We headed to Vancouver by from Portland Oregon, via Seattle. It was a very long bus ride, although the border crossing was extremely easy – for us. The bus did leave a couple of people behind as the visa process was going to take a bit too long. This in our minds did not bode well for out next trip over the border, the one where we must convince the officials to issue our working visas without being left behind ourselves.
We were staying in the West End, central Vancouver – a really nice area with loads of trees and places to eat. We had four days until Lindsay and Rosanne arrived and we spent it trying to get our cell phones to work, unsuccessfully. In the end, we bought a new one so that it will work on our eventual return. Other matters to be dealt with were bank accounts and somewhere to live. As it turns out, both were a piece of cake. We have a place to live from 1 August, in fact we had a choice between two places. We have a place to live from 1 August, in fact we had a choice between two places. We did manage to fit in a walking tour of the city which showed us around a bit and helped us get our bearings in the city that we were to call home in a month’s time.
We headed out to the airport to pick Lindsay and Rosanne up, even though their plane was early it took them forever to get out to the arrivals lounge. I think that they knew we would be waiting and were taking their time in the Koru Club Lounge or the likes. Once they had finally arrived we headed back to the hotel. A few days of luxury before hitting the open road.
I have to admit, a flight from Auckland to Vancouver seems brutal: not only is it 12 hours long but you actually arrive hours before you left. I think they left New Zealand at around 9:00 pm and they arrived at 3:00 pm that same day. If you don’t sleep well on the plane, it is very hard to get going in Vancouver. Given the fact that they had travelled back in time, we took it easy. A quick dinner and cards at the mammoth sized board table in their suite. The next morning, we tried the ‘Canadian version of McDonalds’ – Tim Hortons (although they do have McDonalds as well – how else do they get their children to be quiet after Saturday morning sports!). I guess you can imagine what that food was like and nothing further needs to be said. We followed the path that our walking tour had taken earlier in the week, only we were the tour guides. Lindsay and Rosanne got lovely half stories of the places that they were seeing – the half of the story that Laurence and I could cobble together, the remainder we made up. Our favourite little surprise is a church in the centre of town. When we first went in they were having organ practice (and the person practicing actually knew how to play so it wasn’t terrible!). The church has been around for ages (can’t remember how long now) and it has just been restored. The floors, ceiling, and stained-glass windows are incredible. Unsurprisingly, in the middle of a work day it is quite a peaceful, cool place to be.
Vancouver is quite a nice city with a waterfront area which is lovely to hang out in (when it is not cold and rainy). The remainder of the day was relaxing and involved drinking some of the numerous bottles of booze they brought over and playing some long-awaited cards.
We were on the road again: soon after check-out we picked up our rental car and headed over to Vancouver Island, we have 5 days, 2 stops to make, and quite a bit of driving in-between. As designated driver Laurence lorded over us all, but mostly me. Once again, I suffered under his demands: I need to know which lane to be in at all times, I need driving instructions three corners ahead, I need to know the distance to each turn in advance – please keep calling out how far away it is, and oh, did I mention that I won’t remember anything you say because there is too much information so I will get a little s@#!*y and ask you again? Let’s just say that by the time we made it to Vancouver Island I told him that from there to Tofino he would need to read the road signs himself, I was no longer navigating.
Our first stop was Tofino (a place that I had not heard about prior to Lindsay suggesting it as a place to visit). I must say that for anyone wanting to head over to Vancouver Island, Tofino is a must-see place, a beautiful little town on the west coast of the island. We were there because Lindsay’s dad, Laurence’s grandfather, was based there during World War Two. The area itself is full of nature, islands, ocean, and beauty. It is a place to relax, surf (if you are able), and take it all in. This, in effect, is what we did. We had a few stops to match up the location with old photographs that Lindsay had brought over; Radar Hill, the Airport, and Long Beach.
But we also had food at the rental, food out in the village, gallery hopping, and my favourite – the hike to a crashed World War Two Canadian bomber. (someone in Vancouver had told me about it). It had crashed shortly after take-off in 1945, all 12 people onboard survived. I had read up on the instructions (as it is not ‘officially’ a BC Walk it is maintained by locals) – walk to the xth telephone pole on y road – which were very interesting and even included a ‘boggy’ area. What I did not realise was that after the first half an hour of walking it was all bog! We jumped from tree trunk to tree trunk, we balanced (well mostly), we crossed what seemed like small lakes, and, eventually, we made it to the bomber nestled into the hill. It was extremely fun climbing over logs, balancing over bog puddles, and launching myself from one side to the other. It was a fantastic walk, enjoyed by all, and definitely worth the time if you are in the area!
Our next stop was Victoria, the capital of British Columbia (why it isn’t Vancouver I don’t know – well I do but I won’t go into it here). We were staying about 10 minutes’ drive from the city in a very pretty area – we wandered around the streets a little bit looking at all the gardens (because Laurence spent hours on the telephone interviewing for a job in Vancouver). We didn’t have much time here as Laurence and I were starting to have people come back to us about potential employment – we did have time to purchase suits for any upcoming interviews and formal nights on the cruise ship. What we did see of Victoria is that it feels much smaller than Vancouver (more like the difference between Auckland and Hamilton). They had a lovely little Fisherman’s Wharf area where there were little float houses tired up and wonderful fish restaurants scattered about.
The highlight of Victoria was heading out to the Butchart Gardens. The gardens were quite pricey (we cheapskates are not used to paying to see flowers) but well worth the time that it took. We had arrived just at the right time; the flowers were out and it was nearing the end of the day. The crowds of people were leaving and the wildlife was coming out. Just whilst looking at the flowers we saw both hummingbirds and owls. Unfortunately, neither of them were very keen on photographs.
All good things must come to an end, but this good thing – it will continue. The next morning, we headed back to Vancouver, checked in to our hotel, and excitedly awaited the luxury portion of our overseas adventure – our cruise ship which will take us up into Alaska!
