Blogs from Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, North America - page 4

its a week and change until the big day of (OMG) insane amounts of time on an airplane with two small kids.... i have decided to stop counting the exact days to save my mental health. i have an enormous amount of things to do and not enough time to sit down until i leave. i am completely sure everyone has this feeling before a trip...i hope so anyway. it kind of adds to the panic/euphoria of it all. so in the next week and a bit i still have to head over to the cabin to collect all the summer clothes now that the weather has put it's winter foot forth. we had an awful wind/rain storm here yesterday and it shut down the ferries, closed a few towns and generally wrought havoc with gale ... read more

Visited Countries Map Okay, so I had this bright idea to tell my father my "grand plan" before buying the tickets...consequently this is why i now have to deal with expired holds and scrambling to make up a suitable return date getting out of the country. **Note to future travellers: Tell you family AFTER you have purchased tickets...sigh I never learn. Okay, back to the basics...father-man says: "You and the children are doing ... what?!"....ummm heh hehe...going away?... "Do you owe me money?...just in case you know..." Then of course, followed with real concern..."Take damn good care of those kids!". Okay, so the hard part done. I have thought it through, re-thought it out and finally put the money where my mouth is... It's exhausting taking so much time to decide things. But its done now. ... read more

Hey ! Well, just a quick update of my current whereabouts and movements... Here it is:- Living on the streets, bumming food off rich people walking by ! Nah - not yet ! Gettin' close though ! Hahahaha ! I am currently in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island running around the streets here bombarding everywhere with resumes. I am so poor it isn't funny, so work is a definate MUST at the moment for me RIGHT AWAY ! Luckily, I am staying at my uncle Luke's flat here so that is cool. I went to Fruitvale for a week and stayed with my cousin Tony and his family, tried to find work there but couldn't, so I ended up getting a lift with Tony into Vancouver, stayed a night or two, then caught the ferry over to ... read more

3... 2... 1... BUNGY!!!!!!!!!!!! It had been a while since the sun shone in Vancouver. So today was a perfect day to do something crazy. I left Vancouver 2 days ago, taking a 1.5 hr ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay travelling west to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island where my buddy Brenna lives. Since Ari was back in Sydney for his brother's wedding, I figured I'd invite myself over and see the island for the first time. The "something crazy" thing I had in mind was, of course, bungy jumping. The location: Bungyzone - North America's first legal bungy bridge above Nanaimo River. Doing this would complete the skydive/bungy jump double, and another item crossed off on my things-to-do-before-i-die list. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I did delay the jump however - Brenna ... read more

August 28th Strike camp and load the boot. We are off to Vancouver Island today. Stop at Bridal Falls for breakfast. The main diner is full so we have to sit in the Gallery which is a room full of ornaments and mineral specimens. As we approach Vancouver the weather steadily worsens. Finally we drive through heavy rain with the wipers non-stop. Arrive at Horseshoe Bay and there is quite a queue. A ferry on another route has broken down and so there are far more people than usual using this crossing. Wait was only 90 mins and the weather changed to brilliant sunshine. Modern ferry, comfy seats and lots of cafe outlets. Also a business centre where there are desks and sockets. No internet though. The short drive from the terminal to our hostel, The ... read more