Hey guys! This will have to be a quick post because its 10.30pm and I'll be getting kicked out of thelodge soon, and I've only managed to score the computer for a few minutes
So I arrived here on a snowing Sunday night after a sweet dinner in Canmore with Uncle Jack, AUnt Shielia and Shannon (Thanks so much for having me by the way guys! And I'm sure I'll be asking more favours of you in the months to come!!:) )
Sunday night we were lucky enough to have a real dorm (cluster) in a real building! But since then Tipi life has begun and so everynight is spent walking through snow that at some points reaches your knee. It has snowed all day every day I've been here except today! So everything is white! which makes things SO COLD but also so beautiful. So far all the nights have been around -10degrees celsius. So I make sure I'm wearing all my clothes and am absolutley covered by my sleeping bag, including your face because otherwise my face actually begins to go numb! And yet the moment the fire goes out I wake up as the temperature jsut drops so much! Today was the first day I have actually used my drink bottle because every morning I wake up the water in it is frozen through...and it's sitting right next to my bed! Anyway so you should just know its cold...I think today is the first day it actually got above zero (to about 2 in the middle of the afternoon! YAY).
So kids arrive on Tuesday every week and each of us leads a group of 9 kids who stay in the tipi with us and we are in charge of for the rest of the week, apart from an hour off on weekday nights when their teachers take them for an activity or something. So we've been learning how to track animals and know what animal males what type of track, adn what type of mood they might be in to make that track. I've also learnt the different steps of different animals (like pacing and overstepping etc). We followed bear tracks for a bit yesterday...that didn't make much sense to me...but I suppose it would be pretty cool to see a bear. They also have cougars around here which are pretty common and more of a worry than the bears. That's a worry.
What else have we learnt...oh yeah HEAPS and HEAPS of games (that's what alot of our dday is spent doing...playing games) and I've learnt facts about the trees around here and there names and properties.
I better go because everyones leaving..and I don't want to walk through cold snow by myself...
Oh and we all have to have 'Nature names" which is what all the kids and other staff call us while we're here.
Mine is Kootenay, Koots for short:)
xx Koots
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Camp Summit
Hey people. I Have finally arrived at my home for the next 6 months, Camp Summit. It is totally awesome, I have a room in a little wood cabin, and when I walk out the door I can look right and see a big mountain with snow on the top looming up above the forest. It's pretty sweet. I'll post some photos once I get my computer out.
Yeah so Camp is awesome. We get our first kids on like the 3rd of May or something so right now we are in training and the site is just being finished off. Things like electricity, heaters and hot water will all be operational in the next couple of days. Yay!
So the training we are doing is a ropes certification that allows me to instruct high ropes under supervision of the main ropes instructor. It's like a Level 1 or something. Hopefully it is internationally recognised so it can help me get some ODE gigs back home. Have to ask Anna and Emma bout that. So today I spent alot of time belaying people as well as climbing on various elements. I also spent a fair while strapped to a pole dismantling a pulley set up. It was pretty sweet because we had to use a cable grab and like pull ourselves up. Good fun, though I semi messed up and let go of the pulley, so I had to like climb right to the top and completely reach out, which is pretty scary when your like over 40ft in the air. But yeah, if I was every afraid of heights I wont be after this summer, although I will probably spend most of my time belaying other kids.
Another plus about Camp, the food is awesome, Chef Marty cooks up all these delicious feasts for every meal. Also we have 3 camp dogs, Marty's Deloughsie, Shannon's blind epileptic chihuahua Zoe and Camus, the carpenter's GIANT labrador. But I still miss my Sammy!!
Yeah so I'll try and get some shots of the Camp up so you guys can see how cool it is. Admittedly weather-wise is a little chilly for me.. the middle of the day sun is like really nice but the second it goes down, man does it get chilly. And the staff lounge is a tent so we are all like sitting watching tv shivering, which is pretty awesome...
Yeah I think the Canadians think us Aussies are massive wimps. But hey.
Oh and my sleeping bag is like totally perfect, I'm mega stoked on it. In fact I think I might go and head to it right now, I've got another day of climbing ahead of me.
Yeah so Camp is awesome. We get our first kids on like the 3rd of May or something so right now we are in training and the site is just being finished off. Things like electricity, heaters and hot water will all be operational in the next couple of days. Yay!
So the training we are doing is a ropes certification that allows me to instruct high ropes under supervision of the main ropes instructor. It's like a Level 1 or something. Hopefully it is internationally recognised so it can help me get some ODE gigs back home. Have to ask Anna and Emma bout that. So today I spent alot of time belaying people as well as climbing on various elements. I also spent a fair while strapped to a pole dismantling a pulley set up. It was pretty sweet because we had to use a cable grab and like pull ourselves up. Good fun, though I semi messed up and let go of the pulley, so I had to like climb right to the top and completely reach out, which is pretty scary when your like over 40ft in the air. But yeah, if I was every afraid of heights I wont be after this summer, although I will probably spend most of my time belaying other kids.
Another plus about Camp, the food is awesome, Chef Marty cooks up all these delicious feasts for every meal. Also we have 3 camp dogs, Marty's Deloughsie, Shannon's blind epileptic chihuahua Zoe and Camus, the carpenter's GIANT labrador. But I still miss my Sammy!!
Yeah so I'll try and get some shots of the Camp up so you guys can see how cool it is. Admittedly weather-wise is a little chilly for me.. the middle of the day sun is like really nice but the second it goes down, man does it get chilly. And the staff lounge is a tent so we are all like sitting watching tv shivering, which is pretty awesome...
Yeah I think the Canadians think us Aussies are massive wimps. But hey.
Oh and my sleeping bag is like totally perfect, I'm mega stoked on it. In fact I think I might go and head to it right now, I've got another day of climbing ahead of me.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
SNOW
Hey guys, Alex here. I thought I better put a post up because Whit will scold me if i don't..and I want to of course.
So yeah, as Whit said is was an early 4.30am start for me but luckily the taxi came on time and all went smoothly. Apart from the driver presuming I was from England...I corrected him, but he thought he knew better..."No, you have an English accent, you're English"...So apart from that it went smoothly...
So I arrived at the airport checked in and found my gate. This was the first chance I've had this trip to read my book! The flight was very short, only 1 hour, and the seat next to me was free so there was a bit of room for me to fidget around in. There was a middle ageed man sitting on the other side of the empty seat though and after 30 mins of silence he passed me the newspaper he was reading and pointed out an article. "People are crazy" followed by the classic "they didn't do that in my day!". Intrigued I read the article and it was about two young people being found naked in a dumpster together. So that was a bit awkward but I agreed it was strange and from then on to the end of the flight we were very good friends.
Flying into Calgary, my new friend had heard about my enthusiasm about snow and pointed out the window as we were descending...SNOW. Not the full winter, everything was covered, kind of snow, but it was still snow. And I was still very happy about that.
So after picking up my bags I sat down and waited for Jack to come and pick me up. Seeing as I wasn't sure what uncle Jack looked like, I kept an eye out for someone who was limping (a clue left for me by Meels and Jute before they left)and who might slightly resemble my dad. In the end it was Aunt Shielia who came to pick me up, she noticed me, probably looking like a lost teenage traveller. We stick out like a sore thumb. Luckily.
Another moment of note was my first real snow experience, which came hand in hand with the buying-of- my-new-computer experience. All day it had been doing what I called snowing, but everyone else called..."more hail", but stepping out of the car and walking to the shop, Shannon (my cousin) pointed out that this was snow. Needless to say I was VERY excited. Everyone else felt it was far to late in the year for snow, and the snow still on their lawns should have melted by now.
Wacthed most of the hockey game of the Calgary Flames but they were losing 5-1, so we turned it off.
Very abrubt ending here because Jack's making waffles for breakie!
So yeah, as Whit said is was an early 4.30am start for me but luckily the taxi came on time and all went smoothly. Apart from the driver presuming I was from England...I corrected him, but he thought he knew better..."No, you have an English accent, you're English"...So apart from that it went smoothly...
So I arrived at the airport checked in and found my gate. This was the first chance I've had this trip to read my book! The flight was very short, only 1 hour, and the seat next to me was free so there was a bit of room for me to fidget around in. There was a middle ageed man sitting on the other side of the empty seat though and after 30 mins of silence he passed me the newspaper he was reading and pointed out an article. "People are crazy" followed by the classic "they didn't do that in my day!". Intrigued I read the article and it was about two young people being found naked in a dumpster together. So that was a bit awkward but I agreed it was strange and from then on to the end of the flight we were very good friends.
Flying into Calgary, my new friend had heard about my enthusiasm about snow and pointed out the window as we were descending...SNOW. Not the full winter, everything was covered, kind of snow, but it was still snow. And I was still very happy about that.
So after picking up my bags I sat down and waited for Jack to come and pick me up. Seeing as I wasn't sure what uncle Jack looked like, I kept an eye out for someone who was limping (a clue left for me by Meels and Jute before they left)and who might slightly resemble my dad. In the end it was Aunt Shielia who came to pick me up, she noticed me, probably looking like a lost teenage traveller. We stick out like a sore thumb. Luckily.
Another moment of note was my first real snow experience, which came hand in hand with the buying-of- my-new-computer experience. All day it had been doing what I called snowing, but everyone else called..."more hail", but stepping out of the car and walking to the shop, Shannon (my cousin) pointed out that this was snow. Needless to say I was VERY excited. Everyone else felt it was far to late in the year for snow, and the snow still on their lawns should have melted by now.
Wacthed most of the hockey game of the Calgary Flames but they were losing 5-1, so we turned it off.
Very abrubt ending here because Jack's making waffles for breakie!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Strange Yet Wonderful Things About Canada
Hey folks. Unfortunately today was probably the least blog-worthy day of the trip... I mean, right now I am sitting in my PJs watching 'Ice Road Truckers'. Nuff said.
Alex flew out to Calgary this morning at 7:00am so she was up and about at 4:30am getting ready. I however was slack and stayed in bed until about 90 seconds before she left. So no feast for me.
I'm getting picked up to go to Camp Summit tomorrow at 12 so I had a few chores to do, buying guitar strings and my supplies for dinner and breakfast, which was two apples and a Snickers bar. (Jute and Meels have let me have free rein in their kitchen.)
So some crazy things about Canada. Everything here is big, from the cars to the seagulls, the street numbers (all in the thousands), the roads (think TransCanada Hwy) and the city. Vancouver is so much more spread out than Perth, people actually live in it so its sprawls out over a much bigger area. Also, for some reason, houses are like 87% window. There are some seriously busy window washers around here I swear.
Also they set their heaters to the same temperature we set our air conditioners. Go figure.
Anyway sorry for the boring post, but I just did chores today like buying guitar strings and deodorant, so not very interesting. Alex however I'm sure will have much more to say (the drinking age in Alberta being 18 and all.... jokes!) so hopefully she will put something up to make up for this.
Next time you hear from me I'll be at Camp Summit, but there is no saying when I might get to use their internet so we shall just have to wait and see.
Alex flew out to Calgary this morning at 7:00am so she was up and about at 4:30am getting ready. I however was slack and stayed in bed until about 90 seconds before she left. So no feast for me.
I'm getting picked up to go to Camp Summit tomorrow at 12 so I had a few chores to do, buying guitar strings and my supplies for dinner and breakfast, which was two apples and a Snickers bar. (Jute and Meels have let me have free rein in their kitchen.)
So some crazy things about Canada. Everything here is big, from the cars to the seagulls, the street numbers (all in the thousands), the roads (think TransCanada Hwy) and the city. Vancouver is so much more spread out than Perth, people actually live in it so its sprawls out over a much bigger area. Also, for some reason, houses are like 87% window. There are some seriously busy window washers around here I swear.
Also they set their heaters to the same temperature we set our air conditioners. Go figure.
Anyway sorry for the boring post, but I just did chores today like buying guitar strings and deodorant, so not very interesting. Alex however I'm sure will have much more to say (the drinking age in Alberta being 18 and all.... jokes!) so hopefully she will put something up to make up for this.
Next time you hear from me I'll be at Camp Summit, but there is no saying when I might get to use their internet so we shall just have to wait and see.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Lynn Canyon
Hey everyone. Today Alex and I embarked on a mission to see Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge. Amelia kindly gave us some transport tickets so we didn't have to spend a dime.
Cause it was my birthday we decided to buy breakfast... also we had eaten all our supplies. We had our hearts set on waffles since we went past a waffle place in Victoria. We walked up and down Commercial Drive but finally had to settle for French Toast and Pancakes. All for the princely sum of $10.00. We know how to find a bargain.
So we set off on the SkyTrain. Without meaning to, we actually committed the offence of fare-evasion (we couldn't figure out what we were meant to do with our un-validated tickets). It didn't actually matter as no one came to check, but I did wonder if there was a clause in their punishment policy that allowed for confused Australian backpackers on their birthday. I like to think there is.
So after our illicit activities on the SkyTrain we headed to our second mode of transport for the day, a strange slug-shaped vehicle called a SeaBus. It's pretty much like the ferries on the Swan, except bigger and with a weird cabin on the top. So we piled into this rather absurd looking creature as it crawled across the Fraser Creek. This time we did get our tickets validated... not as bad ass as we thought. The SeaBus was pretty good at giving us a view of North Vancouver. The city is so close to the mountains, you can actually see the ski runs from the street.
Our final step on the public transport front was the 229 bus. We had to ask the driver to let us know when the stop we needed to get off at came up. Luckily for us he was very obliging.
After a few minutes walk we reached the Lynn Canyon Park and Ecological Centre. As it was entry by donation Alex and I decided to take a look. After donating a solid 55c (don't judge us, some more rich looking people than us didn't even donate anything) we had a look around the centre and learnt a few things about Black Bears, the Sulphur Cycle and how slow Canadian forests are at regenerating after forest fires (it can take them like 200 years!!). We also saw part of a tree that was 1000 years old, like it saw the first settlers landing, as well as the start of WWI. It was pretty rowdy, nature style.
So after geeking it up in the ecological centre, we decided to head out and learn some stuff about the area first hand. The Suspension Bridge was pretty damn tall and unfortunately too skinny to be of any use in a game of Pooh Sticks (if you don't know what that is you seriously need to get your A. A. Milne on). The water was rushing like crazy down the granite stones, and even though it looked several metres deep it was like crystal clear. Alex had obtained a little booklet with some info about the trails, so we set off upstream to try and find this pool they mentioned.
A few minutes walk through the dense green forest and we were there. I swear I have never seen anything so darn green. The leaves are green, the floor is green, the water is green even the bark is green with moss, and the stones. So much darn green, so not used to it!
We got to the pool and it was so pretty we decided to chow down on the apples we bought from BuyLo Foods (we managed to spend $5 each on groceries and it will last us to the end of this week. Maaad budgeting skillz). We sort of perched ourselves on a rock and were admiring the view when these 3 kids caught our eye. They were brothers messing about on the waters edge. Their Dad showed them a quarter that someone had chucked in the pool and dared them to go swimming for it. Everyone who was watching chuckled to themselves. There was no way those boys were going in the water, it was so cold, most of it was snow melt fresh off the mountain slopes. Like icier than you can even imagine. However, one of the kids, to everyones surprise, stripped off to his boxers and was seriously about to go for it. We watched on, somewhat tranfixed. Him and his brothers messed about in the shallows a few times until one of them fully stacked it and got soaked. Hilarious.
We decided to stop being strange weirdos watching kids and take the downstream path to the Twin Falls. It was a nice walk, plenty of stairs and rocks to climb over. We eventually came to a small bridge crossing the river. To be perfectly honest I don't actually remember seeing two falls at any point so the twin thing was kinda lost on me... but the water was nice. Some parts looked like 6 metres deep but I swear you could still see the bottom. Crazy glacial water.
We decided to head home but not before we tripped out to 'Dollar Giant' - Alex and my new best friend. You can check out the incredibly healthy nature of our purchases in the photo at the bottom.
Anyway better dash, we're getting up at 4:30am tomorrow to have a feast before Alex's taxi arrives and I am abandoned for the day!!
Alex hiding in a tree stump
Alex with the creek that runs through Lynn Canyon
Me in the greenest place I've ever seen
The pool where the kids were diving for the quarter
View through the canopy
Our fab purchases at Dollar Giant
Cause it was my birthday we decided to buy breakfast... also we had eaten all our supplies. We had our hearts set on waffles since we went past a waffle place in Victoria. We walked up and down Commercial Drive but finally had to settle for French Toast and Pancakes. All for the princely sum of $10.00. We know how to find a bargain.
So we set off on the SkyTrain. Without meaning to, we actually committed the offence of fare-evasion (we couldn't figure out what we were meant to do with our un-validated tickets). It didn't actually matter as no one came to check, but I did wonder if there was a clause in their punishment policy that allowed for confused Australian backpackers on their birthday. I like to think there is.
So after our illicit activities on the SkyTrain we headed to our second mode of transport for the day, a strange slug-shaped vehicle called a SeaBus. It's pretty much like the ferries on the Swan, except bigger and with a weird cabin on the top. So we piled into this rather absurd looking creature as it crawled across the Fraser Creek. This time we did get our tickets validated... not as bad ass as we thought. The SeaBus was pretty good at giving us a view of North Vancouver. The city is so close to the mountains, you can actually see the ski runs from the street.
Our final step on the public transport front was the 229 bus. We had to ask the driver to let us know when the stop we needed to get off at came up. Luckily for us he was very obliging.
After a few minutes walk we reached the Lynn Canyon Park and Ecological Centre. As it was entry by donation Alex and I decided to take a look. After donating a solid 55c (don't judge us, some more rich looking people than us didn't even donate anything) we had a look around the centre and learnt a few things about Black Bears, the Sulphur Cycle and how slow Canadian forests are at regenerating after forest fires (it can take them like 200 years!!). We also saw part of a tree that was 1000 years old, like it saw the first settlers landing, as well as the start of WWI. It was pretty rowdy, nature style.
So after geeking it up in the ecological centre, we decided to head out and learn some stuff about the area first hand. The Suspension Bridge was pretty damn tall and unfortunately too skinny to be of any use in a game of Pooh Sticks (if you don't know what that is you seriously need to get your A. A. Milne on). The water was rushing like crazy down the granite stones, and even though it looked several metres deep it was like crystal clear. Alex had obtained a little booklet with some info about the trails, so we set off upstream to try and find this pool they mentioned.
A few minutes walk through the dense green forest and we were there. I swear I have never seen anything so darn green. The leaves are green, the floor is green, the water is green even the bark is green with moss, and the stones. So much darn green, so not used to it!
We got to the pool and it was so pretty we decided to chow down on the apples we bought from BuyLo Foods (we managed to spend $5 each on groceries and it will last us to the end of this week. Maaad budgeting skillz). We sort of perched ourselves on a rock and were admiring the view when these 3 kids caught our eye. They were brothers messing about on the waters edge. Their Dad showed them a quarter that someone had chucked in the pool and dared them to go swimming for it. Everyone who was watching chuckled to themselves. There was no way those boys were going in the water, it was so cold, most of it was snow melt fresh off the mountain slopes. Like icier than you can even imagine. However, one of the kids, to everyones surprise, stripped off to his boxers and was seriously about to go for it. We watched on, somewhat tranfixed. Him and his brothers messed about in the shallows a few times until one of them fully stacked it and got soaked. Hilarious.
We decided to stop being strange weirdos watching kids and take the downstream path to the Twin Falls. It was a nice walk, plenty of stairs and rocks to climb over. We eventually came to a small bridge crossing the river. To be perfectly honest I don't actually remember seeing two falls at any point so the twin thing was kinda lost on me... but the water was nice. Some parts looked like 6 metres deep but I swear you could still see the bottom. Crazy glacial water.
We decided to head home but not before we tripped out to 'Dollar Giant' - Alex and my new best friend. You can check out the incredibly healthy nature of our purchases in the photo at the bottom.
Anyway better dash, we're getting up at 4:30am tomorrow to have a feast before Alex's taxi arrives and I am abandoned for the day!!
Alex hiding in a tree stump
Alex with the creek that runs through Lynn Canyon
Me in the greenest place I've ever seen
The pool where the kids were diving for the quarter
View through the canopy
Our fab purchases at Dollar Giant
Thursday, April 23, 2009
More walking...
We were attempting to be out the door nice and early this morning, maybe 11am, to climb up Grouse Mountain on a trail known as The Grouse Grind. This is meant to be a gruelling climb up the mountain which is supposedly like climbing up stairs for 2 hours (the fact that it's only a 3km track might give you an idea of how steep it is!). We got ourselves all pumped up for this extreme experience, we had our backpacks with water, lunch, hats and jackets and were ready to bounce out the door when Whit went to turn off the computer. She accidentally scrolled down on the webpage and their lay some words in fine red print that stopped us in our tracks. 'The trail is currently in full closure for the winter.' So that kind of hindered our leaving the house a bit.
Instead we decided upon another day of some epic walking. No buses for us! After some quality salt and vinegar chip devouring/Sense and Sensibility viewing we took a walk to MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op). This was a rather eye opening yet devastating visit. Walking through the city block sized store, we couldn't help but notice how everything was hundreds of dollars cheaper than it would be in Australia even if it was on sale! I nearly cried.
On the upside Whitaker bought a sleeping bag for a well spent $140 dollars...plus tax of course.
By the time we got home we'd clocked over 4km and it was 3.30pm. Last night Jute had told us that New Moon (the new movie of the twilight series) was being filmed at a school 'around the corner'. This we would come to realise was a 4.5 km trek each way. Unaware of this we again set off for a test of our physical limits (I refer here to that little mountainous bike ride around Saltspring Island you may have read about). On the way we took a walk down Commercial Drive which is full of shops and places to eat. The best of which we found to be the $1 store, where absolutely everything is $1! Including Mars Bars, Snickers, Kit Kats, shampoo, colgate toothpaste, EVERYTHING. So we've planned a shopping trip there tomorrow to stock up on all the important stuff (mainly candy bars). We quickly regretted leaving our wallets at home for this particular walk.
After an hour we finally reached the school, although there weren't the tents and vans that Jute had mentioned, it was a thursday afternoon after all... but we did still have a look around the school. It is set right near the Vancouver mountains which provide a pretty epic backdrop to the place. I don't know how the students there get any work done.
So then came the walk home. It was 5.45pm by this point and we were both fairly sick of walking and pretty eager for some dinner. I proposed we try and be home by 6.30 which Issy swore wasn't going to happen but we set off at a very swift pace unwilling to try shortcuts as we had no phone or money, or sense of where we were, past the few streets we had walked to get there. After nearly collapsing on the walk and fantasising about food, Edward Cullen and not having to walk anymore, we stumbled across Windsor st (our street!). We had 5 minutes to reach home by our deadline of 6.30pm so we broke into a run and sprinted down the street. Amelia was walking into the house at the same time that we ran into view and looked a little confused as we huffed our way through the gate and collapsed in the house. By now they understood our reluctance for paying for buses, so no questions were asked.
Hi, Whit here. Alex is just having a shower so I'm finishing up. After our solid 13k day we had a delicious BBQ meal of hamburgers and chicken wings to refill the tank. Alex and I are in awe of the wonderful Canadian hospitality we continue to recieve... though I suppose Jute and Meels are technically Aussies... but either way we are super lucky and very grateful!
Catch you all tomorrow for my Canadian birthday!!
Here are the photos:
Christening the new sleeping bag
A busy Vancouver intersection... complete with mountains
Alex and I tried to be subtle taking a picture of the Twilight school, so we took this picture first
Templeton Senior School, where the Twilight film was made!!
Alex in front of TSS
Me putting my Hedgren bag to good use!! Thank you Andersons
Instead we decided upon another day of some epic walking. No buses for us! After some quality salt and vinegar chip devouring/Sense and Sensibility viewing we took a walk to MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op). This was a rather eye opening yet devastating visit. Walking through the city block sized store, we couldn't help but notice how everything was hundreds of dollars cheaper than it would be in Australia even if it was on sale! I nearly cried.
On the upside Whitaker bought a sleeping bag for a well spent $140 dollars...plus tax of course.
By the time we got home we'd clocked over 4km and it was 3.30pm. Last night Jute had told us that New Moon (the new movie of the twilight series) was being filmed at a school 'around the corner'. This we would come to realise was a 4.5 km trek each way. Unaware of this we again set off for a test of our physical limits (I refer here to that little mountainous bike ride around Saltspring Island you may have read about). On the way we took a walk down Commercial Drive which is full of shops and places to eat. The best of which we found to be the $1 store, where absolutely everything is $1! Including Mars Bars, Snickers, Kit Kats, shampoo, colgate toothpaste, EVERYTHING. So we've planned a shopping trip there tomorrow to stock up on all the important stuff (mainly candy bars). We quickly regretted leaving our wallets at home for this particular walk.
After an hour we finally reached the school, although there weren't the tents and vans that Jute had mentioned, it was a thursday afternoon after all... but we did still have a look around the school. It is set right near the Vancouver mountains which provide a pretty epic backdrop to the place. I don't know how the students there get any work done.
So then came the walk home. It was 5.45pm by this point and we were both fairly sick of walking and pretty eager for some dinner. I proposed we try and be home by 6.30 which Issy swore wasn't going to happen but we set off at a very swift pace unwilling to try shortcuts as we had no phone or money, or sense of where we were, past the few streets we had walked to get there. After nearly collapsing on the walk and fantasising about food, Edward Cullen and not having to walk anymore, we stumbled across Windsor st (our street!). We had 5 minutes to reach home by our deadline of 6.30pm so we broke into a run and sprinted down the street. Amelia was walking into the house at the same time that we ran into view and looked a little confused as we huffed our way through the gate and collapsed in the house. By now they understood our reluctance for paying for buses, so no questions were asked.
Hi, Whit here. Alex is just having a shower so I'm finishing up. After our solid 13k day we had a delicious BBQ meal of hamburgers and chicken wings to refill the tank. Alex and I are in awe of the wonderful Canadian hospitality we continue to recieve... though I suppose Jute and Meels are technically Aussies... but either way we are super lucky and very grateful!
Catch you all tomorrow for my Canadian birthday!!
Here are the photos:
Christening the new sleeping bag
A busy Vancouver intersection... complete with mountains
Alex and I tried to be subtle taking a picture of the Twilight school, so we took this picture first
Templeton Senior School, where the Twilight film was made!!
Alex in front of TSS
Me putting my Hedgren bag to good use!! Thank you Andersons
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
City Walks
Today Alex and I woke without much planned so as usual we got off to a bit of a slow start. We decided we needed to get to the Visitors Centre to get some info and a bus schedule. The visitors centre is about 6.5km away so we decided we'd take a bit of a stroll through the city on our way. We walked through downtown Vancouver until we reached the city, passing GM Place (the home rink of the Vancouver Canucks) and then onto the city centre. There is some serious construction going on in the city because of the Olympics. The 'Canada Line' train is being put in underground.
We figured out why its sometimes called the City of Glass, every building is basically all windows.
I think the coolest thing about Vancouver is how you can look up from the dirty urban tangle of concrete buildings, chain link fences and broken glass to see the unspoilt wild mountains rising from the rooftops. I think you can kind of see it one of the photos below.
So once we made it to the Visitors Centre and scored ourselves some extensive bus schedules that we could barely understand, we hit up the food court. A few tacos and some unimpressive Starbucks cake later we hit the streets with a plan to catch a bus back to Amelia and Jute's place. Because we couldn't figure out the busses (and Alex's personal vendetta against Canadian busses) by the time we walked to the line we thought we were going to catch we were a quarter of the way home so we figured we'd just walk all the way back again. I think walking through the city is a good way to orientate yourself, getting to know the street names and where some of the shops and other things are (especially the $1 pizza slice store) as well as saving $5 (the busses over here are a rip!).
So yeah not much to tell today apart from our epic walking... which I already mentioned. Oh yeah and we had pizza for dinner. And walked Maggie. Yeah...OH aaaannnnnddd, they don't have crinkle cut Salt and Vinegar chips over here!! They just don't exist. Unheard of even. What kind of country is this?
Vancouver mountains from the city
Not a great photo...not even close...but we figure we needed one of us...
Alex doing some wicked sick maneuvers on the rails of the Canucks home ground
The Canucks home rink
OMG we found Milo in Canada...for $7 a tin though...not including 12% tax, and that's Canadian dollars...:O
We figured out why its sometimes called the City of Glass, every building is basically all windows.
I think the coolest thing about Vancouver is how you can look up from the dirty urban tangle of concrete buildings, chain link fences and broken glass to see the unspoilt wild mountains rising from the rooftops. I think you can kind of see it one of the photos below.
So once we made it to the Visitors Centre and scored ourselves some extensive bus schedules that we could barely understand, we hit up the food court. A few tacos and some unimpressive Starbucks cake later we hit the streets with a plan to catch a bus back to Amelia and Jute's place. Because we couldn't figure out the busses (and Alex's personal vendetta against Canadian busses) by the time we walked to the line we thought we were going to catch we were a quarter of the way home so we figured we'd just walk all the way back again. I think walking through the city is a good way to orientate yourself, getting to know the street names and where some of the shops and other things are (especially the $1 pizza slice store) as well as saving $5 (the busses over here are a rip!).
So yeah not much to tell today apart from our epic walking... which I already mentioned. Oh yeah and we had pizza for dinner. And walked Maggie. Yeah...OH aaaannnnnddd, they don't have crinkle cut Salt and Vinegar chips over here!! They just don't exist. Unheard of even. What kind of country is this?
Vancouver mountains from the city
Not a great photo...not even close...but we figure we needed one of us...
Alex doing some wicked sick maneuvers on the rails of the Canucks home ground
The Canucks home rink
OMG we found Milo in Canada...for $7 a tin though...not including 12% tax, and that's Canadian dollars...:O
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The Mainland
Hello everyone.
Today Alex and I moved homes, waving goodbye to Fred and Roberta and their awesome place on Vancouver Island. We'd like to thank them again for their hospitality and for looking after us so well on the first part of our trip. We doubt we'll be better looked after anywhere else.
Today consisted mainly of traveling, we caught the 3pm ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen Bay on the mainland. We followed that with a fairly epic bus adventure. We had two options, catch the PCL bus that runs literally off the ferry (you get on the bus just before the ferry docks and it drives straight out of the hold) and then get picked up at the Main St Termius. That option, although very easy, cost $28. So we opted for method 2, (setting us back the hefty sum of $5) which involved leaving the ferry terminal at Tsawwassen Bay, finding bus 620, riding that for about 20mins before stopping at Ladner where we hopped off and then waited until the 601 came in. Now hopping off and on busses doesn't sound that much of an effort. However, when you are carrying about 30kg worth of packs, daybags and musical instruments between the two of you it can be quite the awkward situation. Now we had to get off the 601 about a half hour later at the corner of Granville and West Broadway. This proved to be quite a challenge as we had no idea where that stop was and what possible time it would come up. The 601 bus was also more like a school bus than a city bus, so we were shoved into this small double seat, with bags spilling over into the aisles. (All the while two boys behind us managed to spread themselves over 4 seats, and wouldn't even move their legs which Alex had to squeeze in next to so other people could get down the aisle). So after some rather thorough map consultation in the Lonely Planet book (great Chrissie present parents!) we eventually figured out where we were supposed to pull the string to stop the bus. Getting out of the bus proved another mighty effort. I think I probably managed to bruise at least 3 senior citizens by accident as I lugged my pack down the aisle. So we walked around the corner, all the while being rather enthralled with this large sprawling city that seemed pretty normal (albeit a fair bit bigger than Perth), until we saw the mountaintops looming above the buildings. Our third bus for the day was waiting patiently at the stop. We hopped on the number 9, bags sprawling over the floor. We were fine until an elderly couple climbed on. We tried to co-ordinate ourselves to shift our rather cumbersome packs to the back of the bus by the door, praying our stop was not too far away.
Here we learnt that what they say about Canadians being a thoughtful bunch was true. A man kindly vacated some seats for us, although we thanked him saying 'Our stop isn't too far away... we hope.' A girl at the door told us our stop was coming up, and as thanks we managed to almost trap her on the bus when our bags got caught in the door opening mechanism. Another man who got off the bus a few stops later assured us that ours was only a few blocks away. With the looks we were getting we were grateful when Snt Catherines St flashed up on the overhead sign. However I managed to embarrass myself further by getting the pack caught between my legs and basically falling off the bus, guitar and daypack somehow making it out with me. A proud day for Australians everywhere. Needless to say, we were the object of EVERY person on the bus' attention as it pulled away from the kerb.
Speaking of Australians being everywhere, we are yet to meet a single other traveling Aussie. This rather upsets us, but we have at least met a whole bunch of Canadians who have been to Australia so we have had a few interesting conversations there.
Despite our wild bus ride, we did manage to make it to Amelia and Jute's apartment in downtown Vancouver. We were also super stoked to meet their dog, Maggie. Our luck in the food department continued as they very kindly took us out for a delicious Vietnamese dinner. The 4th game in the 'best of 7' 1st round playoffs series between Vancouver and St Louis was, to our delight, being played on widescreen tellys in the restaurant. I think I may have mentioned this before, but the Canucks were 3 up in the series, and it is basically unheard of to go 4 straight, so tonight was a big game. It went to an OT period after being 2-2 for most of the game and with about 5 minutes to go Burrows scored to seal the series for the Canucks. Word is people will be rioting, but the game is in St Louis so all is quiet on the local front. Hopefully we will be able to follow the Canucks as they progress through the playoffs.
So again we are so far unplanned for tomorrow, but Amelia is hopefully going to score us some snowshoes so we can take a bus up to the ski slopes near the city and play in the snow. No chance of actual skiing... too expensive. It is a pretty cool feeling to be able to look up and see the lights from the runs blinking in the sky. Vancouver itself is a pretty neat city and we hope to go out and make the most of it over the next few days.
Here are the days photos:
Alex, Fred and Roberta
Fred's shop
Alex and I inside Fred's 1966 230SL Mercedes convertible
Fred with the Mercedes
Alex and I in Fred's International truck
Today Alex and I moved homes, waving goodbye to Fred and Roberta and their awesome place on Vancouver Island. We'd like to thank them again for their hospitality and for looking after us so well on the first part of our trip. We doubt we'll be better looked after anywhere else.
Today consisted mainly of traveling, we caught the 3pm ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen Bay on the mainland. We followed that with a fairly epic bus adventure. We had two options, catch the PCL bus that runs literally off the ferry (you get on the bus just before the ferry docks and it drives straight out of the hold) and then get picked up at the Main St Termius. That option, although very easy, cost $28. So we opted for method 2, (setting us back the hefty sum of $5) which involved leaving the ferry terminal at Tsawwassen Bay, finding bus 620, riding that for about 20mins before stopping at Ladner where we hopped off and then waited until the 601 came in. Now hopping off and on busses doesn't sound that much of an effort. However, when you are carrying about 30kg worth of packs, daybags and musical instruments between the two of you it can be quite the awkward situation. Now we had to get off the 601 about a half hour later at the corner of Granville and West Broadway. This proved to be quite a challenge as we had no idea where that stop was and what possible time it would come up. The 601 bus was also more like a school bus than a city bus, so we were shoved into this small double seat, with bags spilling over into the aisles. (All the while two boys behind us managed to spread themselves over 4 seats, and wouldn't even move their legs which Alex had to squeeze in next to so other people could get down the aisle). So after some rather thorough map consultation in the Lonely Planet book (great Chrissie present parents!) we eventually figured out where we were supposed to pull the string to stop the bus. Getting out of the bus proved another mighty effort. I think I probably managed to bruise at least 3 senior citizens by accident as I lugged my pack down the aisle. So we walked around the corner, all the while being rather enthralled with this large sprawling city that seemed pretty normal (albeit a fair bit bigger than Perth), until we saw the mountaintops looming above the buildings. Our third bus for the day was waiting patiently at the stop. We hopped on the number 9, bags sprawling over the floor. We were fine until an elderly couple climbed on. We tried to co-ordinate ourselves to shift our rather cumbersome packs to the back of the bus by the door, praying our stop was not too far away.
Here we learnt that what they say about Canadians being a thoughtful bunch was true. A man kindly vacated some seats for us, although we thanked him saying 'Our stop isn't too far away... we hope.' A girl at the door told us our stop was coming up, and as thanks we managed to almost trap her on the bus when our bags got caught in the door opening mechanism. Another man who got off the bus a few stops later assured us that ours was only a few blocks away. With the looks we were getting we were grateful when Snt Catherines St flashed up on the overhead sign. However I managed to embarrass myself further by getting the pack caught between my legs and basically falling off the bus, guitar and daypack somehow making it out with me. A proud day for Australians everywhere. Needless to say, we were the object of EVERY person on the bus' attention as it pulled away from the kerb.
Speaking of Australians being everywhere, we are yet to meet a single other traveling Aussie. This rather upsets us, but we have at least met a whole bunch of Canadians who have been to Australia so we have had a few interesting conversations there.
Despite our wild bus ride, we did manage to make it to Amelia and Jute's apartment in downtown Vancouver. We were also super stoked to meet their dog, Maggie. Our luck in the food department continued as they very kindly took us out for a delicious Vietnamese dinner. The 4th game in the 'best of 7' 1st round playoffs series between Vancouver and St Louis was, to our delight, being played on widescreen tellys in the restaurant. I think I may have mentioned this before, but the Canucks were 3 up in the series, and it is basically unheard of to go 4 straight, so tonight was a big game. It went to an OT period after being 2-2 for most of the game and with about 5 minutes to go Burrows scored to seal the series for the Canucks. Word is people will be rioting, but the game is in St Louis so all is quiet on the local front. Hopefully we will be able to follow the Canucks as they progress through the playoffs.
So again we are so far unplanned for tomorrow, but Amelia is hopefully going to score us some snowshoes so we can take a bus up to the ski slopes near the city and play in the snow. No chance of actual skiing... too expensive. It is a pretty cool feeling to be able to look up and see the lights from the runs blinking in the sky. Vancouver itself is a pretty neat city and we hope to go out and make the most of it over the next few days.
Here are the days photos:
Alex, Fred and Roberta
Fred's shop
Alex and I inside Fred's 1966 230SL Mercedes convertible
Fred with the Mercedes
Alex and I in Fred's International truck
Monday, April 20, 2009
Officially part of the Blog!
Hey team
Just letting everyone know, we have now created a team blog. Whit being my team member, and you the followers.
So here's how it's going to work. When Issy and I part ways for those devastating 6 months, we will each post separate entries onto the same blog. They are distinguishable by the name at the bottom of the post. Also mine will be better.
So now the title 'Whits Travels' is 'Whit and Alex's Travels' . Though now I realise there was no discussion over whether it was going to be Whit and Alex's Travels or Alex and Whit's Travels. This doesn't seem like a very equal team. Which Whit points out that it isn't...as she won't make me an administrator in case I accidentally delete the blog.
The url is unchanged though. I still don't get a mention there....
Stay tuned for the next installment of the ALEX AND WHIT adventures
Just letting everyone know, we have now created a team blog. Whit being my team member, and you the followers.
So here's how it's going to work. When Issy and I part ways for those devastating 6 months, we will each post separate entries onto the same blog. They are distinguishable by the name at the bottom of the post. Also mine will be better.
So now the title 'Whits Travels' is 'Whit and Alex's Travels' . Though now I realise there was no discussion over whether it was going to be Whit and Alex's Travels or Alex and Whit's Travels. This doesn't seem like a very equal team. Which Whit points out that it isn't...as she won't make me an administrator in case I accidentally delete the blog.
The url is unchanged though. I still don't get a mention there....
Stay tuned for the next installment of the ALEX AND WHIT adventures
SUN... at last
Hello folks. Today was our first taste of the Canadian summer. It was a cloudless, sunny, 23 degrees and absolutely beautiful. We even managed to dry our washing on the line! (apparently this is unheard of apart from in the heat of summer) As it was such a nice day, and it was also our last day on Vancouver Island, we decided to relax on the deck and soak up the rays for the morning.
We sat on the balcony watching the Tsawwassen Bay and Saltspring ferries drift by, hummingbirds darted about the feeder that Roberta hangs out and we could even hear the distant sound of a woodpecker. It was a pretty relaxing morning, Satellite Channel was flat as a tack and Fred and Roberta's Canadian flag hung limp without a breath of wind to fly it. We read the paper, played a bit of guitar. A fine morning all up.
About 1pm we decided to head out with Roberta to the 'Future Shop' so Alex could look at some netbook computers. We met a nice sales guy called Ron. He had been to Australia and even made the trip to Perth (not many people we meet have done this) about 15 years ago. We told him how Alex was going to Calgary, he had lived there too and said it was really awesome, with giant mountains and loads of fun stuff to do. He had also lived in Vancouver but finally settled on Vancouver Island. It seems to be the place where people come to escape the fast paced frenetics of city life but retain the convenience of a major city within minutes drive. Ron was pretty cool, he asked Alex to say Calgary again because apparently it sounded cute. We are finally getting our payback for making fun of Katie's accent when she first moved to Perth.
So after the shops Roberta took us on a scenic drive past the Butchart Gardens (we considered going in until we found out about the $30 entrance price... we wouldn't even take a bus that we needed to take for that price!) and then to Sidney, the small town about 6km from Fred and Roberta's. It is a small seaside village that has a really beautiful waterfront, especially on a day like today. We wandered down by the ocean and then walked back up the main street, perusing a few shops as we went.
Then we helped Roberta do the shopping. This proved rather exciting, seeing all the weird ways Canadians package their food. They have pink Powerade and M&Ms can come in those bulk scooping containers instead of packets. We also had to search high and low for Salt and Vinegar chips and, much to Alex's disgust, we were unable to find any that were crinkle cut.
All in all a not too eventful but relaxing day. Tomorrow we are headed back to the mainland on a 3pm ferry for an adventurous 3 transfer bus trip into town to track down Alex's sister Amelia's house and stay for a couple of days before we part ways on the 25th.
Here are the (few) photos from today:
Alex sitting on the deck in shorts and a singlet... fwhat!
Alex about to go outside without a jacket wearing shorts... crazy
Sidney Harbour
The Sidney Pier
We sat on the balcony watching the Tsawwassen Bay and Saltspring ferries drift by, hummingbirds darted about the feeder that Roberta hangs out and we could even hear the distant sound of a woodpecker. It was a pretty relaxing morning, Satellite Channel was flat as a tack and Fred and Roberta's Canadian flag hung limp without a breath of wind to fly it. We read the paper, played a bit of guitar. A fine morning all up.
About 1pm we decided to head out with Roberta to the 'Future Shop' so Alex could look at some netbook computers. We met a nice sales guy called Ron. He had been to Australia and even made the trip to Perth (not many people we meet have done this) about 15 years ago. We told him how Alex was going to Calgary, he had lived there too and said it was really awesome, with giant mountains and loads of fun stuff to do. He had also lived in Vancouver but finally settled on Vancouver Island. It seems to be the place where people come to escape the fast paced frenetics of city life but retain the convenience of a major city within minutes drive. Ron was pretty cool, he asked Alex to say Calgary again because apparently it sounded cute. We are finally getting our payback for making fun of Katie's accent when she first moved to Perth.
So after the shops Roberta took us on a scenic drive past the Butchart Gardens (we considered going in until we found out about the $30 entrance price... we wouldn't even take a bus that we needed to take for that price!) and then to Sidney, the small town about 6km from Fred and Roberta's. It is a small seaside village that has a really beautiful waterfront, especially on a day like today. We wandered down by the ocean and then walked back up the main street, perusing a few shops as we went.
Then we helped Roberta do the shopping. This proved rather exciting, seeing all the weird ways Canadians package their food. They have pink Powerade and M&Ms can come in those bulk scooping containers instead of packets. We also had to search high and low for Salt and Vinegar chips and, much to Alex's disgust, we were unable to find any that were crinkle cut.
All in all a not too eventful but relaxing day. Tomorrow we are headed back to the mainland on a 3pm ferry for an adventurous 3 transfer bus trip into town to track down Alex's sister Amelia's house and stay for a couple of days before we part ways on the 25th.
Here are the (few) photos from today:
Alex sitting on the deck in shorts and a singlet... fwhat!
Alex about to go outside without a jacket wearing shorts... crazy
Sidney Harbour
The Sidney Pier
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Saltspring Island aka Hill Capital of the Universe
Hello everybody! Today we finally decided to take Fred's advice and head out to one of the southern gulf islands in the strait between the mainland and Vancouver Island. It is called Saltspring Island and is the main island you can see in that photo of the view from Fred and Roberta's balcony. Fred was like "Why don't you take the bikes and hop on the ferry over to Saltspring and ride around that for the day?" "Sure. Sounds fun." We innocently agreed. Little did we know that Fred was actually channelling an evil mastermind with that statement. On our way over to Saltspring a few people eyed the bikes and told us, "You know Saltspring is hilly right?". We sort of laughed off-handedly. Really I mean how hilly can an Island be?
VERY HILLY.
In fact, mountainous is probably a better word for it. I thought Saltspring Island was going to be an island like Rottnest is an island. No. It's more like Mount Everest would be like if it was an Island.
Anyway so once we hopped off the ferry at Fulford Harbour we decided to make our way to the small town of Ganges about 14km away. We came up against some pretty serious terrain (the picture of Alex struggling is at the top of a particulary evil slope. "Like I wanted to die" quote Alex) but nothing compared to the GIGANTIC hill we got to ride down into the township. This thing must have gone for like a km at least... We zoomed down it so fast, the wind like stung your eyes whilst you catapaulted down the slope. So once we got into town we decided there was no way that we were EVER going to ride back up that monstrosity. So after chowing down on our little packed lunch (we spent our daily money on the ferry over there, so unfortunately no hotdogs for us) we went to the Visitors Centre to ask if there was a bus. On every other day there is a bus that takes you back to Fulford. But not on Sundays. This was the evil cherry atop the rotting cake that was Fred's plan to kill us through physical exertion.
Luckily the nice man at the Tourist Centre took pity on us and racked his brains for a better way back to the harbour. He gave us a route that was 4km shorter than the one we had come in on, but involved one section where you climbed something like 400ft in a rather short time period. So we figured that was better than trying to tackle the mountain we had zoomed into town down. After a quick stroll about the harbour and checking out the Earth Day fair that was on at the central square, we made the call to head back to Fulford Harbour to catch the ferry home.
The ride back was also fairly epic, as we rode along the apprehension rose within us the giant hill loomed closer and closer. Thank god Alex had stayed well away from stone fruit, otherwise I think we would have been in some serious trouble ("I still was in some serious trouble!!!!"). However, we did manage to ride past the ambulance twice (obviously heard there were some crackpot Australians trying to ride around the island and wanted to be prepared), which was a pretty good effort considering I'm pretty sure it was the only one on the island. Once we hit the giant mountain we certainly knew about it. Luckily we were equipped with good bikes with gears so we managed to struggle slowly up. Admittedly we did stop about 3/4 of the way up so Alex could die for a little while. And there was a pretty cool view, except trees always seem to be in the way around these parts.
So after reaching the top of that mother it was pretty much downhill all the way back to the ferry terminal, we did some more out of control zooming, that totally made up for the awful climbing. We were seriously gunning it, it was awesome. We felt like we were riding straight out of Kathmandu brochure. Pretty sweet dashing past rows of pines to flatten out with this massive lake to the side. Anyhoo we rewarded ourselves at Fulford with a strawberry and apple muffin (which also had a giant hunk of cheese in it... fwhat?) and the greatest mocha I have ever tasted!!! It was called a Peanut Butter Cup. It was delicious.
Also, must not forget that for the first time on this trip one of us has sported a t-shirt whilst out in the Canadian wilderness. Alex managed to strip down to her trusty St Hilda's PE shirt whilst we climbed the giant mountain. Unfortunately we didn't get any photo evidence, but it was a truly momentous occasion. However, Alex would not reccomend it for zooming down the hills, that wind can be rather icy.
So altogether I think we rode about 30km today, (its about 3 to the ferry terminal from Fred and Roberta's house) and taking in the fact that their was a zillion hills I think that is a good effort.
Tonight we are heading out for Thai as Roberta is at a golf event and Fred, Alex and I are incapable of fending for ourselves. YAY FOOD. Anyhoo here are the photos from today:
Alex and our first Maple Syrup of the trip
Alex struggles up the massive hill on the way to Ganges
Hijacking a canoe at Ganges harbour
Drinking the Ganges!!!
The one flat bit of the cycle trail
Trying to smile for the photo despite a large dog bearing its teeth at us from down the street
Freezing on the ferry ride back
A mountain!!!
Alex and I pretending that we aren't posing for a photo with a big car.... a guy drove past just as it took so thats us trying to look like we aren't super loser tourists.....
VERY HILLY.
In fact, mountainous is probably a better word for it. I thought Saltspring Island was going to be an island like Rottnest is an island. No. It's more like Mount Everest would be like if it was an Island.
Anyway so once we hopped off the ferry at Fulford Harbour we decided to make our way to the small town of Ganges about 14km away. We came up against some pretty serious terrain (the picture of Alex struggling is at the top of a particulary evil slope. "Like I wanted to die" quote Alex) but nothing compared to the GIGANTIC hill we got to ride down into the township. This thing must have gone for like a km at least... We zoomed down it so fast, the wind like stung your eyes whilst you catapaulted down the slope. So once we got into town we decided there was no way that we were EVER going to ride back up that monstrosity. So after chowing down on our little packed lunch (we spent our daily money on the ferry over there, so unfortunately no hotdogs for us) we went to the Visitors Centre to ask if there was a bus. On every other day there is a bus that takes you back to Fulford. But not on Sundays. This was the evil cherry atop the rotting cake that was Fred's plan to kill us through physical exertion.
Luckily the nice man at the Tourist Centre took pity on us and racked his brains for a better way back to the harbour. He gave us a route that was 4km shorter than the one we had come in on, but involved one section where you climbed something like 400ft in a rather short time period. So we figured that was better than trying to tackle the mountain we had zoomed into town down. After a quick stroll about the harbour and checking out the Earth Day fair that was on at the central square, we made the call to head back to Fulford Harbour to catch the ferry home.
The ride back was also fairly epic, as we rode along the apprehension rose within us the giant hill loomed closer and closer. Thank god Alex had stayed well away from stone fruit, otherwise I think we would have been in some serious trouble ("I still was in some serious trouble!!!!"). However, we did manage to ride past the ambulance twice (obviously heard there were some crackpot Australians trying to ride around the island and wanted to be prepared), which was a pretty good effort considering I'm pretty sure it was the only one on the island. Once we hit the giant mountain we certainly knew about it. Luckily we were equipped with good bikes with gears so we managed to struggle slowly up. Admittedly we did stop about 3/4 of the way up so Alex could die for a little while. And there was a pretty cool view, except trees always seem to be in the way around these parts.
So after reaching the top of that mother it was pretty much downhill all the way back to the ferry terminal, we did some more out of control zooming, that totally made up for the awful climbing. We were seriously gunning it, it was awesome. We felt like we were riding straight out of Kathmandu brochure. Pretty sweet dashing past rows of pines to flatten out with this massive lake to the side. Anyhoo we rewarded ourselves at Fulford with a strawberry and apple muffin (which also had a giant hunk of cheese in it... fwhat?) and the greatest mocha I have ever tasted!!! It was called a Peanut Butter Cup. It was delicious.
Also, must not forget that for the first time on this trip one of us has sported a t-shirt whilst out in the Canadian wilderness. Alex managed to strip down to her trusty St Hilda's PE shirt whilst we climbed the giant mountain. Unfortunately we didn't get any photo evidence, but it was a truly momentous occasion. However, Alex would not reccomend it for zooming down the hills, that wind can be rather icy.
So altogether I think we rode about 30km today, (its about 3 to the ferry terminal from Fred and Roberta's house) and taking in the fact that their was a zillion hills I think that is a good effort.
Tonight we are heading out for Thai as Roberta is at a golf event and Fred, Alex and I are incapable of fending for ourselves. YAY FOOD. Anyhoo here are the photos from today:
Alex and our first Maple Syrup of the trip
Alex struggles up the massive hill on the way to Ganges
Hijacking a canoe at Ganges harbour
Drinking the Ganges!!!
The one flat bit of the cycle trail
Trying to smile for the photo despite a large dog bearing its teeth at us from down the street
Freezing on the ferry ride back
A mountain!!!
Alex and I pretending that we aren't posing for a photo with a big car.... a guy drove past just as it took so thats us trying to look like we aren't super loser tourists.....
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Alex Invades the Animal Kingdom
Hello everyone!! Day 5 in the land of the Canucks and Alex and I have basically become locals, Alex even stole- not stealing, getting some of my $4 back!- from BC Transit (the province's equivalent of Transperth). We also took TWO bus rides today and managed to both fall asleep. Luckily our stop is at the end of the line!
Today we got up quite slowly after a late night... darn this blogging keeping us awake. We were too slow for pancakes, so had to make do with Cheerios and Cornflakes (yes, they have them here too) but the plan for tomorrow is so far including some mapley goodness...
Hopped on the bus into Victoria, we missed the express so it was a solid 1.5hr journey. By the end we were pretty famished so we headed to the Bay Centre food court for some 'Sizzling Wok'. This turned out to be an epic fail, the sesame chicken, sweet and sour pork, chow mein combo was too filling in the end. Should have gone for the pizza. Did we mention they sell it by the slice here?? Crazy! We chowed down on the patio outside, didn't even think it was cold, I think we are acclimatising! (finally). Nick, Alex's cousin-in-law (Gillian's husband), was working on a boat show at the wharf and came and joined us for lunch. It was here we took the below picture of the giant seagull - Nick thought we were pretty odd, especially considering we stopped mid-sentence to take photos of it.
After our thoroughly regrettable lunch, we thought a stroll was in order. We managed to walk ALL the way down Douglas St (which is a fair trek... Google Maps it) and then back again... cool story...
After consulting our free list we obtained from the Tourist Centre, we headed to Beacon Hill Park, the Kings Park of Victoria. It was a really nice place, filled with Mallard ducks, giant gulls and their even more giant offspring, and a squirrel that was game enough to jump on Alex's foot. Unfortunately we have no photographic evidence of this because I was laughing too hard to take a focussed shot. In fact, Alex chased much of the wildlife in Beacon Hill, as you can see from the photos below.
We finally obtained the coveted seagull photograph, we hope that it truly relays to you simply how massive these creatures are. A few of them flew overhead and we reckon if you pinned one down and measured it wingtip to wingtip (I think Alex has dreams about doing these sort of things....) it would have about a 2m wingspan. We really cannot put into words just how INSANELY MASSIVE they are!!!!!!!!!!!
By the way, if you would like to check out the places we have been, check out the Google Map we made here.-You're lucky enough that whit has put any place we have ever been ever on it...YAY- And don't worry parents, its not listed on the public archives so no one is going to be able to hunt us down. Anyway we only put places we have been, not places we are going. CALM DOWN
P.S. Anne, if you are reading this, PLEASE reply to Alex's emails... she is feeling unloved ;(.... and would also like to know about the computer situation...
Here are the photos from today/last night:
Me blogging the last entry
Gigantic seagull!!
This one is only a baby and it is still enormous
Alex and the squirrel
Alex and the duck
The squirrel eating a peanut
Today we got up quite slowly after a late night... darn this blogging keeping us awake. We were too slow for pancakes, so had to make do with Cheerios and Cornflakes (yes, they have them here too) but the plan for tomorrow is so far including some mapley goodness...
Hopped on the bus into Victoria, we missed the express so it was a solid 1.5hr journey. By the end we were pretty famished so we headed to the Bay Centre food court for some 'Sizzling Wok'. This turned out to be an epic fail, the sesame chicken, sweet and sour pork, chow mein combo was too filling in the end. Should have gone for the pizza. Did we mention they sell it by the slice here?? Crazy! We chowed down on the patio outside, didn't even think it was cold, I think we are acclimatising! (finally). Nick, Alex's cousin-in-law (Gillian's husband), was working on a boat show at the wharf and came and joined us for lunch. It was here we took the below picture of the giant seagull - Nick thought we were pretty odd, especially considering we stopped mid-sentence to take photos of it.
After our thoroughly regrettable lunch, we thought a stroll was in order. We managed to walk ALL the way down Douglas St (which is a fair trek... Google Maps it) and then back again... cool story...
After consulting our free list we obtained from the Tourist Centre, we headed to Beacon Hill Park, the Kings Park of Victoria. It was a really nice place, filled with Mallard ducks, giant gulls and their even more giant offspring, and a squirrel that was game enough to jump on Alex's foot. Unfortunately we have no photographic evidence of this because I was laughing too hard to take a focussed shot. In fact, Alex chased much of the wildlife in Beacon Hill, as you can see from the photos below.
We finally obtained the coveted seagull photograph, we hope that it truly relays to you simply how massive these creatures are. A few of them flew overhead and we reckon if you pinned one down and measured it wingtip to wingtip (I think Alex has dreams about doing these sort of things....) it would have about a 2m wingspan. We really cannot put into words just how INSANELY MASSIVE they are!!!!!!!!!!!
By the way, if you would like to check out the places we have been, check out the Google Map we made here.-You're lucky enough that whit has put any place we have ever been ever on it...YAY- And don't worry parents, its not listed on the public archives so no one is going to be able to hunt us down. Anyway we only put places we have been, not places we are going. CALM DOWN
P.S. Anne, if you are reading this, PLEASE reply to Alex's emails... she is feeling unloved ;(.... and would also like to know about the computer situation...
Here are the photos from today/last night:
Me blogging the last entry
Gigantic seagull!!
This one is only a baby and it is still enormous
Alex and the squirrel
Alex and the duck
The squirrel eating a peanut
Friday, April 17, 2009
Bicycle-related Adventures
Hey all
Today it was really quite nice weather.... no clouds and a balmy 13 degrees. So after more Canadian bacon we decided to head out for a ride. We are rather unimpressed with ourselves that we are yet to have Maple Syrup for breakfast, but hopefully a serve of pancakes will rectify that tomorrow. Interesting tidbit, apparently maple syrup on bacon is not actually a Canadian idea or pastime or anything.... hmmm.
So we started our ride by Michell's farm, passing some chooks and a giant fat pig, as well as some "horsies" (quote Alex). The trail wound its way through some thin forest (it might not look that thin from the photos, but over here that is thin.) We also rode through some classic Canadian neighbourhoods and some classic Canadian roads. The trail crossed a few intersections, which was a tad hairy, some have buttons you need to press, some don't, even when the man is flashing cars can still turn so you have to watch and to top it off they are all on the wrong side of the road and have backwards steering wheels (except for a Japanese export we saw on our way home from Victoria today).
Anyway so we rode all the way into Victoria without getting lost, which was a pretty big effort by us considering we managed to get lost between Amelia's car and the departure terminal at the ferry from Vancouver... Long story short, a guy had to yell at us before we got going in the right direction. We managed to go the wrong way to get to downtown Victoria but quickly realised there is only one bridge that crosses the harbour and for some reason we had decided to completely ignore it. We arrived in town after having to fight our way past a vicious band of skate rats... I think they were probably about 11...
First stop was the Royal Museum of British Columbia. Apart from us having to pay for entry it was pretty cool, exhibits about how the state came to be and global warming and the First Nations (the native people). There plenty of mini dioramas, including one that took over 5 years for a guy to painstakingly recreate every minute detail. Alex quickly ripped it apart saying there were no footprints or drag marks behind the tiny canoe that had been pulled up onto the shore. I'm pretty sure the guy was somewhat preoccupied carving minature totem poles with First Nation styling and creating seaweed and tiny shells to line the shoreline to worry about that but still Alex remained highly unimpressed.
Roberta had sent us off with a packed lunch that we enjoyed in the museum courtyard. The cookies were to die for... This is somewhat of digression, but did we mention Nanaimo Bars? They are this super delicious Canadian thing (Nanaimo is a town a few hours up-island) with chocolate on top, custard in the middle and a chocolate biscuit base. They are amazing. Back to the day...
After that we didn't do much of note, cruised a few shops until Fred came and picked us up from the wharf. We came home to a delicious meal of Dungeoness Crab, which was Alex's first crab experience. It showed, it took her about fifteen minutes longer than anyone else to finish it. We had company for dinner, Fred and Roberta's daughter (Alex's cousin) Gillian, her husband Nick and their three kids, Celeste, Logan and Hannah. A desert of Nanaimo bars finished up another great day on the island.
Haven't really got much planned for tomorrow - we are still making our way through the list of free things the lady at the Tourist Centre printed off for us (apparently we really look the poor-backpacker part...). We will hopefully be meeting up with George when she flies in on the 20th. The future plan seems to be to head back to Vancouver next Tuesday and hopefully stay with Alex's sister Amelia in Vancouver until Alex heads over Calgary and I set off to Squamish.
Here are the days photos:
Beginning of our biking adventure - about 15km from Victoria
More biking
Alex near the end of our ride beside the Victoria Harbour
Inside the Royal British Columbian Museum
Alex with the wicked old Ford Fred is restoring
Today it was really quite nice weather.... no clouds and a balmy 13 degrees. So after more Canadian bacon we decided to head out for a ride. We are rather unimpressed with ourselves that we are yet to have Maple Syrup for breakfast, but hopefully a serve of pancakes will rectify that tomorrow. Interesting tidbit, apparently maple syrup on bacon is not actually a Canadian idea or pastime or anything.... hmmm.
So we started our ride by Michell's farm, passing some chooks and a giant fat pig, as well as some "horsies" (quote Alex). The trail wound its way through some thin forest (it might not look that thin from the photos, but over here that is thin.) We also rode through some classic Canadian neighbourhoods and some classic Canadian roads. The trail crossed a few intersections, which was a tad hairy, some have buttons you need to press, some don't, even when the man is flashing cars can still turn so you have to watch and to top it off they are all on the wrong side of the road and have backwards steering wheels (except for a Japanese export we saw on our way home from Victoria today).
Anyway so we rode all the way into Victoria without getting lost, which was a pretty big effort by us considering we managed to get lost between Amelia's car and the departure terminal at the ferry from Vancouver... Long story short, a guy had to yell at us before we got going in the right direction. We managed to go the wrong way to get to downtown Victoria but quickly realised there is only one bridge that crosses the harbour and for some reason we had decided to completely ignore it. We arrived in town after having to fight our way past a vicious band of skate rats... I think they were probably about 11...
First stop was the Royal Museum of British Columbia. Apart from us having to pay for entry it was pretty cool, exhibits about how the state came to be and global warming and the First Nations (the native people). There plenty of mini dioramas, including one that took over 5 years for a guy to painstakingly recreate every minute detail. Alex quickly ripped it apart saying there were no footprints or drag marks behind the tiny canoe that had been pulled up onto the shore. I'm pretty sure the guy was somewhat preoccupied carving minature totem poles with First Nation styling and creating seaweed and tiny shells to line the shoreline to worry about that but still Alex remained highly unimpressed.
Roberta had sent us off with a packed lunch that we enjoyed in the museum courtyard. The cookies were to die for... This is somewhat of digression, but did we mention Nanaimo Bars? They are this super delicious Canadian thing (Nanaimo is a town a few hours up-island) with chocolate on top, custard in the middle and a chocolate biscuit base. They are amazing. Back to the day...
After that we didn't do much of note, cruised a few shops until Fred came and picked us up from the wharf. We came home to a delicious meal of Dungeoness Crab, which was Alex's first crab experience. It showed, it took her about fifteen minutes longer than anyone else to finish it. We had company for dinner, Fred and Roberta's daughter (Alex's cousin) Gillian, her husband Nick and their three kids, Celeste, Logan and Hannah. A desert of Nanaimo bars finished up another great day on the island.
Haven't really got much planned for tomorrow - we are still making our way through the list of free things the lady at the Tourist Centre printed off for us (apparently we really look the poor-backpacker part...). We will hopefully be meeting up with George when she flies in on the 20th. The future plan seems to be to head back to Vancouver next Tuesday and hopefully stay with Alex's sister Amelia in Vancouver until Alex heads over Calgary and I set off to Squamish.
Here are the days photos:
Beginning of our biking adventure - about 15km from Victoria
More biking
Alex near the end of our ride beside the Victoria Harbour
Inside the Royal British Columbian Museum
Alex with the wicked old Ford Fred is restoring
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Ladysmith and Beyond
Hello everyone! A somewhat rushed entry today - we didn't realise quite how late it was, we got carried away singing campfire songs with Fred...
Today Alex, Roberta and I embarked on an early morning train adventure, leaving from Victoria and weaving through many towns on our way to the small community of Ladysmith. We saw heaps of countryside, plenty of tall forrested areas and massive flat lakes. Then we met Fred in Ladysmith and grabbed some coffee. Well Alex and I had mochas, which are curiously called 'moe-cas' here... the guy looked at us funny when we ordered. Most people tend to do that, we forget how obvious our accents are! So we pretty much spent the rest of the day making our slow way back to Victoria, stopping off at many places to see the sights.
First we stopped at Genoa Bay and came across more floating homes (much to our delight), then we continued along to Maple Leaf Bay and stopped for lunch in Cowichan Bay (their halibut burgers are delicious). We also passed a few lakes, such as Shawnigan Lake, home of the prestigious private Shawnigan Lake School - google it, it's totally awesome!!!!!!!! It's about 5 times the size of St Hilda's and all the buildings match, it's surrounded by tall trees and green foliage.
Later we visited the island's newest university, Royal Roads University (it was a military college until '95, then was a normal college and has recently become a university). It was so beautiful, the main building looks like a giant castle, the grounds are immaculate and peacocks fly about. They were shooting a film which apparently had Brooke Shields in it.... Anyway we walked around the beautiful gardens and saw a nesting goose, some mallard ducks and a squirrel.
After that we picked up Fred and Roberta's grandson (Alex's 2nd cousin... we think) Kaleb from play group and visited his parents at their home near the rail track. More driving led to the discovery of a beautiful lookout where you could see the Olympic Mountain Range which is in Washington in the US. More driving to Fred and Roberta's daughter's house and then finally back home to Swartz Bay.
Tomorrow's plans are weather dependent, possibly some biking or maybe a museum visit, it may rain so we're just going to have to wait and see. Here are some photos from today:
Totally stoked on a floating home in Genoa Bay
Alex and I at the lookout
Alex and her favourite tree in the RRU Gardens
Finally here are the photos of Fred and Roberta's house near Swartz Bay:
Here is the house (on the left) and one of Fred's garages (on the right... he's a bit of a car man)
Here is the view from Fred and Roberta's balcony. The island out there is called Saltspring Island and that body of water is the ocean between Vancouver Island and the Mainland.
Today Alex, Roberta and I embarked on an early morning train adventure, leaving from Victoria and weaving through many towns on our way to the small community of Ladysmith. We saw heaps of countryside, plenty of tall forrested areas and massive flat lakes. Then we met Fred in Ladysmith and grabbed some coffee. Well Alex and I had mochas, which are curiously called 'moe-cas' here... the guy looked at us funny when we ordered. Most people tend to do that, we forget how obvious our accents are! So we pretty much spent the rest of the day making our slow way back to Victoria, stopping off at many places to see the sights.
First we stopped at Genoa Bay and came across more floating homes (much to our delight), then we continued along to Maple Leaf Bay and stopped for lunch in Cowichan Bay (their halibut burgers are delicious). We also passed a few lakes, such as Shawnigan Lake, home of the prestigious private Shawnigan Lake School - google it, it's totally awesome!!!!!!!! It's about 5 times the size of St Hilda's and all the buildings match, it's surrounded by tall trees and green foliage.
Later we visited the island's newest university, Royal Roads University (it was a military college until '95, then was a normal college and has recently become a university). It was so beautiful, the main building looks like a giant castle, the grounds are immaculate and peacocks fly about. They were shooting a film which apparently had Brooke Shields in it.... Anyway we walked around the beautiful gardens and saw a nesting goose, some mallard ducks and a squirrel.
After that we picked up Fred and Roberta's grandson (Alex's 2nd cousin... we think) Kaleb from play group and visited his parents at their home near the rail track. More driving led to the discovery of a beautiful lookout where you could see the Olympic Mountain Range which is in Washington in the US. More driving to Fred and Roberta's daughter's house and then finally back home to Swartz Bay.
Tomorrow's plans are weather dependent, possibly some biking or maybe a museum visit, it may rain so we're just going to have to wait and see. Here are some photos from today:
Totally stoked on a floating home in Genoa Bay
Alex and I at the lookout
Alex and her favourite tree in the RRU GardensFinally here are the photos of Fred and Roberta's house near Swartz Bay:
Here is the house (on the left) and one of Fred's garages (on the right... he's a bit of a car man)
Here is the view from Fred and Roberta's balcony. The island out there is called Saltspring Island and that body of water is the ocean between Vancouver Island and the Mainland.
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