Vancouver again!

Day 223 – We must be homesick!

Apart from a brief attempt to run, today we spent most of the day in Kat and Elliott’s apartment, watching cable TV, baking, cleaning and doing everyone’s washing!  Our evening was spent sitting around in the apartment with a few tinnies with Elliott and Kat and the boys.

Day 224 – Model fun

This afternoon we headed over to Granville Island again for a bite to eat at the market and to check out the Emily Carr University of Art and Design which shows student art and other exhibitions for free.  The exhibition happened to be “In Study Model Wonderland – from Halifax to Vancouver” displaying architectural models from various firms across Canada and discussing how modelling assists in the process of designing a building.  Interesting stuff.

After that we walked up to one of our favourite shops, Mountain Equipment Co-op, to look at all the pretty gear and test out some tents.  Then we walked over to some of the more girly shops I wanted to look at, but they were all gone!

Day 225 – Adera Mini Reunion

Tonight we caught up with Tim, Freddy and Clayton, our former housemates from Adera House, at the Irish Heather whisky bar.  It was fantastic to hear all about what the guys have been up to in the last 7 years and the others we came across over time and also to find that as with ourselves, everything and nothing had changed.

Tim, Freddy, Clayton and us.

Day 226  - Canada Day

Today we all had a sleep in and then got into the spirit of Canada Day with some drinks and maple leaf tattoos before we hit the streets to see what was happening around town.

Leftovers from the recent Winter Olympics.

It was a really nice night sky, so I decided to take some more pictures from Kat and Elliott’s apartment balcony:

 

Fireworks starting.

 

The view of the fireworks from the apartment was a little obscured by one building in particular so we quickly walked down to Canada Place to take a look.

 

Day 227 – We heart Footscray

As soon as Kat and Elliott got home from work tonight we jumped in the car and headed out to the Richmond Night Market for some cheap eats and people watching.  Richmond is the area of Vancouver that we can equate most to Footscray as there is a high population of Asian immigrants and accordingly excellent cheap Asian food.  The food isles were packed but we still enjoyed going from stall to stall munching and lining up for whatever had the biggest line (because it must be good!) and then poking around the imports in the market section.

  
Hurricane Potatoes, definitely a winner!

Day 228  - Dutch for the day

During the day today, the guys had people over to watch the World Cup match which was at a very sensible hour in Vancouver, 11am.  Matt and I had been asked that many times in South America whether we were Dutch and so accordingly we decided to go for orange [Matt – as Australia never made it to the World Cup during my lifetime until 2006 I had been taught as a child to go for Holland anyway!].

That night it was off to Lamplighters for a spot of UFC – Ultimate Fighting Challenge, something Matt (Grogan, housemate) was particularly excited about as it was apparently an important match.  Matt and I just came along for the beers and Kat promised a dance floor at the end of the night so it wasn’t so bad after all!

   
Ben, Megan,us, Elliott.

Day 229 – Losing our stamina

Today was a long day of recovery, movies at home and general hangout given it was a Sunday.  We did however get out of the house and over to Shabusen, our favourite all-you-can-eat Japanese for lunch.  It was still just as yummy and we even got our usual table!

Day 230  - Even fuller full house

Today it was back to domestic duties as the apartment was a bombsite after the weekend and Libba (James Liberatore, friend from home, nephew of the great) was arriving this afternoon.  We did however get out for a run along the seawall and over to the Olympic Village for a look around and then for a walk into the city to pick up our JR Rail Pass Vouchers ready for Japan.

Libba found us and the apartment, despite Ben and/or Matt’s dodgy directions (though he did need to be aided by some kind policemen after wandering into one of Vancouver’s dodgier areas!) and needless to say another round of drinks was enjoyed until the early hours.

Day 231 – The Grouse Grind

Today there was more 11am soccer followed by a big effort to get off the couch and over to the Grouse Grind.  We had to do something outside as it was the first 30 degree day we had had despite it apparently being Summer.

The Grouse Grind is a 2.9km walk up 853 m with an average grade of 56%.  Over 100,000 people a year hike the Grouse Grind, so we were hardly in for a wilderness experience – just some exercise!

A few Nannas past us along the way, but we made it in just over an hour.  Nowhere near the 20-something minute record, but we didn’t die!!

The view from the top of Grouse Mountain, looking back over to Vancouver.

The cable car that took us back down as the Grind is only a one way track.

That night whilst everyone else had fallen in a heap (the weekend and working catching up I think!), I was keen to go and get some night photos of the Lions Gate Bridge.  This involved getting a bus over to Stanley Park, not such a scary prospect until we (yes, I dragged Matt) realised how long it was from the bus stop through the park to the bridge and how poorly lit the park really is – a little on the scary side!

The Lions weren’t as lit up as I had hoped they would be (those are the two sculptures at the entrance to the bridge at the bottom of the photo).

Day 232 - Long time Pho see

Today we worked a bit on our “future plans” i.e. check on the money situation, book some things to do in Japan, think of what to do next and maybe even think about going home!  We got a bit of blogging done too, as the fans were getting restless as we have been lazy of late!

As it was Beck in particular that hinted about our lack of blogging, we both got the urge to seek out some Footscray style Pho for lunch!  We were in luck as there was one in the food court in Elliott’s building.  Nowhere near as good as being down in Footscray with our friends, but not too bad.

As it was another glorious 30 degree day, as soon as Elliott and Kat got home from work we packed up the picnic rug, some munchies and coldies Matt and I had prepared earlier and headed for Kitsilano Beach.  A lot of other people had the same idea too, which made traffic a little congested, but also made for good people watching!

From the car park we could see a nice free patch of grass and so headed for that.  Just as we were a few steps away, a tall blonde girl sat down and set up her stuff.  Damn! We all said until we looked over again and saw that it was actually Megan (Ben’s girlfriend) out of the 5,000 people it could have been at the beach!  So we crashed her party of one and once a few more people had arrived, our picnic of four had turned into a beach party.

Day 233 – From Pizza delivery boy to Prime Minister

As it was yet another bright and sunny Summer day, when Freddy invited us out on a bit of a boat trip we snapped it right up.  Freddy, former Adera housemate of ours, was newly arrived from Brazil when we met.  He was in Vancouver trying to learn English, earning cash by delivering pizzas from a beat up old blue van, chasing girls in his spare time and sharing a room with another Brazilian girl (without the benefits) to save money.  When we arrived in Vancouver this time around, we were not surprised one bit to see that Freddy is now a high up salesman in a telecommunications company and flying all over the place, speaking English better than us, married to a beautiful Brazilian lady, owns a house in Deep Cover (think Brighton Beach, or along those lines), drives a brand new VW Taureg and of course owns a boat!  All this and still down to Earth as ever.  Freddy, sorry Francisco, you deserve every bit of it.

So after work, generous as Freddy is, he picked us up from the apartment (Elliott was unfortunately feeling unwell and had had the day off work and Kat was too tired to move after falling in a heap – missed out!!) and drove us out to his place at Deep Cove.  Tim was also coming and was already waiting for us.  He took the three of us for a tour of the palace and showed us the fixing up he had done and would be doing and then with beers safely in the hidden esky, we jumped in the car with the boat hooked up and down to the nearby marina. 

Once the boat was in and the tunes were on, we were cruising… no sorry speeding down the Indian Arm to a waterfall and water access only camping area Freddy wanted to show us.

 

Freddy, chatting and driving!

No slowing down for photos!

 

A disused hydro plant that I reckon I could turn into a great hotel!

 
Not sure if the waterfall has a name, but the camp great looked like a great place to stay.  Freddy reckoned that if you timed the tides right it was only a few hours in a kayak to get you there from Vancouver.  Nice.

 
And, the stupid Canadians got in the freezing ice melt, despite the sun going down and with no towels or bathers!

The campground.

The boys and the expensive toy.  None of us were game to learn to wake board in the freezing waters!

Dusk over Van on the way back.

After the trip was over and we made it safely past the police without them checking for empties, we took the boat back to Freddy’s and helped him rinse its bits’n’pieces and then Freddy drove the three of us back into Gastown.  We dropped into the Cambie for a beer and a burger on the way back to the apartment.  An extremely pleasant evening!  Thanks again Freddy and Tim!

Dee Lake

Day 220 – Finally some nice cheese

First thing in the morning we all piled into the Beast one last time to ferry Marg and Jeff to the airport.  We went in with them and spectated as they (and all the other poor passengers) dealt with American Airlines idiotic self check-in machines.  We then said a quick goodbye and watched them disappear through customs pre-clearance.

After a quick breakfast back at the hotel we hit the road back toward Vancouver.  As we didn’t need to be back until Sunday afternoon and it was only Friday morning we’d picked a place to stay for a couple of nights halfway back.  Forgetting that it was an hour earlier in BC than it was in Alberta we made a call to try and get a reservation, the woman sounded a little peeved (because of the early hour we later realised) but we did manage to secure ourselves a ‘rustic cabin’ for a couple of nights.

After a few hours on the Trans-Canadian we turned south down the Okanagan Valley, and much to Elliott’s delight passed a sign advertising a cheese factory (he’d had a hankering for nice cheese for about a week), so in Armstrong we made a stop.  Inside the shop we discovered a bus load of middle aged ladies from all over Canada.  They seemed to be spending more time batting their eyelids at the poor guy serving the samples, but when they cleared we set to work sampling every cheese in the place.  We eventually agreed on four, a nice creamy Traminer, a Mediterranean herb, a jalapeño and one other I can’t recall.

Next stop was Kelowna for supplies (beer and wine mostly, but also enough food to see us through a couple of days, not to mentions crackers for our cheese!), before we headed up into the hills towards Dee Lake.  As we hit the gravel we wondered whether the Beast was allowed off the bitumen, but decided seen as it was a 4WD it was only appropriate.  Finally we arrived to find a quaint little ‘resort’ nestled amongst evergreen forest on the banks of a beautiful little lake. 

Our cabin was indeed ‘rustic’, but it had everything we needed, two double beds, a table and chairs, a really comfy lounge chair, sink, gas stove, fireplace and heaps of firewood.  Naturally Elliott and I set straight to work building a fire, Elliott seemed to especially enjoy chopping wood (for me it brought back memories of my grandparents’ farm).  After dinner we tried to sit around the fire making s’mores and playing cards, but the ferocity of the mosquitoes eventually droves us inside.  So instead we sat in front of the fire inside and played cards!

Day 221 – Paradise is probably warmer with less mosquitoes.

This morning we capitalised on the opportunity to sleep, then stocked up on mosquito repellent and ice and headed down to one of the little docks on the lake.  While the sun was out it was beautiful, but when it went behind a cloud we had to temporarily rug up.  I tried going for a dip in the lake, but only lasted a couple of minutes before the cold forced me back onto the dock to warm up in the sun.  Otherwise we did very little all day, it was wonderful!

Day 222 – Back to reality (for some)

In the morning we packed up and said farewell to our little cabin.  Except for some lunch at Subway in Hope and some terrible Sunday afternoon traffic getting back into Vancouver, the trip home was pretty unremarkable.  We did however drive past the spot where we had run out of petrol six years earlier and had met Pat and his Weimaraner, unbelievably Kat had never heard the story (one of our favourites), so we were kept amused telling that for a little while. 

Getting back to Elliott and Kat’s apartment in Vancouver felt like returning home.  It’s funny how quickly we can adopt that notion nowadays!

Banff

Day 217 – Chasing squirrels

This being the first day in a while where we weren’t on a tight schedule we all (except Jeff of course) took the opportunity to sleep in.  While everyone was deciding what we were going to do with our day I went for a run around nearby Table Mountain.  Half of me was hoping to spot a bear as I ran through the woods, the other half was hoping not to!  In the end, I only spotted some birds and a few ground squirrels.

Around about lunchtime we headed out to explore the town.  It’s quite a scenic place, if perhaps a little imitation Swiss mountain village. 

  
Everywhere you look there is a mountain backdrop.

In the afternoon we took advantage of the hot pools at the resort, sampling both the warm and cool pools before having a sauna. 

On our way back from picking up Ben from his hotel (he was in Banff with work) we spotted some caribou wandering along the street as well as a field full of ground squirrels.  When we got back and told Marg and Erin about this they got quite excited so we went for a walk to do some wildlife spotting (which mostly consisted of Erin and Marg chasing small mammals around an open grassy area!).

There’s that backdrop again.

 
Elliott and Kat had a hankering for a BBQ, so they cooked us one up for dinner, then we hit the bar at the nearby backpackers hostel (though Erin and I were a bit over the backpacker scene!):

And now for the silly faces part of the night:

    

Day 218 – Bare bear bums

Today we headed to Lake Louise, an excursion that Marg had been eagerly anticipating.  On the way there we avoided the Trans-Canadian and instead went along the Bow Valley Parkway, hoping we might catch a glimpse of some wildlife.  We were rewarded not far into the drive when we spotted a caribou with a nice big rack (of antlers!) grazing by the side of the road.

About halfway to Lake Louise we made a stop at Johnson Canyon for a bit of exercise and some more waterfall viewing.  Unfortunately we’d been spoiled by the offerings at Wells Gray and today’s waterfalls looked a little tame.  We were also a little put off by the huge numbers of people on the walking trail, many of whom looked equipped for multi-day adventures, despite the trail being basically wheelchair accessible!  In fact the highlight of the walk was probably watching the tiny ground squirrels.

At Lake Louise we ummed and ahhed about whether to pick up some lunch in the pricey hotel, eventually settling on a snack from the hotel bar overlooking the lake.

It was difficult to capture it in photos, but the lake was quite a brilliant blue colour which was supposed to be even brighter about a month from now.

This photo probably would have been better looking the other direction with the lake in the background , rather than a wall, oh well…

Our next stop was Moraine Lake, a bit nicer in my opinion because it doesn’t have a monstrous hotel perched on its edge.

After a big night out last night, this evening was rather more sedate - we played Pictionary.  Elliott and I got away to an early lead, which looked unassailable.  Alas this was not the case, Kat and Erin overtook us at the final hurdle.  Ben and Marg on the other hand, lets just say they had fun.

Day 219 – The day Tom Tom and I became friends

This morning we had to tick off our last Banff tourist item, the Banff Gondola,  before heading toward Calgary to drop off Marg and Jeff for their flight to New York.  The entry price was steeper than the line of gondola towers up the mountain, but it also included entry to their small network of trails and interpretative signs at the top of the mountain.

We asked Tom Tom (Elliott’s GPS gizmo) where to stop for lunch on the way to Calgary.  I’ve had the wineries and breweries option turned on all week, but so far Tom Tom has only taken us to fruit wineries (boo) and a vacant factory in Kamloops that was once a microbrewery.  So when Tom Tom pointed us to ‘Grizzly Paw Brewery’ in Canmore I was sceptical.  But this time he was on the money, and sure enough he delivered us to a microbrewery that not only served tasting platters of it’s brews, but also lunch.

Late afternoon we checked into our little hotel suite near Calgary Airport.  Although we hadn’t realised when we booked it, the hotel not only had a pool, but also a waterslide.  Our excitement only mounted after the first go when we realised that the waterslide wasn’t even lame, on the contrary it spat you out into the pool like a cannonball (with some nice friction burns if you weren’t careful).

Before dinner we did a quick drive around downtown Calgary so that we could say we’d seen it, and then settled on a pretty ordinary (but cheap at least) Vietnamese restaurant for dinner.