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
