Goodbye Melbourne, Hello Canada.

White Christmas

krit — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 03:28:00 GMT

I've been living in Canada for 6 months now and I can't believe how the time has flown by. The year didn't get off to a great start and I faced some tough challenges but how quickly that all changes.

Although I miss my friends and family immensely, I feel very at home here in Vancouver.

Thanks to a wonderful surgeon back in Melbourne, my rehab nurse Nutters and many gym sessions, I finally got back on the mountain and the horse so-to-speak. 11 months after Sunpeaks kicked my ass I'm back doing something I truly love, snowboarding. I chose the worst possible day weather wise to take my first run down Mt Cypress but I figured if I could manage that then it only gets easier. As I got off the lift and went to strap on the board again I had a fleeting thought flicker through my head that maybe I should just hang up the board and not risk injuring myself again. But, as most of you would know, I'm not a quitter and can be extremely determined once I set my mind to something. I've been up the mountain a couple of days now and my riding is pretty much back to where I left it last January.

Christmas is in a few days and I'm excited to be experiencing it in winter. It will be strange to be bundled up inside, with warm food, hot fires and plenty of boozy eggnog as opposed to sweating over my plate of seafood and ice cold beer.

I'm looking forward to heading back to Sunpeaks next month and spending some time with family that are visiting, hopefully more of it in the snow and less in the bar this time!

From a beautiful snow covered Vancouver, I wish you all back home and those abroad a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Much love

Kxxx

Movember

krit — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:40:00 GMT

I've been waiting very patiently (well not really truth be told) for the white stuff to start falling and it finally has. On a cold Friday night I attended my first Ice Hockey game and upon leaving the arena found to my delight and those around me it was snowing in downtown Vancouver!

After a sleepless night I arose from bed like a kid on Christmas morning bubbling with anticipation to see what lay outside. It didn't disappoint. Over the course of 7 hours it had dumped down. The entire North Shore was covered in a 10 inch layer of white, fluffy snow. After taking a few snaps of the beautiful sight, I woke the boys and we strapped on our boards to have a little fun in the backyard.

From the way I carried on anyone would think I'd never seen snow before but there is something special about seeing the first snowfall of the season and the way it makes everything look so different and new.

At the start of Movember I took up the challenge of the Grouse Grind. The trail is a 2.9km trek up the face of Grouse Mountain and commonly referred to by Vancouverites as "Mother Nature's Stairmaster". On average it takes up to 1.5 hours to climb the 2,830 stairs and gain 853m in elevation. I was chugging along, panting and sweating and thought I'd completed about 3/4 of the climb so you can imagine my shock when I came to a sign that said I was only 1/4 of the way up!!! The elevation is steep that you can feel the temperature dropping with every 100 or so metres you climb. I have been on some beautiful and challenging hikes here in Vancouver, but let me make this clear, there is nothing nice about the Grouse Grind. Just a good way to burn off all that Halloween candy.

Ice Hockey to Vancouverites is what AFL is to Victorians - but doubled. They cram in 87 games in the span of a couple months. Between the NHL and CHL, you're pretty much guaranteed to catch a game on TV every night. My knowledge and understanding of the game is quite good now thanks to many nights spent watching with Roger and him patiently answering all of my questions. I'm yet to see the Canucks play but I've been fortunate enough to go to a few Giants games. CHL games are very family friendly and provide lots of break time entertainment. With my Whitespot triple-o burger in one hand, and Canadian beer in the other, I had a blast watching the puck and fists flying all over the ice. It was a great game and the Giants won in overtime.

Outnumbered 2:1 by boys in this house, some friends and I decided it was time for a girls weekend away so we loaded the car up on Friday morning and headed south towards the States. With a Canadian, Kiwi, German and myself in the car I knew we were in for a treat once we reached the inevitable border crossing. All was going well as we answered the routine questions "where do you live? how do you know each other? where are you staying? Things got interesting though when the officer asked "what do you do for work? When it came to Evy's turn she replied "I am here to travel" but in her thick German accent it came across as "I am here to trouble". A phrase you don't want to mutter when attempting to enter America and was acknowledged by the officer with a reply of "please park your car and step inside ladies"

Once we came to an agreement with the officers that we were not in fact here to cause trouble but just holiday we were granted entry. We spent a couple of lovely days at the cabin and a day in Seattle, a city I hope to explore more while I'm over here. Given our limited amount of time in Seattle we decided a good way to get a snapshot of it would be to Ride the Ducks. The amphibious World War II vehicles show you Seattle on wheels while you explore the waterfront, downtown Seattle shopping district, Pike Place Market and historic Pioneer Square. Then, splash into Lake Union for a breath-taking view of the Seattle skyline, a truly great way to get around the city.

Canadians, like their southerly neighbours, tend to get quite enthusiastic with holidays such as Thanksgiving, Halloween and now Christmas. Not only do folks here decorate the interiors of their homes, they go all out with colourful lights and Christmas paraphernalia on the exterior and it's an exception to see a house that isn't all kitted out. A great way to get in the spirit of the Holidays is to take a train ride through Stanley Park as part of the annual Bright Lights event, where the forest is transformed with two million twinkling lights, animated displays and holiday sounds while you enjoy hot chocolate, fresh popcorn and roasted chestnuts. It had snowed the previous night before I went and traveling through the snow covered park only made it the more special and I think it finally sunk in that I'm now living here in Canada.

Photos: Movember

krit — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:44:00 GMT

Photos: October 2010

krit — Mon, 1 Nov 2010 08:52:00 GMT

Thanksgiving & Halloween

One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.

krit — Mon, 1 Nov 2010 06:29:00 GMT

It's been a month full of festivities and there's plenty more to come in the lead up to Christmas.

Thanksgiving in Canada is celebrated on the 2nd Monday in October. While the precise historical origin and belief of the holiday is disputed, most agree Thanksgiving is a holiday to express thankfulness, gratitude, and appreciation to God, family and friends for which all have been blessed of material possessions and relationships. They say you can eat 3 times your daily calorie intake in a Thanksgiving meal and my first Thanksgiving was a cracker - I ate my way through 3! I ate and drank so much I looked like I was pregnant with a turkey baby. 3 weeks later and I'm still working off all that turkey, roasted potato, beets, squash and of course the pumpkin pie . Ah well, when in rome......

Living in this part of the world I've noticed how much daily life is complimented by the seasons. It's currently Fall in the northern hemisphere and B.C is full of colour. You can actually see the colour of the leaves changing daily, quite an amazing sight. All of the winter vegetables and fruits are starting to appear and the last few berries have been picked. We have an enormous Copper Birch tree in the backyard that is over 100 years old. In the past few weeks I'd been admiring the different colours it was changing and was shocked to find after a weekend away all the leaves had dropped and it is now bare. Now I'm looking forward it seeing it covered in snow. Fall is also the time to plant your spring bulbs which I've done. I can't wait to see the tulips, daffodils and iris bloom come spring.

I caught Angus & Julia Stone play a gig at Venue here this month and took my kiwi friend along for the experience. Supported by The White Buffalo (amazing acoustic rock) A & J played a phenomenal set to a sold-out show. I stopped counting at 6 on how many instruments Julia can play, what an extremely talented woman. Angus' shy introductions and Julia's cute anecdotes were lapped up by a heavily Aussie crowd, and we happily received hits like "Mango Tree", "Big Jet Plane", "Just a Boy", "Bella" and many more. Thoroughly enjoyed the performance and would definitely see them again.

At the end of the month came my first Halloween. I must admit I was waiting with anticipation for this one. I love a good opportunity to kit myself out in a stupid outfit and it was a tough decision to decide on the outfit for this. The shops don't offer many choices for female Halloween costumes here, you can choose from slutty, slutty, or really slutty. I chose to make my own so in light of my new passion for our national sport I went as a beaten up Canucks player. With an oversized Canucks jersey, socks, some blood, a black eye and a few knocked out teeth my outfit was complete. The girls and I met up at the Seabus and headed downtown. Granville St was the place to be and despite waiting in line for 45 mins to get into the club it made for a good chance to check out all the costumes parading up and down the street. Wow, folks really go to town with their outfits here. I think my favourite would have to go to the guys dressed up as the stars from Little Britain. Bloody hilarious.

Well it's fast approaching my favourite time of year here, winter. The mercury has dropped down to 2 degrees so far and I'm thrilled to say that it has snowed. Yes, there is a light dusting of the white stuff on the mountain tops surrounding me. I was out driving one morning and when I turned up a road facing the mountains I squealed with delight at the sight in front of me. We are currently in a La Nina pattern which means the waters around the equator are currently measuring colder than average. The La Nina pattern generally means below average temperatures coupled with average or above average precipitation and for this part of the world this generally equates to more snow than average.In addition, La Nina can affect the position of the jet stream and point it straight to Mt Baker (only a 1.5 hr drive from here), a situation that can cause the storms stacked up in the Pacific to bring their moisture laden goodness directly our way as system after system is propelled our direction by this "storm highway".

With the snow tires on the "nanny van", the riding gear all prepped to go, all that's left to do is bag myself a "winter warmer" and I'm set for the season.

The one that got away

krit — Fri, 1 Oct 2010 15:49:00 GMT

Vancouver is located on the west coast of Canada & often referred to by locals as the 'wet coast'. Since moving here I've lost count of how many times I've been warned about the wet weather that comes at this time of the year. As one who enjoys a good downpour (usually that brings snow :)) I was not too worried about it. Well, the inevitable rain has arrived. If you're going to locate yourself in this part of the world then take my advice & invest in a decent pair of gumboots & if you plan on doing any hiking while here then a pair of gortex shoes wouldn't go astray either. My shoe wardrobe that used to consist of nice leather uppers has now been transformed into mostly mesh & rubber. It's also acceptable to wear said gumboots anywhere & everywhere here.

At the start of the month Bella took Ryan and I salmon fishing on the Fraser River near Hope, which is a 2 hour drive east of Van. For those of you who don't know, I was a keen fisherman when I was a young girl & instead of barbie dolls for christmas presents I would receive fishing rods. So the idea of spending 6 hours casting out line after line wasn't as agonising as it would be to most gals. The annual salmon run is an incredible natural spectacle that is unparalleled. All salmon spawn in fresh water, usually in streams. Many salmon, especially Pacific salmon spend their adult lives in the ocean (B.C salmon usually locate to the waters near Japan), returning to their native streams to spawn. Unlike other salmonoids, Pacific salmon die after spawning. They are famous for their ability to home precisely to their place of birth to spawn. This year we had one of the biggest salmon runs in nearly 100 years. Over 25 million Sockeye salmon returned to the Fraser River. Although I would like to tell you it took great skill & patience to catch the salmon, with that many fish swimming upstream they were practically jumping onto river bank.

Fishing for salmon varies slightly to the ocean fishing I had done as a child. The line setup is a little different and after casting your line you let it bob on the river bed a few times before reeling it in as fast as you can to avoid snagging it - between Ryan and myself I think we exhausted Bella's patience that day. When you have managed to get a salmon on the end of your line this is what you need to do; using all your strength - with the end of the fishing pole burried into your stomach, it will leave a nice bruise - reel your line all the way in. Once the line is in, start running up the river bank - which is not a flat surface but covered in small boulders so if you manage to stay upright then you're doing well - until the salmon is clear from the water. While he's flapping madly about & planning his escape path back to the safety of the river, grab the biggest rock you can find & bash him over the head a couple of times until unconscious then do your best to pick the slippery little sucker up & pose for a photo with your catch! Now be sure to hit him on top of the head, don't make the mistake I did and hit him on the side, this will only allow him to flop back to the water & swim away with nothing more than a slight headache. This may seem a little brutal but such is the food chain :) In total we caught 5 x 8 pound sockeye salmon throughout the day (6 if you count the one that got away) and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Tyler lived up to his promise and took me ice skating for the first time in my life. When I initially stepped onto the ice I was certain I would spend the remainder of the session doing circles of the rink on my ass but after a few laps I got the hang of it. Kyle packed it in after a few minutes and then preceded to entertain the fellow skaters to some dance moves, with shirt off of course, while the ice rink staff played Michael Jackson tracks for him.

I sometimes wonder that for a planet the size of ours, it can at times feel like a small place. While out on a picnic with the boys one day I was approached by some tourists that had overheard my Australian accent & came to say hi. I noticed they were wearing AFL jerseys & was in the middle of asking them where in Australia they'd come from when I heard this 'Kristel?' When I turned around I saw none other than Julie Lambert. I knew before departing Australia that Jules had planned a holiday over here but we didn't make plans to meet up with each other while she was here. Of all the places & times she found herself in my little corner of the world. Unbelievable. I hope you had an amazing time here Jules and a safe return.

The boys returned to school this month & now I have a little routine back in my life I feel more at home. It was feeling like a permanent vacation for a while there. Most days I spend zipping around in my minivan dropping off & picking up, a vast contrast from my previous job.

Thank the lord for cable TV. I got to watch the AFL grand final live (both times) & the V8 supercars at Phillip Island, although I had to wait a week to see that one. Good work Lowndsey. Typical, the one time I'm not there at that circuit and he wins!

After missing them tour in Australia earlier in the year I was fortunate enough to see Phoenix play here last week and also The Beautiful Girls. The Beautiful Girls played a great set but Phoenix blew me away. The band exploded onto the stage with Lisztomania and spent an hour & a half of playing through a setlist that spanned the entire breadth of their four albums. The highlight of the set? During their encore performance of 1901, I saw a man walking through the crowd headed in my direction with a microphone in his hand. For a split second I was frozen still while my brain processed that the man I was looking at was Thomas Mars. He stopped and stood between Evy and I, then we were hit by a mass of people and what I can only compare to as the feeling of being swept under by a huge wave and being tossed about by the force of it. The show ended with news that in November, they're going back to the studio to work on a new album.

It is officially fall here now & one season closer to winter!!! October is a busy month with Thanksgiving next weekend, Halloween at the end of the month & going to see Angus & Julia Stone somewhere in the middle of that. The hours of daylight are getting shorter & the 6am swim squad starts are getting harder. Nuts, you would be proud of my efforts. I'm finding it more difficult to adjust to swimming on the other side of the lane than driving on opposite sides of the road. Go figure.

I've put this months pics into a little video montage for your viewing pleasure

Here's the link

Summer time & the livin's easy

krit — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 01:28:00 GMT

I never thought Canada could be so much fun in the summer time. I have always looked upon it as a place to escape to during Winter and that it couldn't offer up anything different from Australia during the warmer months. How wrong I was. Vancouver is a buzz at this time of year. I guess the people here have been hibernating to some degree during Winter and once the white stuff melts away they come alive. If you love the great outdoors (as I do) then there is an endless list of activities to do right in this backyard that is Vancouver.

Caro & the boys headed off to Europe at the end of July for 4 weeks holiday so armed with a car & GPS I had some great adventures over summer.

I've fallen in love with hiking since moving here and there are so many trails across this part of the country. 2 hikes I've done recently are Mt Seymour & The Chief. Mt Seymour is a local mountain located on the North Shore in Van. If offers some good local skiing, boarding & snow shoeing in winter & some great hiking & biking during summer. There are plenty of different trails to choose from at all levels & distances. It's one of my favourite places to go when I want some nice quiet reflection time.

If you're feeling adventurous & wanting something a little more challenging then The Chief is the place to go. Follow Highway #99 North from Van (towards Whistler) for about 45km's and you can't miss the huge granite rock face sticking out just past Murrin Park. It takes about 2-3 hours to climb the 6km long trail with a 500m elevation gain. Like the sign says "This is no walk in the park". Manda, being the little trooper she is still managed to summit after throwing up twice on the way up. We've had some 400+ fires burning across BC this summer and unfortunately the day we climbed The Chief there was quite a bit of smoke obstructing our view. On a clear day you can see all the way to Whistler. I'll definitely be climbing this mountain again before I leave here.

In the middle of August I made a trip across to Chicago care of Icekool. It was a whirlwind trip but I managed to get in a little sightseeing while I was there. I spent the spare time I did have hitting the pavers with my head up towards the sky. This city some amazing architecture. Since most buildings in the downtown area were destroyed (the water tower being a famous exception) by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, Chicago buildings are noted for their originality rather than their antiquity. I hired a car while I was there as I had to spend most days at the warehouse which is located in the birthplace of Wayne, Garth & the Mirth mobile, Aurora, IL. I was glad to hand that rental back in one piece - Chicagoans drive like assholes. There's no other way to describe it. 5 things you must do if you ever find yourself in Chicago:

1. Take a boat tour around downtown to admire the great buildings, 2. John Hancock observation deck to get a great view of Lake Michigan & it's surroundings, 3. Navy Pier, 4. Chicago Cubs Baseball Game, 5. Eat a famous Chicago Deep Dish Pizza at East Gino's.

I've managed to catch a couple of the Vancouver Canadians (minor league baseball) games lately. For 12 bucks it's a great way to spend a couple of entertaining hours on a Friday or Sunday avo. If you're at the ball then you must indulge in a hotdog (footlong of course!) and beer. You won't feel too good after ingesting this but when in Rome........I've also been to watch Manda's local baseball team, the infamous "Dirty's Dozen" play on Sunday avo's. Now this league although not as skilled as the minor league, is still very much an entertaining game to watch. It's more like a drinking session with some light exercise involved. Some teams even like to partake in smoking a little wacky baccy, during the game. I'm taking over Manda's score keeping duties next season so I'd better start learning the rules of the game.

Next on the list of things to do will be to go to an Ice Hockey game, the season kicks off this month. Hockey here is like AFL to Victorians. The 2 local teams here are the Canucks (NHL) & the Giants (CHL). Apparently the Giants are just as good to watch, if not better than the Canucks as these guys really put themselves on the line. They're playing to be drafted into the NHL & one can expect to see quite a bit of fisty cuffs at their games so I'm told. I can't bloody wait! I took Tyler to hockey camp the other week. One of the most hilarious things I've seen was him exiting the change rooms in his goalie gear. You would never guess that there's nothing but a scrawny kid underneath all that gear. I have a new appreciation for the role that goalies play, I have no idea how they manage to skate let alone block pucks in that stuff. I'm dying to get on the ice all decked out in hockey gear and hit that puck around.

I've found a channel on cable that plays AFL games here & not too late at night either. We've had a couple of game nights where all the imports come over to watch. Can't say I'm the best person to explain the rules of the game, the only call I really know is 'ball!' I've met some ex-pats that actually play AFL games here on the weekends. Rugby is a different story. They play quite a bit of proper footy here & one of my boys Ryan plays for the local North Shore club.

I've felt a change in the air of late & noticed the first few leaves starting to turn. I'm waiting in anticipation to see this place in it's full colour. I think part of the lure of Fall is that Winter follows. I'm happy to say I now have in my possession a season pass for Cypress mountain. Only a 15 minute drive away & open at nights. There's quite a few good bands coming through town at the moment, I'll be seeing The Black Keys, The Beautiful Girls, Angus & Julia Stone & Phoenix in the next couple of weeks.

The boys are heading back to school this month, I'm looking forward to having a bit of routine although I do appreciate the variety in my life at the moment. Only a few weeks left to enjoy the remnants of sun. Apparently I have months of wet weather to look forward to.

Gettin loose at Manda's farewell

Kyle on the drums

Manda & I about to hike The Chief Vancouver sunset from Loins Gate Bridge

The Rockies from 35,000ft

Photos: Manda's Farewell

krit — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:35:00 GMT

Baseball & The Roxy

Photos: Life on Dempsey Road

krit — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:38:00 GMT

Photos: Mt Seymour & The Chief

krit — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:41:00 GMT

Hiking

Photos: Lions Gate Bridge

krit — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:24:00 GMT

Sunset

Photos: Chicago

krit — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:20:00 GMT

Photos: The Cabin

krit — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:13:00 GMT

Mt Baker, Washington

Canada Day, Mt Baker & my new neighbour

krit — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:08:00 GMT

I've past my first month in Canada now & the time is flying by. I really feel settled in now & starting to get familiar with the area. There is so much to do here in summer & the Canadians go nuts in the warmer weather. It's like they've been hibernating throughout the winter & once July rocks around they get their party on. Everything is still very green here due to all the rain prior to July. The roadsides are lined with an abundance of daisies, foxtails & wildflowers. It is also berry season at the moment so I've been devouring them to my heart's content.

On July 1st we celebrated Canada Day. Very similar festivities to those that take place back in Oz for Australia Day, plenty of BBQ's, beer & outdoor fun. I kitted myself out in Maple Leaf paraphernalia & headed downtown to 'Canada Place' to take in the atmosphere and celebrations. The Olympic Torch was relit & they put on a spectacular fireworks display which we enjoyed from Lonsdale Quay.

On July 4th we headed down to the cabin which is located just over the border at the northern end of Washington state, USA. The area is called 'Peaceville Valley' and it is just that - peaceful. The cabin is surrounded by vast wilderness & is extremely quiet. The exception to this would be the day we arrived - United States Independence Day. As soon as we crossed the border we passed trailer after trailer selling fireworks. The border crossing was relatively pain free, and just a little scary. Not sure why but I always get nervous when entering/exiting the US. Our neighbours were letting off fireworks til sunrise the following morning & we found the street littered with firework casings later that day.

Peaceville Valley is located pretty much at the base of Mt Baker, about a 30km drive from the top of the mountain. Baker is a volcano and back in 1999 it set the world record for the most amount of snow to fall in a season - a whopping 97 feet!! You can actually get a great view of Baker from certain vantage points in Van. During our stay down south an apparent heatwave swept across the west coast of the country. Temperatures soared into the low 30's! We got a tip off from a local that there was a tonne of snow still at the top so we made the trek up on one of the warmer days. There was something odd about being in 32 degrees and having a snowball fight. The mountain looks amazing & I can't wait to hit it once the snow starts falling again.

After a week at the cabin I made the journey back to Van by myself. I have mastered driving on the other side of the road and I couldn't wipe the stupid grin off my face as I was cruising back along the highway on a gorgeous sunny day.

The biggest event to happen in the past few weeks would be my first bear siting. I have been hiking all over the mountains here & been waiting patiently to spot Yogi. And where should I have my first encounter? In my own yard of course! When I returned from the cabin I was informed that a bear had apparently made camp in our forest and he didn't wait long to show himself to me. Luckily I had a girlfriend over at the time and we were quick to grab our cameras and get some snaps of the big fella. He attempted to scale our front fence which collapsed under the wait of his 600 pound torso. Then he strolled on up our street like he lived here?? He returned later that night & even as I write this he's somewhere on our property. I can't tell you how petrifying it is to return home in the wee hours of the morning & know that the bear could be sitting right at the front door!! Think I'll relax a little more once winter returns.

Some new experiences in the past few weeks:

Candied Salmon - maple syrup flavour would have to be my favourite. You can literally put syrup on anything over here!

Gap - I've found my replacement for Country Road

Peak FM - It's no JJJ but it's the closest thing I've found so far

The Roxy - a nightlcub located on Granville Street. Not really my cup of tea but you're guaranteed a good time nonetheless

Skunks - unfortunately I am now familiar with their scent. No live sitings but plenty of roadkill spotted

Ravens - looks pretty much like a crow but a bit bigger

Mountain Biking - the boys have taken me on my first down hill ride. Lots of fun but brought back some nasty memories from childhood. Gravel rash - ouch!

Some photos below for your viewing pleasure including the all important proof that the bear exists. I know it's not the greatest pic but you definitely want to see a bear walking away from you not towards you.

My first week in Van

krit — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 08:38:00 GMT

I've been in Vancouver for 1 week now & I think I stepped off the plane running. The flight over was not too bad, I was so excited about coming to Canada, before I knew it I was in LA. LAX was so quiet it was almost eery. Somebody must have got the heads up that I was coming to town & wanted a pain free transit throught the place. Had the nicest flight attendant on the way over. He said he couldn't possibly have me landing into Canada sober so he kept feeding me wine. Kudos to you.

Haven't stopped since I arrived but there's nothing like getting thrown in the deep end to learn something new.

I'm living in a lovely part of North Van up on the mountain in a beautiful house. There is a huge, lush backyard & I can already picture myself laying out there in summer sprawled out on a blanket reading of course. There is also a forest on the property which has a creek running through it. I can hear it trickling outside my window in the evening. The days are quite long here, the sun rises around 5am and sets at about 9.30pm so there's plenty of time to get out & aboot. I can see Grouse & a few other mountains from the house & there is still snow on the peaks, amazing.

The boys loved their Aussie gifts although I won't hold it against them if the Socceroos scarf doesn't get worn. Geez, what a game! I caught up with a German friend & we watched the game together......think I will keep the Aussie accent on the low for a while after that result.

The weather was pretty average on arrival but soon enough the sun was out. Spent the first weekend at Ambleside Beach which is down next to Stanley Park. Wasn't warm enough to get in the water but I was thankful for the amazing view & fresh air. Met some great folks that live up in West Van with a stunning view of downtown. Lounged in the pool with some good vino & even managed to get a little sunburnt!

I've lost track already of what day it is now that I'm not office bound. Haven't ventured too far yet as I'm still settling in but here are some highlights of my first week here:

Hike - went up a terrific track called 'Lyn Loop' which is just at the end of my street. Have scared myself silly about Bear encounters. Hopefully it subsides. Discovered 'Salmon berries' along the walk. A great survival tip should I ever find myself stranded in the Canadian Woods. I wonder if Grylls knows about them?

Local Wildlife Sightings - No bears......yet. Did see a Deer by the side of the road as I was strolling up our street. This morning I saw a Squirrel playing chicken with a car. You'll be as pleased as I was that he's lived to see another day.

Driving on the other side of the road - Yep, I've done it. Think the scariest part was reversing out of our steep driveway! Wasn't as bad as I thought and it's getting easier everyday.

Offered B.C Bud - I kid you not, less than 24 hours after touching down here I took the boys to the skate park & a local resident offered me some. The folks are so polite here!

Being reunited with Okanagan Pale Ale

Can't wait to see what week 2 offers up........

Photos: VANCOUVER

krit — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:13:00 GMT

SETTLING IN......

The journey begins

krit — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:28:00 GMT

On Thursday morning June 10th, 2010, I said teary farewells to my loved ones & boarded a plane at Brisbane airport bound for Vancouver, Canada.

Most of my possessions were either placed in storage, given away or brought with me.

After an arduous past 6 months I am looking forward to the opportunities & new experiences this adventure will bring.

And so it begins............