and indeed it was! I hope you all had a nice Christmas too : -) My second Christmas away from home - a little sad but I still managed to have some fun (although not as much fun as my super-special time in Copenhagen last Christmas. Spending Christmas eve at the hostel with new friends was fun and helped me to forget (just a little bit) that I missed my family and friends. Speaking of hostels, whilst there are good ones there are also bad ones and my New York hostel was one of them … Arriving in New York after a horror 24+ hour journey from Vancouver (partly my fault but mostly due to plane, bus and train delays due to snow storms), all I wanted was a hot shower and a comfy bed … ... read more

Well of course it was Halloween recently and although the Canucks don't go as crazy as the Yanks when it comes to all thinks All Hallow's Eve it is definitely a much bigger deal than it is in Australia. Lots of shops in the yuppie Yaletown area took part in an organised Trick or Treat event for the kids and of course throughout the suburbs kids were trickin' and or a treatin' during the night - my bowl of sweets definitely got eaten pretty quickly (and not by me!). I had been invited to a friend's Halloween party (a kiwi guy and aussie girls I'd met at a festival in Seattle back in July) so the night before it was a mad dash to find a costume to fit with their 'Dress for Success' theme. Somehow ... read more

Last weekend I went to San Francisco for a four day holiday and, of course, a music festival. Of all the US cities, SF and NY are the only ones that have ever had any great appeal for my, NY I totally loved on my trip four years ago (almost to the day!) and so can’t wait to return for Xmas this year and although SF wasn’t the alternative/hippie loveland I thought it would be (the city is too big a city for that) I still had a great time. I arrived early Saturday morning (after leaving Vancouver the night before and spending the night at Seattle airport) and headed straight to my hostel and was lucky to be able check in early, dump my bags and have a much needed shower. It was then time ... read more

Hello again all! Well I started a new job the other day. As much as I enjoyed my time at Vancouver Coastal Health, it wasn’t really for me. The work environment was a little different to what I’m used to and ultimately things weren’t busy enough to keep me occupied. So totally out of the blue I got offered a job at Davis LLP, a national law firm with its head office in Vancouver. Doing legal accounting like I did at Mallesons, my job will be to relieve for staff on leave or otherwise occupied with the roll out of their new accounting system. My first two weeks will be in conflicts and matter opening - no laughing Rose! Actually you would love their conflict search process, one search and you can pick up all the ... read more

Whistler and Seattle - another bus two weeks in North America So the other weekend I went to Whistler on another one of the Moose tours and had an absolutely awesome time - Canada just keeps getting better and better!!! A popular ski resort in winter (in the top 5 in the world apparently) but still hugely popular in the summer months with some limited skiing and boarding opportunities, amazing hiking trails and, for the more adventurous, some hardcore mountain bike trails. Whistler will also be the home to a lot of the sledding and skiing events for the 2010 Winter Olympics and well if things keep going good in Canada I could very easily arrange it so I'm still here by then - now that would be cool! On the way up (the drive takes ... read more