Update: 1st part of Canada

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So people seem to be liking the new blog format so we are going to stick with it for now (Thanks for the positive comments guys)! I am sure you are all not surprised to hear that once again we are very behind on our blog entries so this is going to be another big one as we update you on the start of our canadain adventures and the reunion with Bec on Australia day!

Niagara Falls

Positive:We got to see the falls both at night time and during the day. At night they have a light show which goes till 11pm and we luckily arrived at 10pm just in time to see this massive amount of water in all different colours. Then during the day we were able to get a better understanding of how big the falls actually are. (However it was soooo cold we didnt stay for long)

Negative: The coldness really updated a level in Canada giving us our first real shock at how cold it can get (little did we know that the coldness was nothing compared to what we had ahead of us)

Positive: We went on a great personalised tour of niagara and the surrounding villages with a taxi driver, since we only had one full day here this was the best way of seeing everything in a short amount of time.

Negative: The main part of niagara is actually like a cheap version of Las Vegas which seems so out of place with the falls which is such a natural beauty. We really didnt expect this when coming to niagara.

Positive: When we went on our tour we actually got to see the niagara falls we were expecting; the cute niagara falls village with its gourmet stores and cafes, as well as a tasting of wine (including icewine) at a local family winery.

Montreal

Positive: Hostel was amazing; very helpful staff and great bar set up and a lovely, clean, private room.

Positive: The hostel had tickets to the NHL so we got to see the Florida Panthers play the Montreal Canadiennes, at the Bell Stadium (apparently one of the best stafiums to watch hockey at - GO HABS GO!). Skill on display was at another level. We were even enthralled by the skills of the referees.

Negative: Stupidly cold. Like, Two layers of pants and two pairs of thick socks were insufficient to not have your legs feel like they were freezing over and your feet slowly freeze from the toes down. We're talking walking around, attempting to shop in temperatures of -28. Thats right, people can actually still be alive at this temperature. We did a fair bit of stopping in cafes, shops and Maccas trying to defrost our feet. It felt like they were just rattling around in our shoes.

Negative: a cold place brings snow and ice and you actually need special grippy shoes to be able to walk around properly. Everyone else seems to have had these. It would have been very easy to spot the tourists. Vanessa did the very very slow and steady thing and did not fall over. Claire preferred to try as fast as possible to get out of the cold and fell over once.

Positive: It was a really beautiful city.

Negative: Pronouncing french words.

Positive: On our last night we decided to go out for a quiet dinner and found a cute little restaurant which just so happened to be a jazz bar with a band just about to start performing. Very sophisticated us.

Mont Tremblant

Positive: Bec is back!!!!!

Positive: Vanessa describes Mont Tremblant as probably the cutest place she has seen in the whole world. It is gorgeous, like fairytale gorgeous.

Positive: Becs lovely Canadian friend, Sean, who she met in Asia lasy year and his friends let us crash in their hotel room. They were really hospitable, a little bit crazy, and showed us the best time out in Mont Tremblant.

Positive: POUTINE (for Bec and Claire, Vanessa was not a fan). Oh my goodness, hot chips with cheese curds and gravy plus like mushrooms or bacon or whatever else you want on top. This was amazing. Especially at the end of a night out.

Negative: Vanessa battled leaving early morning from Mont Tremblant. We had a fairly small bus with fairly poor suspension going down the mountain. For someone already queasy, it was hell. Kudos to Vanessa who managed to keep it classy. She actually did not vomit, yay!

Positive: The boys let us play our Australian music as we predrank ready for a big Australia Day night out. Also, we pretty much got two Australia Days as celebrated on the 25th when it was the 26th in Australia and then again the next day for our 26th.

Toronto

Negative: Following on from Vanessa and Claire's ride down the mountain, they had to get a bus to Ottawa and then another one to Toronto where the were meeting Bec who managed to get a lift with Sean direct to Toronto. Vanessa and Claire's total travel time that day was a nasty 14 hours. It took Bec and Sean roughly 7 hours. But the only thing that made this trip better for Claire was watching Vanessa battle so hard with a hangover.

Positive: Toronto seemed like a really awesome city to live in. On our first night we stayed at a hostel, just near Chinatown. There was a great street nearby, Augustus street which was very cool and littered with a variety of restaurants and hipster shops. There we had what thr waiter unbiasedly described as 'the best pizza in Toronto' He even had a newspaper article to back this statement up.

Positive: Going out for the best Japanese meal ever. Ever ever. We walked in and got a huge cheer from the waitstaff and the staff in the open kitchen. Everyone gets this. You feel pretty special and it sets an amazing upbeat, crazy kinda vibe. But the food. Oh the food. Vanessa had this luscious fried chicken soft taco and bbq pork. To her credit, she ate all of the pork; it was a lot of meat on that plate! Bec had a fresh and flavoursome dumpling soup as well as some sashimi. Claire had the best fried eggplant and miso; the flesh was meaty but perfectly soft. She also had some fresh bibimbap, a collection of chopped vegies, egg yolk, and salmon tartar. We were so happy with that restaurant and that meal we rank it as our best dinner so farvon the trip!

Negative: Our hostel room was pretty cramped but we only stayed the one night and after a small confusion with where we were going to spend our next night, we had a nice little positive (see below)

Positive: as we went and stayed in a Ramada hotel for less than the cost of another night in the hostel. It was a huge room with gorgeously soft beds.

Vancouver:

Positive: Another very cool place to live in, Liz was very lucky to spend exchange there!

Positive: After doing her research, Bec managed to buy new skis and boots for under $500 here, very well done. She spent a day in Vancouver just getting everything organised and applying for jobs and making sure she was as set up as possible before we finally hit Whistler.

Positive: Vanessa and Claire went to the top of the CN Tower and looked out all over Vancouver. This was a good introduction to the city. They then made their way to the aquarium, which was awesome. They saw a dolphin show, a beluga whale show, penguins, seal, turtles, sharks, and snakes. And most importantly, and cutely, they saw sea otters! So so cute. An interesting thing they saw/learnt about sea otters is that they can peel prawns cleaner and faster than any human could. Vanessa has never seen Claire as happy as she was when watching the otters for a moment she thought she was standing next to a kid!

You are now up todate with our travel adventures as we start our time in Whistler we are all very sure there will be lots and lots of stories to come out of whistler especially with claire attempting skiing for the second time! Till then we miss you all lots but not enough to come home!!

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