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!