment.

Ciao for now,

*Supertramp* 

Day 2. Moose Day.

Day 2. Thursday 21^st July, 2011.

Today I got charged by a moose while walking on my own along the coastal trail. It was the single scariest moment of my life, and I’ve been in some scary situations. So this is how it happened:

I was walking along the coastal route that goes from Downtown Anchorage all the way round to the airport. About 2 miles into the walk, I see a moose on the left hand side in the bushes. I felt a bit nervous, but not too much because it wasn’t that close to me. However, as I walked towards it, I noticed a rustling in the bushes to my right…another moose. This did make me nervous because this guy was pretty close. As I turned around I saw another 3 moose in the bushes just off the path. They hadn’t surrounded me, but I felt very enclosed. Anyway - this moose on my right didn’t look to happy so I started to take a few steps backwards, and then he did it - he charged…I say charged, he took a couple of aggressive steps towards me pretty quickly - in my books - that’s charging. So I took A LOT more steps back away from him and let him cross the path. About 10 minutes goes by as I stand their in fear unable to move, and eventually all 5 moose go off into the bush and I continue on my walk. Immediately after this event I had a surge of excitement as this was exactly what I wanted to experience, however pretty quickly came the thought of fear that ANYTHING could be a round the corner…this put me on edge for the rest of the 6 miles of the trail. (I did come across another moose later on but I was with people so I wasn’t as scared…got some incredible photos too!)

Another highlight of the today was me realizing that bears don’t lay eggs. Let me explain: Before the whole moose thing I was feeling like Steve Irwin…accept alive. I thought I’d be daring and go off track a couple of times to get some nice photos of the coast. Having spoken to a few people about doing this, they always go on and on about being careful for bears…so once when I was off-track, I saw this small round, white thing on the floor and my mind instantly thought…“Bear’s egg!”…it took me about 40 seconds to remember that bears don’t lay eggs…the wild can make you go crazy.

So today I walked about 12 miles in total. Got charged by a moose and got some insane close ups of another moose. I’m yet to eat anything, and it’s coming up to 2030pm so I’m going to go find some lunch.

Ciao fro now!
*Supertramp*

Day 1 - The beginning.

Day 1. Wednesday 20^th July, 2011.

Yesterday was a long day. Everything ran smoothly, no delays but it was approx 24hours on the go in total.

Got to my hostel about 10.30pm and it’s still day light outside - this time of the year Anchorage has 21hours of day light! Felt very surreal. Walked to the local garage to buy a toothbrush and some shampoo and then when I came back I had a shower and went to bed. My bed is the lower of the bunk bed, and my room mate had the single bed on the other side of the room - lucky!

When I woke up today I felt good. I’m glad I didn’t sleep yesterday as I feel that jetlag hasn’t hit me yet and I don’t think it will as I felt a new day had started this morning. My body is so clever. I look outside and of course - it’s light. So I pack up my valuables and head out - in shorts, t-shirt and hoody.

Needless to say that after about an hour of walking the hoody came off as it was fairly warm. Managed to navigate myself to ‘Downtown’ Anchorage which is about 2.5 miles away from my hostel. Along the way I walked down Chester Creek Trail and also a coastal trail which was nice. Got a couple of nice scenic photos.

Had a good look around Downtown Anchorage, and saw the railroad train station - I’ll be going back there in a few days to catch my train to Denali. The main thing I’ve noticed so far about Alaska, which I’m sure is just because it’s America is that everything is so big. Cars are trucks. Streets are dual-carriage ways. Corner shops are shopping centers. Everything is super-size, including the people - which isn’t surprising to be cliché.

Got back to my hostel about 1.30pm ish and am now writing my blog entry on the public computers in the hostel. My feet are a bit sore as I walked this morning (for about 4 hours) in my standard shoes with no socks - ouch. So this afternoon I’m going to rest, do some assignment work and chill to music. My plan for tomorrow is to go to the zoo. I don’t usually like Zoos but the Alaskan Zoo looks alright, plus it’s cheap and it’s south Anchorage which I haven’t explored yet. I’m still deciding whether or not to go horse riding when I get back to Anchorage in a couple of weeks. I say ‘deciding’ as it is $100 which I don’t really have spare - but it would be an experience!

Going to be social this evening and stay downstairs in the social area and hopefully I’ll talk to someone and not just sit there with my headphones in like I would usually do. #Nervous

Ciao for now!
*Supertramp*