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

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

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

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.....

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

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

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.