Vancouver and Victoria

Good Evening from West End Vancouver!

I left Sydney on Tuesday the 15th of January, and have since spent 11 days in Vancouver and Victoria. Mostly everything has gone according to plan so far - in fact, everything's been really good. Perhaps I can give you a bit of an idea of some of the things that i've been up to, and my own, individual take on Vancouver especially.

I scored pretty hardcore on the plane though. I feel almost as if I have joined the mile high club. No - I didn't score any stewards or stewardesses, but I did score about 2 metres of leg room. It's called the exit row high club, and it makes you feel pretty darn good. Watching the mountains and the water as we approached Vancouver was amazing. They first looked like clouds in the sky. The water was so still, and the large lakes on the shore contrasted brilliantly. Once i got into Vancouver itself, it was a bit of a different story. Although the backdrop of mountains frames the city brilliantly, i really noticed the drearyness of the weather. The sun was low in the sky, while the cloudy haze and wind forced everyone to snuggle into their coats and look down as they walked hastily down the streets. It took my a while to get my bearings, work out where I was, and after a while I found the Youth Hostel. The hostel was really close in to the city, and was in what they call the 'entertainment zone' of Vancouver. I don't really buy it though - there were just a few pubs around, though perhaps it was the weather that made everything seem grey and drab.

On Wednesday, after I slept like a princess, I got up and walked around Stanley Park. Stanley Park is this large urban park which is about a 10 minute walk away from the centre of Vancouver, and is very popular with joggers, cyclists, roller skaters and those who just like to walk. Its rather large, about the same size as the downtown Vancouver area (okay, a smidge smaller), but has great views across to North Vancouver (other side of the water, at the base of some snow topped mountains) and across the water back towards the city. I was rather pooped by the time i'd finished walking all around though, but i managed to take plenty of happy snaps of the seaplanes. The next day I ventured by SeaBus (ferry) across to North Vancouver and meandered by public transport to Lynn Canyon, a canyon/first growth (lyk, it had old growth before). I swayed and jumped on a suspension bridge (before i saw the no swaying or jumping sign) and walked through the forest for three hours. My moment of silliness came after I had walked out of the nature reserve to some place off my map, and I was walking back on a road. I was walking on the road, and then some turkey was coming at me on the wrong side of the road, so i stepped off onto the shoulder, which was nice and smooth. I was walking along for a while, until the ice broke and i got a muddy foot. You can see i'm still adjusting.

The next day i met up with Alex, who I'd met on couchsurfing.com, and we hung around all day. I got a taste of North American suburbia when we ventured deep to retrieve a leather trunk that Alex had snagged on craigslist.com - a website that apparently exists in australia too (check it out!). That evening, while we were working our way through a loaf of delicious bread and a mound of butter, Caroline, a couchsurfer from Wyoming popped round. We couldn't just keep this couchsurfing party to ourselves, so we headed downtown for desserts at a carribean themed restaurant with some of Alex's friends. Pretty rad, no? In the morning Caroline and I explored Granville Island, which is a fun, hard to explain shopping and market place which is half touristy and half not. We walked around, ate spinach, feta and mushroom bagels and had some Maple Cream Ale at the Granville Island microbrewery (i busted out, flouting the legal age of 19). After MORE beer and MORE desserts at restaurant on Commercial Drive (where all the italians hang) with MORE of Alex's friends, we hit the sack. In the morn, Caroline, on her way to Seattle, gayway, ve me a lift to the Ferry Terminal at Tsawwassen, which, for some silly reason, was put over an hour away (by car) from Vancouver itself. I then caught a ferry for an hour and a half across to Victoria, the capital of British Columbia which is situated at the southernmost tip of Vancouver Island, a boot throw from the almighty US of A. However, the ferry terminal for Victoria is also an hour away from the city (there was an massacre of town planners back in the 40's), so it takes over four hours to get between Vancouver and Victoria. Anyway! Victoria is a lovely quaint little city. However, i found myself getting a bit bored in the evenings, at which time you can't really look across the ocean at the mountains or walk along the seawall in the sun. So i did a bit of a scout for things to do, asking a bunch of inherently reckless youths. Apparently, if you're under 19, the only thing to do in Victoria is weed. So i trunched back to the hostel. I got a bit of a fit of sillyness in me, and the next morning i decided to be so thrifty as to volunteer my services cleaning toilets for 3 hours to pay my way that night, saving $21.75! what a bargain! at least thats what i thought until i had cleaned 10 bathrooms. I suppose its one of those character building experiences i waffle on about.

I headed back to Vancouver after checking out some more pretty sights of Victoria - i'd really like to go back perhaps in the summertime, which would be perfect for hiking and lying on their 'beaches'. Anyway, i had to go back to Vancouver to meet up with Courtenay, another couchsurfer. But after four and a half hours of travelling, i missed her by a few minutes! And my cousin Susan had arrived in Vancouver that morning, and i was desperately trying to get in touch with her! but alas! to no avail! ah - the stress! the anxiety!

anyway, in the end its a happy story, i met up with Courtenay, and managed to make arrangements to meet up with Susan the next day via emails. We went shopping, we went hanging, we went walking, we went librarying, we went Granville Islanding, we went Commercial, we went Main, we walked over the Granville Bridge under a spectacular sky. So now all is well. I ended up staying with Courtenay for 3 nights - though i didn't see her THAT much because she's a gourmet chef. Her boyfriend can cook really well too. And they were both lovely. And it was grand.

So tonight i'm off to a party to celebrate the birthday of one of Alex's friends, and i'll crash there before catching the 17 hour bus to Calgary through the Rockies at 12:30 at night on Saturday evening/Sunday morning.

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