Blogs from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, North America - page 165

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The short journey from Seattle to Vancouver was good, so used to the Greyhound buses by now. We met some boys (Paul, from the UK and Nathan from OZ) from the same hostel in Seattle just as we were leaving and shared a taxi to the Greyhound station. This time at customs everything went fine, nobody was even interested in my luggage. Great! Once we arrived we realised that two girls from the Seattle hostel were also on the same bus (Lucy from the UK and Steph from Germany). It also turned out that we were all staying in the same hostel in Vancouver! So once we arrived Thommo and I tried to get some money out as we only had 10 Canadian dollars left from our earlier visit, however a large majority of ATM’s do ... read more

Thoughts of Vancouver tend to conjure up a whirlwind of emotions. Like many cities world round it is surely a fountain of good and a haven for nasty. A bittersweet, tragically beautiful city, I love both for the character it adds and the fun to be had. A strange vibe surrounds downtown Vancouver as if to accustom its visitors to the rigors of inner city living without any of the stress. Vancouver drivers are quite possibly some of the most patient relaxed drivers on the planet, I know for sure that I would have been run down many times over if I were somewhere different! The people are friendly (be it lacking a sense of humor at times) and the scenery is the perfect backdrop for all its health conscious, sport loving inhabitants. The people I ... read more

Bird report for North West Pacific Coast, May 2006 As we approach 250 species on our North American bird list, it is becoming more difficult to find “new” species, especially as we have been in coastal habitat for most of the past 6 weeks. Outlined below are some of the wildlife highlights we have experienced on our travels north through Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island, not an exhaustive list of birds seen. Ospreys and Bald Eagles have been seen almost daily, as have Common Loons. Other exciting sea and estuary birds have been Caspian Terns, Pigeon Guillemots, Red-necked Grebes, Rhinoceros Auklets, Horned Grebes, Marbled Murrelets, Harlequin Ducks, Black Oystercatchers and Common and Red-breasted Mergansers. The whole of the west coast has been good for sea-lions and seals. The High Desert of northern Oregon brought us our ... read more

So after months of planning and such, its finally here!! Im leaving tomorrow to spend 5 days in toronto and then its off to costa rica for the summer!! Im crazy excited and terrified all at the same time..crazy roller coaster of emotions. Yesturday, 95% of the good byes were said at the party (THANK YOU AGAIN BRENDAN!! - the party was absolutly AWESOME and the perfect way to say goodbye :D ) and then a couple more goodbyes tonight and then goodbye to the family in the morning and then its off to the airport and toronto bound. The five days in toronto are going to be spent doing orientation sessions for YCI (the organization im voluntering for) and basically meeting the other Canadians i will be living/working with in Costa Rica. Then May ... read more