Another lazy post

Here's the second BUNAC entry, documenting the hectic fortnight with Kate here!

With Kate here for a fortnight, I just haven’t stopped, and I’m so tired! In a packed first weekend, we had skydived and gone to Vancouver Aquarium, and then for Labour Day Monday, we were off to Pacific National Exhibition Centre (PNE).

It was the final night of the summer festivities at the PNE, which include food stalls, shows, gymnasts, a casino and concerts. Add to that the rides at the fairground Playland, and there was plenty to do! There was a farm section with lambs, piglets, hatching chicks, thoroughbred horses and pig racing. There was Superdogs, a show where rescued canines show off their Frisbee catching, high jumping, dancing and racing skills. There was a market where there were hilarious demonstrations of ridiculous inventions. It was all very family orientated, but the Big Dipper was fun, and the entertainment well…er…entertaining!

I was back to work during the days, but once Friday came, we got the plane to British Columbia’s capital, Victoria. It was just like an English south coast town. I had to have the Fish and Chips, which had chips instead of fries for once! We took the floatplane over from Vancouver, which offered great views of the city and the Gulf Islands, and also only took half an hour. The ferry ride back was longer, but was great again for different reasons – very relaxing, and more landscape to observe.

In the city, we mostly just chilled out, drinking rose wine and enjoying the sunshine. I ended up like a slapped tomato, keeping up an English tradition! The government buildings were as old and decadent as you can get in Canada, and the bay was just beautiful under the setting sun.

Arriving back in Vancouver, and there was more mid-week fun with a tandem bicycle ride around Stanley Park, and we also took in the views of the city from the top of the Harbour Centre.

The weekend following and I surprised Kate with a trip to Kelowna – Canada’s wine country. I hired a car, which was the first time on the right-hand side of the road for me. It was strange driving in the passenger seat! About four hours, and we were in the picturesque Okanagan Valley. Blessed with more perfect weather, we arrived in the early afternoon, and made our way to a lake that my friend had recommended.

My friend had said, “take the country road to Oyama Lake”. In retrospect, she should have said, “take the rocky, off-road mountain track to Oyama Lake”. The tiny, cheap(est) car I had hired struggled up the side of the valley to the isolated lake, but it was worth it. Not only could we enjoy the fishing haven, but on the drive back down to Kelowna we were greeted by the best views I have seen in Canada.

The next day, we went on a wine tasting tour of the region. I was glad we were driving, because the tour was fast and furious. We visited a range of wineries, and were just taking back mouthful after mouthful! We received some instruction on the tasting, and I am now a professional wine taster – I will be to the annoyance of my friends back home, anyhow. The Mission Hill Estate winery included a tour, and was absolutely stunning. The buildings framed the valley around an amphitheatre, and the only winery bell tower in the world rang out to give the impression we were in a village in Tuscany.

The trip to Kelowna, although short, was a real highlight of Kate’s visit. Canada keeps impressing me with the scenery, and the Okanagan really was breathtaking.

Two hectic weeks

Kate being here has been brilliant, but I haven't stopped! The eternal paradox is that the more I do, the more I have to write about, but the less time I have to write! So I am just adding my BUNAC entries, because it seems they will never get put on the BUNAC website (but I'm still getting paid, and that's the main thing!).

Here's for September 1:

After a quite couple of weeks, post-Whistler, Kate finally arrived in Vancouver. Amidst bankrupt airlines (which luckily she wasn’t booked on), and cancelled flights (which she was on), she completed her 9 hour flight just 9
hours late.

It wasn’t the best start to our action packed fortnight, but it soon got better. That was Friday night, and Saturday morning we were off to Abbotsford for a sky dive!

We caught an early(ish)coach out to Abbotsford, which is about two hours away. The way the bus schedule panned out, it was looking like we would have to hang around the airfield for something like four hours before we could get back to Vancouver, but we hitched in a taxi with two people who were also jumping out of planes, and who had caught the same bus as us. That meant we would jump a couple of hours earlier, which gave us less chance to build up our nerves!

I wasn’t half as scared as I thought I would be. Everyone around the airfield was really calm, which you would expect from seasoned pros. It was once we had been kitted out, done a quick training talk, and were squeezed into a small, camouflaged plane that the nerves began to come – no going back now.

As the plane climbed, I found out that it was me going out first, which didn’t encourage me. At 12,000 feet, the door opened, and I slid my feet out of the window. There was no chance to worry, because in a second I was freefalling! It was fantastic, the wind rushing past, and flying through the clouds. It seemed to last for ages, and gave me plenty of time to think about the small chance that I actually still might die. Well, I didn’t! Once the parachute was up, we could take out our cameras, and I got some great pictures of the view and the other sky divers.

It was definitely an experience I won’t forget, but I don’t think I need to do it again!

Back in Vancouver, and the next day was another packed one. We visited the aquarium in Stanley Park, which is definitely a must see. Quite expensive at $25, but it is a tourist attraction, so therefore a bit extortionate.

We got our money’s worth, and inside there were thousands of different sea creatures to observe. People gave talks on the sharks and otters, we saw the baby beluga whale (who was only born a couple of months ago) and took in the burping sea lions.

The highlight was the dolphin show. Three dolphins showed us their acrobatic skills, leaping ten feet out of the water, splashing spectators, and generally demonstrating their intelligence.

In the evening, I showed Kate Commercial Drive, with its great bars and restaurants. We had a Mexican, and then went and sampled some Latin Jazz.

It’s just the beginning of a packed fortnight, including a seaplane to Vancouver Island. Call back for more in a couple of weeks!