So we left Fiji feeling pretty damn relaxed. We had caught up on some sleep, gotten some tan and had some Awesome Fun Times, and met some cool people along the ways. Approximately 23 hours of flights and transfers had us landing in Vancouver roughly 2 hours after we flew out of Nadi in Fiji, thanks to some International Dateline Interactions. This would have been very unsettling if I ever knew what the date was, but happily I didn't, and therefore experienced little to no jetlag. I got pretty darn excited in seeing land out the window of the plane however.
Canada is great. Within an hour or so we had experienced a few examples of that almost parody levels of friendliness the Canadians are famous for. Vancouver has a great culture to boot. At 1:30am on a Saturday morning, the streets in Downtown Vancouver are as busy as they are during the day, and with people laughing and chatting rather than throwing up in the gutter, throwing bottles at each other and shouting abuse across the street. They have an awesome music scene too, with the Arcade Fire, Phoenix, the Flaming Lips and three or four other bands I'd love to see if I could afford to spend more money.
We hit Stanley Park early on. After a couple of overcast days, we picked a cracker, about 25C and bright sunshine. Stanley Park is an incredible park, huge with loads of walking trails throughout. We walked along a couple of paths and managed to spot some squirrels, but no luck on the beaver front. We also headed to the aquarium - anyone heading to Vancouver must go there. Beluga whales are only the beginning...
That night we also went to the ice hockey. The Vancouver Canucks beat the lame Disney owned Anaheim Ducks 4-1, although none of the 4 fights had a clear winner. For those who know the game, the Sedin boys and Luongo were all on fire.
We've headed in to Whistler for our interviews, theres a few things we need to sort out yet, but otherwise can't wait to get started! The mountains are huge, and the location of staff housing is stupidly good.
Currently, we are road tripping through Banff National Park, in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Again, we've been damn lucky with the weather, most days above 20 and hardly any clouds. The lakes here have to be seen to be believed, and glaciers are cool at the best of times. Heading north to Jasper tomorrow, which has even more glaciers, including one we'll be able to walk right up to. For my birthday, we went to a steak house, and I got to eat elk and Alaskan King Crab. You should eat elk and Alaskan king crab.
Once we get back to Vancouver, we're heading north to the Yukon to check out the northern lights. Words cannot say how excited I am about this.
Canada - its great!
