Vancouver

---

I said goodbye to mum, dad and andrea and checked in at brisbane airport. It was hard to believe that the day had come that i was heading overseas with no real plans and no idea what to really expect. After 2 flights, 3 movies and 20 hours later i landed in vancouver. I met james on the plane from Auckland to Vancouver who had simalar plans to me to travel though Canada and the US and then work in the UK. So i met a couple of his mates when we walked out of the airport and caught the sky train into town. It was a good thing to meet some people who knew there way around because i had no idea where i was supposed to go. I got off the train and walked down granville st to the HI Central, it reminded me alittle of queen st mall, just with alot more street performers and homeless people. The hostel was great, and soon after i got there i met up with the guys in my dorm, 3 kiwi guys who had just been snowboarding for 6 weeks and were heading down to south america. I joined them with a few of there other friends and we headed to the irish pub for st pats days. Everyone in town seemed to be really getting into it and all the irish pubs were packed with green everywhere. I sat down to my first gunniess. I was in vancouver! I met some cool people that night in-bewteen a few irish whiskeys. There was an irish couple, andy and linda who had decided to live in vancouver for a year and 3 canadian girls who at the end the night were sharing their years of wisdom with me. There was this dead ringer of johnny depp who ended up kicking on with the kiwi boys to another pub. I decided to call it a night and left the wolfpack and walked back with one of the kiwis for my first late night drinking feed. 2 slices of the best pizza i have ever eaten, if this is a sign of things to come i am definately liking this! The boys stumbled in later that night and we talked some shit about what had happened, it had been a great night!

The next day i woke up with a decent hangover, and the cold i had caught a few days before i left didnt make me feel much better ethier. I was determined to make the most of my time in vancouver so i sucked it up and got out of my bunk bed. I scored a free lonely planet from the book exchange which was great because i had no idea what there was to see. I decided to take a walk down to stanley park, hired a bike and rode around for a couple of hours. it was nice and cool at the start of the ride but by the time i rode around to the other side of the park the wind was ice cold and i was really regretting not wearing gloves. After that i went shopping and went for a walk down to the olypmic village and to general motor place where there was a hockey game on. The game had sold out and scaped tickets were very expensive so i passed this time, hoping id get the chance to go to game before left canada. I went back to the hostel and signed up for bowling night. There was a good bunch of us from so many different places, none of which had ever played 5 pin bowling. The ball was like a melon with no finger holes which you lauched at the pins which were worth different points. I opted for more power over accuarcy and payed the price losing most games to the wierdest guy i have ever met in my life and a dutch girl. there are only 2 things i hate more, people who cant tolarate other cultures, and the dutch. so i ended the night with a pint at the pub with an australian couple and headed back to the hostel.

The next day i went to check out the olympic torch and canada place. I met up with my mate andrew from the ski trip in queenstown, he was living in vancouver working the season and invited me to this party with his mates from work. We went to the op shop to by doctors outfits for the party but ended up walking out with jumpsuits and a nintendo 64 and an NFL game. We went back to his and got ready for the party and tryed out best to look like doctors, wearing suit jackets with well postioned pens in the pockets. We caught the ferry over to the steamworks and got our party on, it was such a cool, chilled out place and table service was awesome. We started talking to this guy who was from the canadain navy and the 10th in charge of the HMAS Winnipeg, he had alot of cool stories and i learnt alot about what kind of fire power the ship was packing. After that we went to the roxy, worse club i have ever been to. I compare it to the mustang back home, but no free drinks and even worse music. The club scene dress code is very lax which is cool and you can basicly where what you want. We hit up our late night feed of pizza, amazing again and then caught the bus back to andrews. It was past 4 by the time we got home and we were planning to get up and go skiing the next day around 8. Looking forward to it.

Andrew scored me a free lift pass and rentals to grouse mountain where he works so nick, andrew and me craved up the slopes for a couple of hours and then settled down for a delicous feed in the lodge. We went on an eye of the wind tour, they have just put a windmill on the mountain with a view pod which has the most amazing view of the surrounding mountains and the city of vancouver. After that we decided to go back to andrews for a nap to catch up on the sleep we lost from the night before. Considering it was my last night in vancouver, it had to be big! We jumpsuited up and plugged in the 64, andrews friends from the mountain came around and we started playing NFL. it was a great introduction to the game and i actually know how it all works now. We had some very close games, the chip and dip was everywhere and before i knew it it was 1am and time for bed. I had to get up at 4 the next morning to catch my flight to calgary at 7. It has been a crazy 4 days. Vancouver, ill be back!

---