Last day/night in Vancouver!

So on Saturday Gem, Hanna and I headed to Stanley Park. It is the 3rd largest urban park in North America (1,000 acres). Has things like pathways for bikes, rollerbladers, walkers as well as free tennis courts, beaches to swim at (if you could call them that!), playgrounds, rowing clubs, cafes.. the list goes on.. The BEST bit.. on Saturdays they PLAY CRICKET in the park!!! Lots of weddings were on too. They also have many awesome scenic lookouts, a totem pole display, horse and cart tour around the park and a free shuttle bus which stop along the way so you can hop on and off as you please. Good commentary of the place too! Just a great place to go on a sunny Saturday! Although our Saturday was pretty lazy.. it didn't stop there! We needed to hit the town on our last night while all staying together so to the bar next door (The Royal) we went again - this time we were all asked for 2 id's!! The drink special was cheap vodka sharks (vodka and redbull)! We got free entry before 9.30 and then got passouts so we could keep sneaking to our room for our pre drinks we had brought the day before (after all our room was next door so it was easy done)!! So mix these with our cheap vodka shark drinks and it made for a pretty big night! (Mum, Dad, Nan - this is the time you should just shut my blog.. no need to read on, it gets pretty boring from here on hehe) Too big in fact that.. to be honest in my blog here I thought I would actually die on the 90min ferry ride to Saltspring Island which is where I was heading to stay with family! I am not the best with rocky boats and considering I was dying before I hopped on what hope did I have on there! That morning was not my finest hour but surely there is a saying like "when in Canada do as the Canadians do"?? Now I also need to mention that blood was involved! Yep Gem (by accident) gave me a nice little elbow to the nose and well it happened to be the nose which is pierced! I also will not mention the cute boy I met in case I jinx it! But hey I am now on Saltspring Island and have been for a few days now!! Actually I only have one day left till I move onto residence at UVIC so I made it :D So so far on Saltspring I have been in arms reach away from watching (and filming) a raccoon eat on the front porch and also seen a White-Tailed Deer (aka Bambi) and her fawn feed on the front lawn! I really am in environmental heaven! So that's probably all for a while until I settle in at uni and have juicy gossip to tell! Missing you all and once at uni with a pattern I promise to email you all back!

Capilano Suspension Bridge - one for mum!

The Capilano Suspension Bridge - wow not scary at all hey :)

So on Friday all 4 of us set out on the ferry to North Vancouver to visit Capilano Suspension Bridge (not too far from Grouse Mountain). This place was amazing - a little like the Otway Fly, but I hate to say it, 100 times better! Way back in the old days a suspension bridge was built to get across the Capilano River to log the trees on the other side. Tourists would come from miles to see the bridge which stretched 450 feet across and 230 feet (70m) above the river. The owner decided to start charging a fee making it the oldest running tourist attraction in Canada! So for a pretty good fee you can walk the bridge (which sways quite a lot!) and then enjoy the tree top walk on the other side! There is also a cliff hanger walk which gives nice and slightly scary views of surrounds and below! Shows also run throughout the day telling the history amongst other things and if you collect 6 passport stamps on your map at various places along the way you can even leave with a nifty "I made it across world-famous Capilano Suspension Bridge" certificate!

Gem braves it while Hanna and Karla hold on!

Giving in to the "tree hugging hippie" stereotype!

A night out!

Just a quick post to show my roomies. Below is Gemma, Hanna, myself and Karla taking advantage of the nights special at The Royal (the bar next to the hostel) - 2 vodka shots in a drink for the price of one! Now that is what I call a special! Plus the drink was much needed after a full day at the zoo!! Although we were out till after 3am it was not at all a big one like back home girls - just a few drinks and a bit of a dance because we had big plans the following day. Although it was a bit of a depressing night for me.. They let everyone in and then got to me.. looked at my license and then said "second piece of id please".. so shameful :( I had to show them my bloody passport!! I told him he just humiliated me in front of all my friends and he then went on to say it's cause I was the baby of the group, so not helping! Below is us at the very empty Royal so we then moved on the The Cellar where we met some ... interesting Canadians!

Greater Vancouver Zoo.... and a post for Kate!

The only way to the zoo - That is dedication!

Just joking mum, I'm not silly enough to admit it to you :)

Where it is an adventure just getting there and the animals look exactly like the homeless in Vancouver hehe - So the info centre warned us it takes a while and we were just like pfftt we can do it.. So poor Karla spent her first day in Vancouver with us and guess what we did! A 40 minute sky train ride (A train that spends most of the time on bridges.. Apparently all automatic no driver - I don't wanna know!!), then a 70 minute bus ride THEN a 40 minute walk! And that's probably under exaggerating not over! Yep not tourist friendly at all. No direct service to the zoo! If I didn't love animals then I wouldn't bother! It was awesome though! Worth it in the end! We saw black bears, a grizzly bear, a moose, a tiger, wolves (very cute), zebras, camels with 2 humps!! Hmm oh oh oh and a WALLABY!

The only Grizzly Bear living at the Zoo, very cute and not scary at all.. when behind a fence!

Now KATE... Imagine this: *twilight music sounds and we take a trip back to 2 weeks ago* The girls have just pulled a successful all nighter and it is now 8am.. you are still wearing your outfit and your hair is still half straight but yet half frizzy.. your make up is barely visible and what's left is looking like you applied it while half asleep - now thinking of it you look half asleep too!! Instead of leaving a sleeping Katie and Kim in the car to get out looking like crap to get your morning coffee dose from Gloria Jeans you just wind down your window and go through the STARBUCKS drive-thru!!!!!!!! Yep knew you would be impressed with Canada!

Vancouver - Most livable city? I think so!!!

They say a picture speaks a 1000 words and to be honest my words can't describe how much I have fallen in love with Vancouver! You need to get over here and experience it for yourself cause even my non stop bragging couldn't do it justice!! So here is a summary of my very busy few days in Vancouver and when I get a computer which downloads photos Ill be sure to post right away!

Granville Island: An arts/crafts and fresh food island with lots to fill up a sunny day. Apparently this is where all Vancouver buskers start out, the good ones then get chosen to perform on the streets in Vancouver! Best thing about Granville was the Granville Island Brewing Company! The hostel runs many tours (lots free or mega discounts apply) so we went on one to Granville. We took a ferry over there and had a tour before going to the brew for a tour! It is still a working brewery which was cool and yes it included beer to taste for under 10 dollars!!!!

Grouse Mountain: Also known as "The top of Vancouver" where you have 2 options...
1. A $29.95 CAD gondola ride taking about 8 minutes to reach the top (WIMPS)..
2. OR a free walk described in Lonely Planet as "A 3km outdoor stairmaster". Katie Fitness First has nothing on this!!! Yep it is known as Grouse Grind and takes you up a unstable straight up path to an elevation of 1126m, 3700ft! Took Gem and I 2 hours and yep was a killer! Apparently people climb this thing 3 times a week for exercise!! Mad - yep! On the way up we saw CHIPMUNKS and SQUIRRELS!! They also have bears and timber wolves (enclosed don't worry!)! We did however pay the very worth it $5 price to ride to gondola back down!

We then arrived back to our hostel eager to meet our new roomies! They didn't come till about 11pm but first it was Karla (who was awesome!), a 23 year old visiting from Mexico just till the Monday then something really good happened! The next roomie was Hanna (also 23) from Sweden also staying till Sunday like me - But then she goes to Vancouver Island to study for a semester at the university of Victoria (with me!!) So fate has given me a friend already! I think thats enough for now - more to come.

From the beach! Oh and I saw snow in Summer!!!!

It is sometimes too hard to grab a spot on the computer and I don't want to take more time up interneting than sight seeing so today I decided to write my blog on paper at English Bay! The beach is defiantly not like back home! The sand is brown and Gem describes the water as "brown and gross, with lots of algae floating around"! (I wasn't game enough to go in!) Its hard to think of home while at the beach as you have huge mountains surrounding you and it is a very different atmosphere but still it was a hot day and it was still a beach - I think us Australians are just a little too fussy!! To get to the beach was a short walk (20 minutes maybe?) down Davie street which was quiet interesting. Gem and I discovered the main adult book/video/clothing stores were located here as well as been the gay pride of Vancouver! The most interesting thing was in just this part of Vancouver all of the bins and bus shelters were painted not the usually gray BUT bright pink instead!! The UV rays don't feel so bad here, you get burnt and you seem to just go brown within a day! I wondered why and Gem said in Australia and Antarctica pollution gets stuck there due to the wind currents so it causes our ozone layer and hole to be much worse therefore letting more UV rays in. Here in South America the ozone is a lot better so I thought I'd test this theory without applying sunscreen.. stupid me I know! I fell asleep and not long ago woke up with quiet a nice red raw line happening where my shorts ended! I'll be sure to post pic's when I can! So I can see why Vancouver is the most livable city and why it beats Melbourne! I could defiantly see myself living here but not downtown, over by the water which overlooks mountains and houses! So beautiful! On Sunday we went to Vancouver's version of the Rialto... just not as high! We rode a glass elevator up the side of the building which was cool and got a 260 degree view of the city! We also went back at nighttime view - nowhere near as pretty as Melbourne by night though. While up there we saw snow one a mountain called Mount Baker. It is located 145km south and is covered in an average of over 12 metres of snow. Snow on a mountain in Summer!!!!!! I have become quiet obsessed with bears over these last 2 days... not just any bear but life size bear sculptures supporting different costumes around the streets of Vancouver! I discovered 3 more today and must go back with camera! Once I update my pic's you will know what I mean! I think Gemma is getting sick of me going "quick stand next to the bear!!"... The one negative about Vancouver is the homeless, about an average of 5 per street so probably the total you would see on a day is Melbourne is the number you would see in just one street block here! Well lots more I could update everyone on but describing Vancouver and how beautiful it is just doesn't seem good enough! Hopefully I can find a way to upload my pictures soon, ill have a million by the time I get a chance too! Leaving on a good note, the recycling is above most cities over here as they have a little rack on the outside of the bit for bottles/cans etc to sit so they can be recycled - the hostel also has bins for the cans etc you get from vending machines.. INCLUDING orange juice in a can! They will can everything if they could!

Canada

Well I made it to Canada and can definitely feel the differences between the US and Canada already! Wilbur my Lincoln limo driver dropped me off at LAX about 3 for my 5.55 flight! I checked myself and my bags in and then thankfully made it past security although it was a bit of an experience when a security guard is yelling at you to remove your jumper and shoes!! My flight was delayed so I had to hang around till 6.30 and then it was time for Canada! The flight was pretty boring but all went well until immigration at Vancouver International Airport! I got a bit of a fright when the immigration lady told me I needed a study visa for UVIC!! I said I didn't and she just kept repeating you do. I stood there in silence for what seemed like forever not knowing what to say until luckily I was saved by another immigration officer who laughed and said just stamp her passport and let her in she is fine!! Phew!! After a bit of a walk around the airport I finally found Gem back at Arrivals, she was having a bit of a nap on the chair and didn't see me come in! We then went to Downtown Vancouver where gem had booked us in for the night staying at Hi Hostel. It was more like a hotel than hostel, the beds are very comfy, rooms bigger than a standard uni dorm and pretty cheap phone and internet usage! Sadly last night they were full so we had to take a very very short walk (directly opposite) to the Same Sun hostel.... Only problem is only a co-gender room was available. It was a bit squishy and not as stylish, kind of screamed 13 dollar a night Melbourne backpackers to me but a room was a room. The whole place was painted in bright and various colours which made it look a little tacky too! Turns out we were sharing with a hippy lady from Wales who was visiting her son as he had been in Canada for 14 months working! The disturbing thing is they BOTH slept NAKED. I don't have any hostel experience so maybe this is a normal thing, I don't know but either way it sure did broaden my horizon's pretty quick!! We are now booked in at what I call "Hi home" for the next 6 night which I am thankful for!

Day three till now!

Day three was a pretty laid back day! Seem to sleep lots in the evening, none at night and then want to stay in bed all morning! So today we didn’t wake up till about 12 which was great! We then caught the “Big Blue Bus” to Santa Monica! It was about a 40 minute ride and once again all freeway and concrete! It was a really hot day and very busy between the tourists and the homeless people living along the beach. Dad and I were expecting David Hasselhoff to run out of one of the life guard towers but sadly it just didn’t happen! We looked around a little and I finally found a proper US Post Office so I could buy some stamps for the many postcards I keep buying to send home as promised! Once we arrived back at the hotel it was time for tea! All dads work friends from Tourism Victoria were invited out to dinner to a Mexican part of LA. Apparently it was the first Mexican restaurant built in LA and its where LA originally began (oldest part of LA). Surrounding the restaurants were all little stalls to buy Mexican souvenirs such as sombreros! The name of our restaurant was LA Golondrina which Margarita tells me is a bird! It was in a street called Olvera Street and the area is known to Latins as 'La Placita Olvera'! Great food and really good service, we even got a little Spanish guitar performance at our table for us! After only 3 taxis came when we ordered 4 so 4 of us walked down the road to union Station to grab a taxi. I really wanted to see Union Station so it was awesome! Union Station was built in 1939 and has been used for movies such as Speed and Pearl Harbor and TV shows like 24. It is also still a fully working train station - very clean! Go look at the pictures!! So now it is day four at 10am on a Friday, everyone back home is sleeping now as it is only 3am Saturday Aus time! I am just relaxing in the hotel today and once the smog and clouds clear might even go down to the pool, think were also going on a walk to the arts district later which is just round the corner from our hotel. I think there are art galleries and theatres for the opera etc. I think I have finally run out of things to say now! Over the next few weeks once I settle into uni I’m sure I won’t have as many adventures day to day things to blog, can’t wait to get started back at uni. It had been too long and am eager to settle in to some sort of pattern.

Day two..where I fell in love.. awwww

Day two saw us get up early once again and head to Universal Studios! What a big theme park! We paid extra for "Front of the line tickets" - Well worth it! Reserved seating at all shows, seats under shade while waiting for shows/ride to start and dad always got in first time on a ride even though some people had to wait 30mins in the heat! Was pretty exciting, we went on a studio tour which took us down the back lots of the studios where they film all their movies! Desperate Housewives were filming a scene while we were there on the tour but sadly we didn’t get a glimpse of any starts! Crossing Jordan was also filming that day and they also showed us the street they use to film the new TV series Ghost Whisperer which dad recognized as he watched the show! We then saw all the shows like how they do special effects and sound (similar to the shows at WB on the Gold Coast). Dad also went on all the rides but I preferred to miss these and look at all the souvenirs, wimp I know!! Can’t believe how hot the weather is - I even got sunburn! I think the highlight of the day was meeting Donkey who stared in Shrek! We had a great talk about Australia and my sister back home, as I walked away Donkey declared his love for me only for me to discover he shouted that out to all the girls :'( Nothing else big and eventful on day two apart from dad and I finally figuring out the very complex metro (train and bus system). For two days we had been spending over 30 USD on cabs because no one could explain the metro system to us. After Universal Studios we thought we would give the train a go to save money and a lovely UK couple told us where we needed to go and it only cost us 1.25 USD each!! So that sums up LA the most helpful people to us were not even local!

Love you too Donkey xo

Day one in Hollywood - The city built on dreams!

Hmm so from the start! I nearly didn’t make it to Melbourne Monday because Jaby decided to break her key in her boot lock trying to unlock it to put my bag in!! Good way to keep me in Melbourne! So Alisson walked home and got her car to get me to the tram! Then I have a lovely night hanging out at my hotel with the work girls eating Chinese! Hmm then I left Melbourne at about 7am Tuesday morning to go to the airport. I was pretty good, not nervous at all and hardly any tears! Wow go me! So the flight was long, first to Auckland then onto LA after about a 2 hour stop. There were no long security checks like they said on the news just the usual scan your bag and walk through the machine and smile politely. Didn’t take long at all! Movies were on demand on the plane so most of my time was spent trying to decide on which movie to watch first! I watched a documentary called March of the Penguins and that was really cool but like all animal documentaries a little sad! Because of the security checks to the plane before it was allowed to leave N.Z we didn’t board till almost an hour after out boarding time so we got to LA at about 11.30am not 10.35am like we were meant to. We then went to our hotel, checked in and then headed straight to HOLLYWOOD!!! My first thoughts of LA from the airport to hotel were pretty poor! All concrete structures and that is pretty much just shown from the view of my hotel, and I am in Downtown LA which is the main part of LA! You think there would be shops and stuff but nope just freeways and tall buildings! They don't have a specific shopping district like Bourke Street, it is all spread out around LA and surrounds. Freeways everywhere and crazy drivers on the wrong side of the road!! Hollywood was pretty cool though, I got to see the Walk of Fame and soak up the atmosphere of all the tourists. We also went to the Hollywood Wax Museum and Guinness Book of Records plus saw the Hollywood sign! The city is a bit smoggy so not the clearest view of the hills but still it’s the SIGN! We then went home and I crashed right away! Over 30 hours and no sleep I was dead; only to wake up at 4am to discover good people on msn to speak to all night!!! Hmm so that sums up day one!!

I am such a tourist! Where is my I Love LA shirt??!!

Welcome to the USA!!

Wow so here I am in LA! It is crazy, I have been here for 3 days now and have so much to write about and so much to say I don’t know where to start! So a short run down, I met a girl named Jeanine on the plane from Portland, Oregon. She was so helpful and I am even planning a trip to see her sometime before I leave uni because Portand is not to far from where I will be, just a short trip across the boarder! She told me about lots of cool things which are different in Aus (she has been living in Melb for 6 months). She said I should make notes of all the weird quirky things so I have stories to tell when I go back home. So here’s a few things I’ve experienced so far - most were just from the airport to the hotel.... 1. HUGE freeways, HUGE cars and Huge people!! This brings me to point number 2... McDonalds every 100 meters you go!!! Now Katie I know this will disgust you and probably impress Kate but I got a super size meal just purely for the fact I can say I did! Although in the US they just call them large! Plus I can’t eat all the traditional things in the US like hot dogs etc cause of the vegie thing so why not have a processed fillet of fish instead! Oh don’t bother being a vegetarian in LA and a tourist at the same time unless you want to live on yucky greasy cheese pizza! Today was the 1st day I found a place selling vegie burgers!! I wont comment on the taste though.. Now point 3... not so much on the LA thing as mentioned above but if you can handle lentils then I suggest you request a vegie meal when traveling on the plane because us vegies get special treatment! My meals came at least 30mins before dads and most times id completely finished before he got his (including desert). Poor dad was in the middle myself and Jeanine and I am guessing he was getting pretty hungry seeing both of us eat without him! Point 4.. School buses are YELLOW just like in the movies! Well the list goes on, but right now I can’t remember! Just imagine an American movie and its pretty spot on! So my post doesn’t extend the whole page Ill blog day one to day three on separate posts! Also make sure you check out my photo site as I am going to upload photos hopefully tonight!

9 days and counting

With 9 days to go I felt the need to blog it! I am feeling a bit anxious right now and I don’t think it has sunk in that I am ON MY WAY TO CANADA SOON! I don’t know what to expect but my new adventure does not scare me at all. I have huge amounts of excitement now and the only thing, which I feel on a bad day, is sadness. Not because I am leaving but because the fun I have had these last few weeks leading up to my departure. I can honestly say I have been feeling the happiest and loved that I have ever felt! Every time we plan a new date for the week I think I am in love!! You girls know who you are and I thank you for making me appreciate life and the great company you give me! Will think of you guys often wishing you were here for a few drinks and laughs but they will come! Can’t wait to hear all the new gossip and adventures and bring on the welcome home parties!! Words from a great friend – Muchos besos xoxox