Travel Diary

More Skiing in Queenstown

Well it's now Tuesday and I finished my marathon 11 days of skiing yesterday, not really much to report on the latter end of last week, was quite tired on friday, saturday and sunday so didn't ski all day then.

On Friday, my friend Adam (off my course at Uni) got into Queenstown (and the same hostel), and him and his friend Ben came up the slopes with me yesterday. Adam was quite good at boarding despite only having a few lessons, and Ben's a very good skier so we managed to do pretty much every slope on offer, including a couple of blacks. It should also be noted that according to Ben (and he's made a 1000 pound bet on it) snowboarding will have died out in 10 years from now, for the simple reason that Adam took so long to put his bindings back on after getting off the lift. We went out for a few drinks last night at yet more bars. We were going to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for Karaoke, but decided to drink somewhere else cheaper and by the time we got there it was dead so we went elsewhere.

View of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu from the Remarks

Another view from the Remarks

Adam on the road back down from the Remarks

Today I've been up the Gondola to the lookout above Queenstown which wasn't really that impressive seeing as it's only 2000ft up and yesterday Adam and I climbed up to a lookout point at the Remarkables which is over 5000ft up. Still the luge was fun up at the Gondola.

I think given that I've been skiing for the last 11 days I probably will only have a couple of days up at Cardrona and Treble Cone when I'm in Wanaka, but that'll probably depend on what else there is to do.

Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown

Well I've now been in NZ for a week and a half so I thought it about time for another update. The flight over from LA to Auckland was nice enough if a little cramped and painful due to my not putting sun tan lotion on my back in the morning on venice beach. On that matter Venice Beach was lovely on the Saturday morning/afternoon, I should also mention the waves were about 3 metres high and breaking very close to the shore which made for some swimming, although the chap (Christian) I'd gone to the beach with from my dorm returned to the hostel after me with a nasty looking injury where a wave had knocked him down into the seafloor.

Anyway the flight had some good films, namely Old School which could be in the running to be the next Road Trip, another great comic performance by Will Ferrell (Marshall Willenholly in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) and a cracking cameo by Sean William Scott as a Redneck petting zoo owner. It also had the ability to play somewhat old computer games which was a bit fancy.

We arrived in Auckland at about 4:55 on the Monday morning (crossing the International Date Line meant missing out Sunday the 13th). Sailed through customs and past the sniffer dogs, checked my bags and headed to the other terminal to fly to Christchurch, and despite the flight only being an hour or so, they still gave out a breakfast which given they'd also served one on the LA->Auckland flight was nice. After I got into Christchurch I picked up my hire car (a Kia, lovely!) and headed to the hostel, after an hour or so I managed to find it and then after another half hour I managed to find somewhere to park so I could go and check in. Their car park was full so I had to park in the multi-storey over the road but fortunately they have an agreement with the hostel that meant my parking from 11am on monday until 9am on tuesday only cost $5NZ which is less than 2 pounds (and a lot cheaper than the $26 anyone else would have paid!) The YHA hostel in Christchurch is really nice with a great common room/kitchen and lots of showers which is always a good thing. I spent most of the afternoon/evening drinking tea and walking round the town (really not much to see at all).

The next day I headed down to Dunedin for a couple of nights, stopping in Timaru for lunch and to pick up an adapter so I could play my discman back through the car stereo. The hostel was again quite nice even though the area looked a little run down (appearances can be deceptive). My room even had a balcony, which didn't get much use as it's so cold down here at the moment. Didn't really do much the first night except sleep. On the wednesday I did the Speights brewery tour which wasn't bad (a lot better than the Granville Island one, although not as much free beer). Then in the evening headed out with some English lad whose name I forget and an Aussie lass to what was supposedly one of the better drinking establishments in town, except it was pretty dead and got raided by the police looking for under age drinkers. Then in true bolt the door after the horse has run fashion, the bar staff came round id-ing everyone (well except me) after the police left.

Then on Thursday I headed down to Queenstown, stopping in a little town called Alexandra for lunch, at a swiss cafe. What was swiss about it I don't know though. The Queenstown YHA is lovely although lacking in the open fire department which is what you want after a hard day skiing. After I checked in the lass behind the desk asked if I was planning to ski and sorted out all my rental gear and passes for the next 11 days which was a little handy. All I had to do was walk to the hire place and get a pair of fitting boots (they then delivered boots, skis and poles to the hostel for me, which was nice). I also got a new snowboard jacket and trousers (they look so much better than ski gear and are more comfortable) from a shop that carries last seasons gear (at a cheaper price). So I've now got a lovely Jack Burton jacket which still looks good off the slopes. I should also add that buying 11 days worth of hire, passes and clothing was actually quite cheap compared to daily hiring and pass purchase. Still this afternoon should be entitled how to very easily spend just short of 600 pounds in a couple of hours. Spent the evening drinking with an English lad from my dorm (Brian) and his mate Bob.

Friday was the first day of skiing and despite the fact that parts of the South Island are currently experiencing their coldest winter, there wasn't much snow up on my chosen field (the Remarkables) but I still had a pleasant time. Saturday was better as there was 5cm of fresh snow overnight but the weather was pretty awful (cold and gusty). I also learnt how not to put snow chains on:
As the instructions were in German I got some help off the staff who were renting out and generally fitting chains (the road to the remarkables is a 13km unsealed windy dust track). So this helpful (or so I thought) woman fitted one of the chains and left me to the second, I then received some more assistance with the second and headed off. After about 400 metres there was a bad clonking, the chain I'd fitted was all over the shop, so I drove back down to get it re-fitted by which point it had all but come completely off the wheel. So that was then re-done by someone who knew what they were doing and I headed back off. About 1km from the car park the first chain that had been put on started clonking and the bloke who patrols back and forth on such bad days pulled me over and sorted it out. Anyway the skiing was great despite getting a very bruised calf from where (the same woman who ill-fitted the first chain) didn't slow the chair lift down as I was getting on (they normally grab it just before it gets to you so it doesn't injure you). Bob and Brian were also up at the Remarks taking their first snowboard lessons, I tried to get them further up the mountain with no success.

Sunday was also spent at the Remarks (and I managed to fit the chains perfectly myself as there'd been more snow) and Bob and Brians morning lesson had them doing a green run (as opposed to playing around on the baby slope), so I managed to drag them up to the very top and down the other green runs.

Monday Bob and Brian took a day off boarding so I headed up to Coronet Peak (or Concrete Park as one receptionist at the hostel calls it). It was shockingly bad, although it did have a sealed (paved) road all the way up. However since there's been no snow at Concrete Park for a week (today 23rd), the runs are awful (covered in crusty powder or just plain ice) and not helped by the fact that fake snow blowers were going all day which didn't actually produce a decent powder at all. Still they did have a decent express chair lift and a pretty long run (1.8km) but I won't be going back unless they have about another 20cms of snow.

Tuesday was another day at the Remarks and it was absolutely perfect conditions, the sun was out all day and the powder was just right, so I managed to get around to doing all the blue runs (still haven't tried any blacks) and improved my technique a lot. Bob and Brian had their last lesson in the morning which had taken them down an easy blue, so in the afternoon I persuaded them to go down the other easy blue (in my book at least) which is just a very big drop (and below is a picture Brian took). In the evening we headed out with another English lad from my dorm (Dave) to a few bars, well about 5 in total.

I then spent today skiing at the Remarks again but suffered a little from last night so didn't ski as well, and also the snow just wasn't as good as yesterday given no fresh stuff (and the Remarks only make snow on the heavily used Alta Green run which is fed into by all the runs down the mountain).

I've got another 5 days skiing in Queenstown, so I'll probably spend them all at the Remarks. Then I'm up to Wanaka for a week and I'm going to ski 5 days up there (Cardrona and Treble Cone).

Santa Monica (July 6-12th)

Well Santa Monica is lovely, if a little pricey and short on things to do. Firstly whilst the hostel is still cheap, it's the most expensive I've stayed in so far at $28USD a night for HI members. Still it's very nice and literally one block from the beach. I haven't really done that much for the last week except see the sights, visit the beaches and cinemas, oh and some drinking.

On monday I really did very little except go and watch T3, get a haircut (I've since found out I could have got a much cheaper one at the Vidal Sassoon academy) and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach, oh and I had dinner at the "English" pub round the corner from the hostel.

On tuesday I took a trip out to Universal studios (nice discount for staying at the hostel as well!) and whilst all the rides were pretty tame they were still great fun, in particular Shrek 4D was superb, as was the live fire Backdraft show and the 50 minute long studio tour, with all it's various surprises along the way. I foolishly went out for a curry on tuesday night.

The Bates Motel

On wednesday I took a sightseeing tour (again discounted) which took in Venice Beach, Hollywood, Bel Air, homes of the rich and famous, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Strip. Also the toilets where George Michael was arrested and the location where Hugh Grant was arrested. Went out for dinner at the 50s style burger bar Johnny Rockets (puns aplenty in that name for sure).

Venice Beach, where White Men Can't Jump was filmed

The Hollywood Sign (covered in smog)

Very large advert (if you're wondering who it is, it's Vincent Pastore who played Sal aka Pussy in the first two seasons of the Sopranos)

Santa Monica Beach

Thursday was spent on Venice Beach, before heading off to see Pirates of the Caribbean, which is an absolutely superb movie, probably the best of this summers big movies. Johnny Depp pulls off a cracking English accent and most of the supporting cast are English which is a pleasant change. The chap who played Lieutenant Gruber in Allo Allo has a small part, also Jack Davenport from This Life and Coupling and Mackenzie Crook (or Gareth from the Office) plays a very amusing pirate with a wooden eye. Then in the evening I headed down the pier for a free concert with the Afrocelts playing (formerly the Afrocelt Sound System). Whilst I like their music they're not really a band to watch live, so I headed off with the others who'd gone down to a pub for the rest of the evening, then a manky little club called the Circle which was literally one room with a giant bar in the middle. I should also mention I saw my first celebrity in the form of Ed Begley Jr at the concert.

Today I decided to not do much and went to watch the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, not too bad, but not that faithful a version of the original comic (why in hells name did they introduce Tom Sawyer and Dorien Gray I'll never know). Anyway that's about it for Santa Monica, off to NZ tomorrow night.

St Louis (and why you shouldn't go there)

I didn't really get any sleep during my last night in Vancouver, didn't help that 2 lads in the dormitory were checking out around 5am. Still checked out about 8:20 and caught the shuttle to the airport, which I was quite lucky to catch as the hostel told me completely the wrong place to catch it from. Anyway I got checked in fine even though the flight number was completely different to the one on my ticket.

Once you check in at Vancouver airport to a flight to the US you go into a special US only section that is fenced off from everywhere else (i.e. no duty frees) but it does also mean that you clear customs and immigration before take off which is quite handy. Now the cheeky bit, the $10CAN airport improvement fee, would have been more if I hadn't been flying to the US!

After the customs/immigration desk I had to open up my smaller checked bag for some form of swab test, don't know what they were looking for, but it seems strange that in Miami they X-Ray all your bags whereas here they just occasionally ask people to open some!

I then sat around for a couple of hours and heard a very amusing conversation from some American to his son whilst I was waiting to get some doughnuts from Tim Hortons. It went along these lines:

Dad: What the hell are these Canadians doing working here, this is American soil.
Son: No dad, that's just embassies, we're still in Canada, just we've cleared immigration and customs to make it like an internal flight when we land.
Dad: You're wrong son, and I bet you all these prices here are in US Dollars as we're in America now (they were actually in Canadian dollars).

So he was actually wrong on all three counts. Landed in St Louis a little early, the temperature was over 100 Fahrenheit during the day there, so it was a little hot. I should also mention that the baggage claim at St Louis is a joke, you can literally walk in off the street and grab yourself a bag, I kid you not.

Fortunately the hotel I'd booked had a free shuttle so no problems getting there at all. The front desk man was quite a local and seemed annoyed by the fact that he had to serve customers and this impinged on his ability to watch the NASCAR racing (or rather parade of cars in a circle) on the lobby TV. The room was great, large amount of TV channels and lovely, lovely aircon.

I then decided I'd go and get some dinner at the 24hr diner next door to the hotel, except it wasn't 24hr, it was closed. So I decided to walk about a bit and find somewhere else to get food. It wasn't difficult to find anywhere as there was just one road from the hotel to anywhere, but it was very long, four lanes and had quite a lot of police cars driving along it (this due to the fact that the police station was on the same road). Now given that all the food emporiums were on the other side of the road presented a great problem as the nearest crosswalk was about 1/2 a mile up the road. This normally wouldn't be a problem but despite it being 8:30 at night it was still 88 Fahrenheit. I eventually settled on Hardee's which is a great burger joint that only sells big burgers made from Aberdeen Angus Beef. For $6.45 you can get a 2/3lb double bacon cheeseburger meal.

Next morning for the first time since I've been travelling, I was able to watch the Grand Prix. Then I just headed down to the airport. And now the reason why you don't ever want to fly out of St Louis, after check in you give your bags to TSA who scan them all (behind a closed screen), they also have the right to break open your locks should they wish to check your bags. Yes they can break open your locks and then they'll just re-seal them with cable ties and leave you a little note explaining that they can do it (you're also not entitled to claim a new lock as they're doing it for your safety). Now in Miami they actually called you after your bag had been scanned to open it and then they'd inspect it. Not so in St Louis, and the obvious fact that it's all done behind a closed screen means you don't know they've broken your lock off until you arrive at your destination (fortunately they only broke the crappy cheap padlock off my shoe and book bag that I bought in Miami to comply with AAs pathetic weight restrictions).

Anyway the flight was pleasant enough, just like the flight to St Louis there was food but it was just a buffet bag that you picked up when you got on (still better than the Miami to Toronto offerings), and there was also an inflight movie, but it was Star Trek Nemesis which is an awful awful film.

So I'm now in lovely sunny Santa Monica, one block from the beach in probably the classiest looking hostel so far, but more on that another time.

Vancouver (3rd Time 2-5th July)

So we got back into Vancouver around 7:30 and arranged to meet back around 8:30 in the lobby of my hostel (even though I was the only one staying there). Go to about 8:35 and no-one, saw Jimbo crossing the street, turns out that it was now 9. Then I just bumped into loads of people I already met on the moose run, first some Australian I was talking to on the houseboat, then Fabian and Stephanie, then Tammy and Clair. Anyway by the time Alex and Patrick actually turned up at 9:30 everyone was pretty knackered so we just got some dinner and then headed back to sleep.

The next morning, Jo, Alex and myself met up around 11 (Patrick was ill and Jimbo was off skydiving), then went to Sears and then off to get some brunch. Before I went out I also had the delight of reconfirming my next two flights with American Airlines who have a wonderful automated system that trys to recognise what you're saying and fails. Anyway I digress, we all then went off shopping and arranged to meet up later to go to Stanley Park (on the corner of Granville and Georgia but alas no free concert this time). Patrick was feeling a little better so we walked up there, even saw a massive seal swim right up to the shore to catch a fish (unfortunately my camera was too slow turning on to capture this). We took the free bus around Stanley park and got off at one spot to get some food and spot racoons. We were going to play Pitch and Putt but it was 18 hole and the course looked big so we just sat by the beach for a while before heading back to get some dinner at a nice restaurant called Clippers, which was very cheap (as always round here). Then we just trotted back down Robson Street popping into the odd shop before heading back to our hostels.

Racoon in Stanley Park

On friday I just spent the day updating this travel log, doing a back log of washing and packing my bags for the plane down to St Louis. I had a quick walk around the town again in the afternoon and checked out the free Fox concert on Granville and Georgia but it wasn't as good as last weeks.

So that's Canada, what can I say a lovely country, if you haven't been here yet you should do.

Bigfoot Tour of Vancouver Island (29 June-2 July)

The bigfoot tour is run by the same company that does the moose but just in a smaller bus and generally shorter trips. We had a really great group, Patrick and Alex from Southampton, James from somewhere up north and Jo from London representing the English. Then Anna from Australia, Ai from Japan and a couple of Swiss girls. We also had a lad from Quebec who was possibly the rudest person we'd ever met. And just to confuse matters our driver was also called Patrick. The first day consisted of getting the ferry over to Vancouver Island before Lunch. We then headed to a place called Coombes for lunch, then up to Sprott Lake where they had some ancient petroglyphs and some of us went for a swim (by some of us I mean all the English members of the tour). We then visited Long Beach, where some of us had a beer (again some of us refers to English members of the tour). We then got to Tofino, but on the way saw a couple of bear cubs and their mother. We stopped to take some pictures at which point a car flys past in the other direction. Patrick (driver) motions for him to slow down. The car stops and starts turning round, at which point Pat asks if the gentlemen in the bus are up for it, should things kick off. They don't but the guy in the car was an idiot and doing about double the parks speed limit. So we arrive in Tofino and the BBQ gets fired up, the hostel I should add was lovely. Then some of us decide to take care of the alcohol for the evening by visiting the liquor store (some of us this time refers to English and Australian). After the BBQ we headed out to another part of the beach to have a camp fire and toast some marshmallows. We got about an hour before the rain absolutely lashed down so then we just headed back to the hostel and some more drinking (again English, Australian parties involved and Patrick the Driver).

Day 2

This was a free day in Tofino, in the morning we headed out to Tofino Park for a little walk around. We then got on a boat to take us whale watching and to some hot springs. We did see whales (both Orcas and Humpback) which was nice as well as seals and some other wildlife.

An Orca (if you look very closely!)

We then had about 3 hours at the hot springs, although there was about a 40 minute walk either way from the boat. They were exceptionally hot as well, so we sat in there for a while and then being typically English had a few beers that we'd come prepared with for the walk back to the boat. I should add that I foolishly decided to stay sitting at the front of the boat on the way back which results in much pain. Also the captain of the boat looked like Pete Townsend.

The Hot Springs

We got back to the hostel around 8:30 and Patrick fired up the BBQ with some Crab, Salmon, Shrimp, Scallop and Corn. We got half a crab each, a skewer kebab of scallop and shrimp and a piece of a very large salmon, all excellently cooked (Patrick the Driver used to be a chef as well). In total both nights BBQ meals came to $23.50 each which is around 10 pounds, which for that amount of fresh fish is an absolute bargain.

We spent the rest of the evening drinking.

Day 3 Tofino -> Victoria (also Canada Day)

On the way down to Victoria we visited all the places we missed on the way up. We stopped for lunch at Little Qualicum Falls, which is where we learnt what a great liar Patrick the Driver was. The next group was coming up and he told their driver first of all that as a group we'd caught all the seafood for our BBQ the night before. Oh right says the other driver, did you charter a boat? Oh no says Pat, I met this guy Brian in the pub and just gave him petrol money. He then went on to tell the other driver how we saw so many whales, and that we were heading off to a shooting range that afternoon.

Next we got to Cathedral Grove where parts of Return of the Jedi were filmed and some of the oldest tallest trees exist. We also stopped in some small town called Chemainus where they have lots of murals and some shopkeeper thought Jimbo was Prince William, so him and Pat fed her a line about William being anorexic and some other rubbish.

Group Photo Cathedral Grove

Completely forgot to add in about the Bungy Zone place. Can't remember the height of the bridge think it was about 240 ft, but I did the ultimate swing which was to be honest well tame. It was basically a giant swing from another wire suspended parallel to the bridge. You sit on the bridge and then just get pulled off apparently getting up to 100km/h or something like that but after skydiving it was dull (and just like skydiving a little bit chafing on the upper thighs). Jimbo somehow got talked into doing an actual bungy, he didn't talk for about 4 hours after about it!

Bridge Swing == Tame

We got into Victoria and took a little drive around before checking into the hostel, then we headed down to the harbour to check out the fireworks, but they weren't happening until 10:15 so we got a bit of dinner at the Pita Pit, then hit Big Bad Johns, the greatest bar in the existence of the world. Basically a right little red neck dive but cheap beer and a great atmosphere. Everyone else cleared off to watch the fireworks, me, Pat (southampton) and Jimbo had another round, then headed down there as well and then quickly dashed back to get some drinks in before the crowds surged in. The hardcore of the group stayed to 2am (that is all the English, Australia and Pat the driver) and by this point locals were buying us rounds, it was great. We then headed back to the hostel, and even though I've not really mentioned it, Quebecci had by now wound everyone right up (including the driver) and especially the girls on the trip. So Patrick the driver insisted on showing everyone the wonderful little ice cubes in the freezer in our room, repeatedly! We then headed back out to find a subway so that I could do a redneck impersonation and get a sub that was swimming, but it was closed, so some went up to 7-11, at this point a few of us were sat down. Then one of the locals from the bar appeared and Patrick the driver complimented him sarcastically on his shirt, so he gave it to him. Now whilst one of the party was now amusingly wrecked, it would be rude of me to mention it here. Eventually got to bed around 4am.

Greatest Bar on Earth, Big Bad Johns

Day 4

Everyone got up ridiculously early and we headed out to a Juice Smoothy bar that Patrick the Driver had recommended. Foolishly me and the other Patrick also decided to try the shot of wheatgrass. It didn't taste that bad but the taste of grass juice repeating all morning is unpleasant. We then headed down and got a old style photo done (first time a groups actually wanted to do it as well). We pretty much got the best of the group in, with the exception of Jimbo. Still we've now all got as nice momento of Jo, Anna and Alex as madames, me and Patrick as Cowboys and Patrick the Driver as a mountie. We then headed off to a mall for lunch and then onto the Empress hotel where the Queen stays when she visits. Me, Patrick and Jimbo decided that the lounge was quite pleasant so stayed for a beer, we didn't look too out of place! Then the three of us made our way back to the bus asking people when the fireworks for Canada Day were going to start to much bemusement from people (er it was yesterday!)

The Empress Hotel

We then headed back to the Ferry and back to Vancouver.

Vancouver (2nd visit 26-29th June)

I didn't really do much when I got back from the Moose Run apart from watching some TV and sleeping. On the friday I got up early, so I could organise a few things for the rest of my trip as well as some tickets to see Dave Lee Roth that night at the Orpheum Theatre. I then decided to take a little walk around town and in the afternoon thought I'd go and see if I could find Granville Island Brewery as they do tours and tastings. Anyway I ended up walking a couple of miles up Granville Street after going over the Granville St Bridge, turns out that Granville Island is pretty much below the bridge. So I decided I'd pop back there the next day as there wasn't a conveniently timed tour. I headed up to the Orpheum to collect my ticket for the show, but was told the time I'd previously been told was too early, so I wandered about and watched a free rock concert on the corner of Granville and Georgia, I have no idea who the band were, but they were quite good. After a quite detour by a bar I headed down to the concert. Beer and Cider were the same price, but as I discovered Cider is sometimes a little different over here, i.e. pink and fizzy. After talking to a local I found out that Cider is what they call a Wine Cooler. Anyway enough of the moaning, the support act were the Flairs who were reminiscent of Veruca Salt but they clearly hadn't been allowed a decent sound check. So onto Diamond Dave, the man's still got his showman flair even if he is looking a little past it, the show was billed as playing all the old favourites - this translates to play mostly Van Halen, three solo songs, the rest covers and completely forget about the DLR Band ever existing. The set list was:

Hot For Teacher
Mean Streets
Just Like Paradise
Running With The Devil
Eruption
You Really Got Me
Ad Lib + Jam
You Really Got Me Reprise
California Girls
Somebody Get Me A Doctor
The Cradle Will Rock
Just A Gigolo/Ain't Got Nobody
Unchained
Jam
Unchained Reprise
Crazy From The Heat
Shh Bop (New but still a cover)
Theme From Shaft
Panama
Dance the Night Away
????? May have been another song here
Yankee Rose

Encore 1
Ice Cream Man
Everybody Wants Some
Aint Talkin Bout Love

Encore 2
Jump

So all in all it was a pretty good show.

On saturday I didn't do much except go to the Brewery for the tour (not worth it) and the tasting (well worth it). I then watched the rugby before grabbing some dinner and some sleep before the Bigfoot Run started the next morning.

The Moose Run (17th-26th June)

Day 1: Vancouver to Whistler

So after the heavy monday night, I managed to get up early enough to pack and have a shower. I couldn't remember whether I was supposed to be in the lobby at 8 or 9am, so I got down there for 8. It actually turns out it should have been 9, then at 9 I got a message to say the bus wouldn't turn up until about 10, at about 10:45 it finally turned up. There weren't many on the Bus at all, which made it easy to get to know each other: another English lad, Gary, two English girls, Claire and Tammy and two Swiss sisters, Fabian and Stephanie. We first of all headed up to Squamish and stopped at a little mining museum place as Matt (our driver) had said there was some filming going on, turns out it was for Scooby Two or rather it had been as they'd finished the week before, still looks from the props like there's going to be a runaway mine cart scene.

Mining Museum where Scooby 2 was filmed

Next we headed up to Shannon Falls where we had lunch and then went for a little walk, after that we continued onto some more Falls (Brandywine this time). Then before we went to our accomodation, we visited the Whistler Bungee jump site, only Fabian had a go, it was to be honest a little pricy for such a small fall. We got to the Chalet Alta Vista where we were staying in the late afternoon and then headed down to Alta Lake for a bit of a swim before dinner, then out into town and ended up in some overpriced club called the Savage Beagle. On the walk home we saw the Northern Lights, although most of the people walking home couldn't remember them the next day.

Day 2: Whistler

The original plan for the free day had been to hire some rollerblades, so Gary and I headed down into Town only to find nowhere rents them but you can buy them for as little as $99! Instead Matt, Claire, Tammy and I hired some Mountain Bikes from the Chalet and went around the various trails that Whistler offers taking in a couple of lakes and nice scenery. For the evening meal we headed out to some park to have a group BBQ, but Matts firelighting skills weren't too good so we ended up getting food by about 9pm! After being set upon by mosquitoes we headed back to the Chalet and a couple of us availed ourselves of the Hot Tub before heading off to bed. I should at this point also mention that Chalet Alta Vista in Blueberry hill where we stayed was without doubt the most luxurious place I've stayed on my travels so far (and great value at $25CAN a night)

The lovely chalet we stayed in at Whistler

Day 3: Whistler to Kamloops

We gained a few more people on our bus today, a couple of Australian girls, a Dutch girl and another English girl. We saw quite a lot of things as well, the Nairan Falls, Joffree Lake and the Matier Glacier, Duffy Lake, Seton Lake and Lillouet Lake where we had lunch.

Group photo by Joffree Lake (I think)

And talking about lunch, whilst I was in subway ordering mine, the chap in front made me absolutely crease up, he was a bit of a redneck and had a mullet as well, so you can add the accent yourself, he was buying a couple of footlong sub rolls for him and 'his woman'. They were already filled with three different meats cheese and just about every salad item on offer, when the question of sauce came up:

What sauce would you like Sir?
You got any Dijon Mustard?
Yes sir? (Proceeds to put what I'd consider plenty of sauce on the sub) Is that enough sir?
No, put on a little more, a little more, a little more, make it swim baby (Turns to his woman) Ooh eee, I tell you this is going to taste fine.
Is that all Sir?
Have you got any Caesar dressing?
Yes Sir
Well I'll have that as well

and so it went on the subs literally had the same volume of sauce as they did meat and salad. But it just made me laugh especially the line Make it swim baby.

So back to the trip, in the afternoon we stopped off at Cash Creek for some Ice Cream and then got into Kamloops in the early evening where it was Fajitas for dinner, although one of the Australian girls had a strange idea of what went in one, so after much arguing, I produced a separate filling of Chicken, onions, and peppers (apparently this was completely wrong, but then what do I know?) and there was also a bowl of ridiculous size produced containing such delights as Broccoli, Carrots and other things that I doubt ever go into a Fajita.

After dinner, we headed up to an indoor climbing centre and got to climb for a couple of hours before the big surprise which was basically a giant swing. Some people complained about Kamloops hostel, but it had so much character. It was an old court house that had been converted into a hostel, and they'd kept all the old wood panelling in the dining room which used to be the courtroom itself.

Me climbing

And the swing

Day 4: Kamloops to Valemount

The stop today was Spaht Falls (in the Wells Grey national park). We got to the hostel around 1:30pm as we had to give our bus to the next group. The hostel was excellent. We were put up in a giant log cabin, with a massive lounge, 50" rear projection TV, satellite TV, pool/snooker table and so on. The town of Valemount was literally 1 street and was really the sort of place I'd been looking forward to seeing since coming to Canada. After doing some grocery/alcohol shopping we paid a visit to the Swiss bakery, which provided some amusement for the Swiss girls (and the rest of the group) as they were telling Matt (the driver) things to say to the baker.

In the evening we had a BBQ and then a few of us played some evil swiss drinking games.

Day 5: Valemount -> Jasper

Before leaving Valemount (we had to wait for the next groups bus), we went for a little walk around the wetlands which was very nice, although no moose to be seen. We then headed off to Jasper, visiting Mount Terry Fox and the Mount Robson visitor centre. We then took a walk around the Maligne Canyon before heading into Jasper town. Ironically it was exactly a week since I'd been there on the train as well! We were told there wasn't much to do around the hostel, so instead went for a Pizza in town before heading up to the hostel, which gets my sordid little grief hole award for the trip. Still we had a little campfire in the rain and toasted some marshmallows. By the time we got back inside all the lights in the blokes dorm had gone out so after struggling to find my bunk and almost tipping it over trying to get onto the top I managed to get a bit of sleep. It was an early start the next morning but guess what the lights don't come back on until around 9am, about 30 minutes after we left, which was nice.

Day 6 Jasper -> Banff

Picked up a few more people on the bus and stopped off at Athabasca falls. We then had a group photo at Tanglie falls, before hitting the Columbia Ice Fields which were still covered in snow and for those of us who managed to walk to the top it was actually still snowing up there. We then went to the visitor centre before having some lunch. Next stop was Lake Pedo or as Matt calls it F*ck My Dog lake as when he first took a group up there last year, he was announcing where they were and had just said Lake when someone outside the bus shouted said nickname. Interesting fact: the nickname in swiss german is Feck Mi Hund so now you know. After that we visited Lake Louise where the challenge was laid down to get a picture of the Lake from a hotel room (by whatever means), the higher the floor deciding the winner. In the end Claire, Tammy and Naomi won by asking a maid on the 8th Floor if they could get a picture (as they couldn't see the lake from the room they were in!). However Gary had the best tactic, he told Guest Services that he wanted to book up a room for his parents wedding anniversary and that money wasn't a question, this last statement did however mean he only got let into a 7th floor room (as this was the Gold floor).

Columbia Ice Fields

Lake Pedo (or Feck Mi Hund)

After that we got into the Banff hostel which was very nice and also the most expensive of the whole trip at $27. It ended up being only the original group of 6 staying there as well as everyone else opted to stay at the Global Village hostel. So we had dinner in the hostel restaurant and I made the early mistake of having a whole pitcher to myself. We then went out to the Pumping Tap in town for Karaoke, I managed to be the first to sing with I'm Just a Gigolo/I ain't got nobody by Dave Lee Roth (something I've always wanted to sing on Karaoke I'll admit). I ended up singing 4 other songs, Lola (sorry Mum) which seemed to have slightly different lyrics for the Canadian market. More than Words by Extreme with a couple of lads off another Moose Bus and Tammy. Then finally Hey Jude and Wonderful Tonight with a german lad off another Moose Bus. The star of the night though was Tammy (turned down from Pop Idol, it's all a sham apparently) who scooped first prize $50 worth of free drinks! A mention should also be made of the compere of the karaoke night, a real redneck with a full on mullet and good knee slapping action whilst singing. Can't really remember getting home as Carling had been only $3 a pint and Vodka and Cokes only $1.75. However I am told that I was berating a Canadian at the vending machine in the hostel about the quality of his countries chocolate (it's very bad if you didn't already know).

The mullet who ran the Karaoke

Day 7 Banff

I didn't really do much on the free day in Banff, it was raining anyway. Played some cards in the afternoon then headed into town for a group meal at the Rose and Crown pub before heading down to the nightclub of $0.25 beers, they were only 1/4 to 1/3 pints but still that makes a pint only $0.75 to $1 which is very good value. The club itself was pretty dire, claimed to be a rock night, but after an hour of variable quality rock, switched to dance and general rubbish.

Day 8 Banff -> Revelstoke

Leaving Banff I was the only person staying on the bus, but a couple of Australian lasses got on, a scottish couple and about 5 from the far east. First stop was Johnstone Canyon, then Moraine Lake (whilst we were there an avalanche started up the top of the mountain opposite - sounded like a thunderstorm - very strange really). We then got stopped by the Police for a routine vehicle inspection, the funny part being that Matt couldn't remember if he was allowed to be wearing flip flops or not, so ended up borrowing my trainers! Apparently the police do this every year to check up on commercial vehicles. We then went to Emerald Lake, and then stopped along the Kicking Horse river to see the natural bridge that had been caused by erosion of the rocks.

The Moose

Then we also saw a giant moose cross the road (which is very rare - still only managed to get a shot of its backside though). We stopped in a little town called Golden for lunch. Then in the afternoon visited the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre (or Roadkill Museum as it's been nicknamed due to where all stuffed displays come from). Once we got to Revelstoke we then headed out to do some Kayaking. Being the only one in the group bar Matt who'd Kayaked before I got free rein to just do my own thing. All the kayaks were hand built by the chap who was running the activity and they were beauties. Mine was a 17ft wooden sea kayak which really kept it's speed well and the scenery around the lake we were in was (as with most of Canada) spectacular. The evening meal was a BBQ laid on by the hostel.

Day 9: Revelstoke -> Kewlowna

This was the day of Bug Bingo (that is a window at the front of the bus had a grid taped on, everyone put in a dollar and picked a square, the one with the most bugs at the end of the day wins the money).

We got a few more people on the bus today as well, mainly english and australian. First stop was go karts (or something claiming to be them). They really were the worst karts I've ever been in, but the owners didn't seem to mind some playful ramming so it didn't matter that much. We didn't stop off anywhere of interest apart from a flea market as we had to get into Kewlowna early to get on the houseboat. This was a rip off, $30 for 3 hours on a boat and lunch. The lunch was 1 burger. However the sun was out and we could go swimming, jump off the boat and drink beer so we didn't overly mind at the time.

Then in the evening it turned out that I'd drawn the bug bingo with 2 others so it came down to scissor paper stones play offs. It went like this, first challenger

Drew
Won
Won

Then the next

Won
Won

so $17 was mine.

Apart from that headed out with a few others and Matt to a pub for a cheap wings night.

Day 10: Kewlowna -> Vancouver

Quite an empty bus again today as most people stayed in Kewlowna. The only activity of today was sky diving, which at $200CAN was a bargain (thats around 90 pounds sterling). When I was signing my life away, the chap behind the desk asks where I'm from, England I say, where abouts he asks, Guildford. Do you know the Star Pub he says as I was manager there last year. Small world isn't it. Anyway got all suited up, had a very short lesson on what to do etc. Then I got weighed as they didn't understand stone and they were looking at me quite warily. 232 lbs I came out at, which was fine for my tandem instructor Igor. However I was warned to expect thigh pain! Still at least I was going to be first out the plane. We were all pretty crammed in and I was chatting to some guy going for his 540th or so jump, I think he was trying to freak me out, but it didn't work. Then the moment came at 9000 feet we freefalled for about 30 seconds and all this time the other chap who'd done 540 jumps was somersaulting in front of me and waving. Then the parachute opened and the pain in my thighs started. Still the scenery was amazing and I managed to get a couple of pictures of myself and Igor coming down (you were allowed to take cameras up with you which was nice) and the spot I was landing in. The landing was great, just came to a perfect stop. I'd definitely do it again but I'd probably lose some weight first as my thighs were bruised to high heaven. Then after a few other people had jumped we headed back to Vancouver. Anyway here are some pictures of myself and Crazy Igor (apologies if the last two are a little bad, it's quite hard to take pictures when you're descending and the straps are chafing!):

In the plane

Descending

Descending

Vancouver (1st Visit 15-17th June)

I eventually got to my hostel (HI-Central) around 2:30pm and decided to have a shower and grab some food. The hostel is superb although definitely on the cheaper blocks of Granville street - both pawn and porn shops abound, it's over the road from another Hostel (Global Village) and there's a bar downstairs as well.

As a note if you're ever in the Granville Street area head to the 2 Parrots pub, it's great, serves only local brewed beer from the Granville Island brewery (and Guiness) and does some mean steaks - you can get a 8oz Sirloin Steak sandwich for $9.

I didn't do much else on the Sunday, bar some washing and discovering another great Eatery - the Pita Pit which is possibly the greatest takeaway I've ever been to. Had a look in the Hostel pub but it was pretty dead, so got some early sleep.

Next day I just went out for a stroll around town and discovered there's a burger restaurant (Triple O's by White Spot) which has the option of a pint of beer in it's meal deals. Didn't really do much else that day but later went out to the Pub Night in the hostel bar, during which I won a t-shirt in the quiz for my knowledge of what Prince William had been up to. Then ended up going off with a Kiwi, an English lad from my dorm, an Irishman, a Belgian and a German and a couple of others to a dodgy little loft bar on Granville called the Sugar Refinery. We'd unfortunately missed the band of the evening (who'd been named c***) so instead just ordered some pitchers of generically named beer, but this place was so hip that they didn't give you glasses to drink from, oh no they gave you jam jars. Stumbled home about 2am and then managed to get up at about 7 to pack for the Moose Trip, but that's another story!