OH, Canada!

What can I say? It’s been swell, eh?

I actually feel physically ill about leaving my surrogate home. I have fallen hard for this city, this province and indeed, this entire country. What an amazing place.

Why on Earth are we leaving then? Well, I guess the ‘Seinfeld Analogy’ can explain, in part, why we decided to close the curtain on our time abroad when we did. Remember at the height of Seinfeld’s success, when it was announced the show would finish up in its ninth season? Fans were devastated. But Seinfeld wanted to bow out in its prime; to be remembered as a great show and to end gracefully. Seinfeld didn’t want to become has-been daytime TV fodder (remember what happened to Dawson’s Creek and The O.C.?). We didn’t want to become the O.C. We wanted to be Seinfeld.

To be honest, as much as it stinks, I’d rather feel the way I do right now than be jumping for joy. For me, it’s clearly a sign of the incredible time we have had. I never wanted to get to a point where I loathed any part of our experience so much so that I couldn’t wait to get back home. What an awful waste of two fantastic years that would have been.

These past few weeks have certainly been hectic to say the least. We arrived home from our eastern travels and spent our final four days in Vancouver with our good friends Shilo & Ben who graciously offered to host us. We celebrated Shilo’s birthday on the Saturday night with a house party, spent some time in-between at Granville Island (for final obligatory Siegel’s Bagels and local coffee) and ventured back to Whistler to say goodbye to some of my most favourite BC mountains. We were actually lucky enough to witness five straight days of pure, unadulterated sunshine (in October!) as a grand finale – it doesn’t get much better than that. I’m taking it as Vancouver’s parting gift.

A final Vancouver sunset - doesn't get much better!!

On Monday, October 8^th we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with our wonderful friends who I like to think of as my Canadian ‘family’. We gorged ourselves on a feast of the now infamous Turducken (a chicken inside a duck, inside a turkey), as well as salads and breads, with spiced pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin pie, ice cream sandwiches and pavlova for dessert.

Our Thanksgiving spread - Turducken, mash, glazed ham, salads etc...

Dave B shares stories that make me laugh, gross Suze out and inspire another mouthful of food for Ben...

Leo swiped the spoon before the rest of us could get to it ... dammit!

The amazing spiced pumpkin cupcakes by ... me *cough* Addey!

On Tuesday morning, October 9^th we departed YVR for the final time and made our way to Hawaii’s Big Island for a week in Kona (to take in Ironman and some other sightseeing) before spending another six days on Oahu (Honolulu, Waikiki, North Shore etc.). As I mentioned previously, I’ll eventually blog about this trip separately once we return home and the dust has settled, so to speak.

I guess when I was thinking about this final post the topic of family was at the forefront of my mind. In part, because I miss my family dearly and also because they’re primarily to whom I am writing when I pen 'the Tales'.

In this instance however, when I refer to my ‘family’ I am referring to my Canadian family who have made our experience living in Vancouver so much richer and more rewarding. We have shared so many wonderful experiences over the past (almost) two years and I have no doubt my life is infinitely better having known them. Perhaps I never truly understood or appreciated the significance of friends until biological family was taken out of the equation. I never had to rely so heavily on friendship before we moved overseas, but now, I couldn’t imagine my life without them. We’ve made lifelong friends here and I won’t soon forget them, or the amazing experiences we have shared. So thanks guys, it’s been a blast.

Canadian Friends ♥

Speaking of amazing experiences, our two years of living abroad has also enabled us to visit many wonderful destinations on this side of the globe. Our travels have taken us to a number of cities and towns throughout the province of British Columbia, as well as to other Canadian provinces - Alberta, Quebec, Ontario and Yellowknife (for Steven). In the USA, we've visited the states of Washington, California, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Oregon. We've also enjoyed two trips to Mexico - to Cancun and Cozumel respectively. I can't speak for Steven, but certainly for myself through these travels I've been able to strike a number of things off the bucket list, including (but not limited to) learning to ski, living and working in Canada, completing a half ironman triathlon, completing a half marathon, spectating Ironman Kona, watching an ice hockey match, holidaying in Mexico and Hawaii and cracking the 100km distance on my road bike in a single session (cycling friends don't laugh - that was a big deal for me!!). 

Things I’ll Miss. The mountains. My surrogate Canadian family. Canadian courtesy. Running along the Seawall. Cars giving way to pedestrians. Skiing in Whistler. REAL trail running. Fall colours. Snow. Definitive seasons. Convenient overseas travel. Five-hour road trips to lake houses and for other non-descript adventures. Kingyo. Guu. Box sushi. Wearing a hoodie anywhere as being acceptable dress wear. Baby skunks outside our house. 10 pm sunsets in summer. Siegels bagels. Granville Island Public Market. Not having a car.

Things I won’t. The rain. Daily weed aromas throughout the city. Dark mornings. Short winter days. The Canadian banking system (specifically money transfer and ridiculous use of cheques)(massive fail). HST (and “surprise” taxes in general). Obligatory tipping despite crap service.

Now, on the subject of thank-yous and acknowledgements ….

To my fiancé, best friend, teammate and travelling partner in crime – thank you for sharing this wonderful journey. I am so grateful we have had all these amazing experiences together. For almost two years you have been the source of far too many funny stories in the Tales and you have certainly copped the brunt of my sarcasm. Thank you for taking it all in your stride. You were truly a blog star. If there’s one thing I now know for sure, it’s that together we can go anywhere and do anything we set our minds to.

A parting gift for you (and a Hawaii teaser for anyone interested) ...

Enjoying Hawaii a little too much? My manly fiance clearly in touch with his feminine side!

Strangely enough, the more we travelled over these past nine weeks, the more we realized we’ve barely scratched the surface – and that’s just in Canada. So I’ll say goodbye for now, but certainly not forever. I’m sure our parents will be thrilled to know we’ve already started brainstorming our next great adventures.

Finally, thank you all for allowing me to take you on this wonderful journey with us. I hope you enjoyed the updates on our travels as much as I enjoyed sharing them with you.

For now, I’ll find my comfort in a quote a friend of mine has often shared when reflecting on her own travel experiences: Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.  

The Tales are now officially blogging off. Pun intended.

Pyros and Mountain Men reign supreme in Green Lake, BC.

We’re actually on a flight to Montreal, QC at the moment but I thought I’d get a little blog post update in while I have the chance. Honestly, we’ve been so flat out (holidaying yes, but also cleaning, selling and packing) that I have had very little opportunity for sleep, let alone anything else! So for the blog and photo delays, I apologize, but I’m doing the best I can!

We’ve spent the majority of the past week selling furniture, cleaning our unit and packing all our worldly possessions, which, I can sadly but also triumphantly say, fit into a total of five suitcases and two boxes. I think we did pretty well. Steven kept me (and whoever else was over visiting) thoroughly entertained during the week with his incredible knack for negotiating furniture sales which either involved him selling our four year old Ikea furniture to unsuspecting buyers for more than what it costs brand new (I knew all the original prices, but it clearly helped that he didn’t!) or negotiating like a champion …

Steve: "I'll sell it for $450"

Lady: "Okay. Uh, so I guess we have to negotiate now right?..."

Steve: [awkward laugh]

Lady "$400?"

Steve: "DEAL!!!!"

In our spare time (hah!), we rented a Mustang coupe on Thursday. It wasn’t intentional but when we turned up at Budget they said we could rent it for an extra $10 so Steven was sold. He was in his bogan element when we were driving over the Lions Gate Bridge and ACDC suddenly came on the radio … you can imagine my reaction. Anyway, we made our way to Squamish to hike the Chief – which was challenging (we had to use chains and ladders in places and climb up a few boulders), but not as challenging as the Grouse Grind. It was well worth the effort though – we were aptly rewarded at the summit with beautiful sweeping views of the surrounding landscape.

Shannon Falls (end of summer - I've been told it's usually a lot bigger earlier in the season!)

Patiently waiting for Steven....

Using chains (and ladders) to make our way up!

The views from the top of the Chief.

After we hiked the Chief we continued our journey to Whistler and checked out the mountain bikers. Originally the plan was for us to do the Peak 2 Peak gondola ride but we arrived too late so that goes on the list for our last weekend, if the weather is nice (fingers crossed!). Instead, we had dinner at Sushi Village, home of my most favourite sushi – and it delivered yet again. In fact, I dare say we’ll be back there for dinner again if we manage to fit Peak 2 Peak in before we leave BC. On our way back to Vancouver later in the evening we also spotted a black bear hanging out on the side of the road, which was an awesome finish to a great day. 

This past weekend was spent with friends at Ben’s family lake house in Green Lake, BC, Steven affectionately dubbed “Hanemaayer Estate” (Ben’s surname). Ben’s family own a number of plots on ex-camp ground land that his grandparents bought many years ago. Green Lake is located east of a very small town called 70 Mile House, about four and a half to six hours drive from Vancouver (depending on who's driving!). The drive itself, thankfully, was absolutely stunning and, after a massive breakfast in Squamish (Steven and Ben ordered themselves the crème de la crème called ‘Mountain Man’) we stopped off at a few places along the way to take in the breathtaking scenery - at Joffre Lake (a glacier-fed lake) and Duffey Lake, as well as a stop at Lilooet to check out a local winery. We were also fortunate enough to see another black bear on the roadside – our second in as many days!

Joffre Lake (glacier fed hence the beautiful colour of the water)

Dave & Brendan play on the logs in Duffey Lake

Our view over Green Lake

The cabin

Steven celebrates the freezing water

The boys ponder life, looking out over the lake

Playing on the dock

Green Lake was beautiful. For the most part we enjoyed a really quiet, peaceful weekend. So much so I think I napped about five times every day. The lake was pretty cold but the water was absolutely crystal clear. I have never seen water so clear before! The weather was surprisingly really beautiful for this time of year too. We enjoyed two hot, sunny days with temperatures around 28 degrees (yeah, that’s hot weather for us now!). Ben, Steven and I arrived on Friday just after lunch and we were joined by Dave C, Brendan and Suze later on Friday evening. Teddy, Sharah and her friend (also a Nat) made their way to the lake on Saturday.

The majority of our weekend was spent relaxing, drinking, hanging out in or around the lake, making s’mores and barbequing an exorbitant amount of processed meat. 

BBQing processed meat. Ew.

Roasting s'mores over the fire.

Me relaxing on the bank, pillow and all.

While plenty of fun times were had, there were two standouts:

Mountain Man

Although my recollection is slightly hazy, I believe the Mountain Man competition was devised over some campfire drinks, late Friday night. Through various, ridiculous discussions, the boys determined they should all participate in a competition which would test their feats of strength, and ability to undertake these tasks after sculling a number of cans of beer. Of course the name Mountain Man was derived from the Squamish breakfast Ben and Steven had devoured earlier that day.

Mountain Man involved four participants (Ben, Brendan, Steven and Dave) each undertaking a timed series of consecutive tasks. Each participant had to do the following:

Beach start

Swim out to the pontoon and scull a can of beer

Swim back to the beach

Run 300 metres up around a log pile, collect two blocks of fire wood and run with the fire wood back to the campfire

Split both blocks of wood in half

Scull another can of beer

Run back to the beach and collect the kayak

Kayak down the lake, around a buoy and return to the beach.

Scull another can of beer.

Yes, there were vomits and lots of vomitty sounding coughing from the participants once they’d finished. Yes, it was completely ridiculous but, clearly also lots of fun (for me).

Suze timed and I was the official event photographer. Dave was the inaugural champion and was crowned Mountain Main (he had to wear an empty beer box on his head).

The boys pre-competition - my instructions: "Suck it in!!!"

The boys pre-competition - my instructions: "Let it out!!"

Ben sculls first beer on the dock.

Brendan runs with the logs.

Steve sculls his first beer on the dock.

Someone needs to teach this one how to chop wood. It may have been his biggest downfall if not for...

...the kayak.

The final scull.

Dave is victorious as the inaugural Mountain Man.

Massive Campfire

Eager to get the campfire started after the abundance of pre-chopped firewood we now had at our disposal (!), the boys started it up early Saturday evening. From previous experience at Loon Lake (last year), we were familiar with Dave C’s penchant for playing with campfires. Well, he went to town on this one! Somehow Dave managed to find the biggest single piece of firewood I’ve ever seen – basically it was a portion of a hollowed out tree. With two engineers present, we knew we’d be in for a technical show and it didn’t disappoint. After strategically stacking blocks of firewood to form a base and source of oxygen, the massive hollowed log was placed on the fire pit. It was a spectacle. So much so that it was our single source of conversation for over five hours. I’d say we sat contentedly around the fire discussing it, but I’d be lying. This fire was so hot no one could comfortably sit around it, so most of us spent the night straddling the seats, with our faces and majority of our bodies turned away. After performing a series of ‘scientific’ experiments, and following further research, we found out the fire would have been at least 1500 degrees Celsius (yes, an empty bottle of Crown Royal was completely melted).

Dave has found a beauty... and he knows it!

Green Lake sunset.

Performing important scientific experiments on the fire.

On Sunday afternoon we reluctantly packed up and headed back to Vancouver. On our way home Ben took us all via Purver Canyon for a quick hike and sightsee. It was awesome! While really small, the hike was quite steep so again, another challenging one. I actually got some rope burn on my hands as we descended into the canyon but it was all in good fun. I opted for the bum, hands and feet approach most often which worked well. Conquering Purver Canyon sadly marked the end of our lake cabin weekend. Thankfully for Steven and I, more adventures were just around the corner.

Looking into Purver Canyon ... and we were about to trek down..

Ben further investigates the waterfall ...

Specifically (as most of you would know by now), these adventures included a 10 day trip to Quebec to explore Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto and Mont Tremblant, followed by a brief four final days in Vancouver before heading off to Hawaii (the Big Island and Oahu) for two weeks and then returning to Brisbane. Although I am planning (at some stage) to individually blog about these two trips, at present I don't have the time (the beach is calling!) or the inclination to do so. Plus, it would be pointless to bombard everyone with posts they will not read. Instead, my plan is to share one final entry and at a later stage, once I do pen these blogs, I will add them to the Tales.

If you're still interested, once they're done, I'll link them below.

Eastern Canada (coming soon)

Hawaii (coming soon)

Stay tuned for the final installment! x

Vegas and … bust!

The next stop on our whirlwind farewell tour of North America (yeah, I’m starting to feel a little bit like Farhnsy actually) was good ‘ol Sin City – Las Vegas, Nevada. Our trip almost got off to a sad start when we’d forgotten to adjust our watches to local time after arriving at Portland airport from Anchorage – a one-hour time difference. So we were casually eating dinner thinking we had plenty of time and suddenly I looked at my phone (which self-adjusts thank goodness!) and realized our flight started boarding ten minutes ago. Thankfully we made it to our gate in time. In fact, the airhostess was very blasé about it all. I’m sure you can imagine I was the exact opposite.

We arrived in Vegas late Thursday evening and checked in to the Trump Tower, which is just off the strip (if you’re familiar with Vegas, it’s more or less opposite Wynn and Encore). Well, our room was pretty amazing. Fortunately we’d scored a good deal on our accommodation and spent the rest of the night basking in the novelty of having a television in the bathroom - grossly unnecessary, but surprisingly entertaining.

Almost wet his pants with excitement...

Yep. We watched the NFL too.

Our room at the Trump Tower.

Kitchen and living area!

Friday morning we caught our hotel shuttle to Caesar’s Palace and the rest of our time was spent trying to navigate our way out of Caesar’s Palace – wow. Caesar’s Palace is the largest hotel/casino in Las Vegas and I think if I enjoyed gambling more (okay, more realistically, if I had a platinum Amex – OH! the designer boutiques), I would voluntarily spend a lot more time there. It was pretty embarrassing when our Trump Tower shuttle driver spotted us wandering aimlessly around underneath one of the side hotel entrances/delivery area and drove over to us. We explained we got lost and he almost couldn’t control his laughter. When he’d wiped his tears away he told us to get in and gave us a lift back to Trump. After a few days we managed to develop a fail-safe casino-exit technique, which was to follow the signs to the lobby – 90% of the time this would successfully lead us back to the strip.

Of course we’d already visited Vegas previously (albeit briefly) so I won’t go into too much extra detail except to repeat my golden rule – ‘just embrace it’. Aromas of stale vomit, cigarettes, beer and urine abound – there’s nothing quite like it, that’s for sure. Las Vegas is the epitome of an extreme sensory overload, which you must expect and embrace. It’s outrageous, dramatic, theatrical and exaggerated in every way, shape and form – a perfect place for someone with ADD. And if you don’t have ADD, it certainly makes you feel like you do!  These characteristics are quintessential Vegas and if you don’t embrace that, I can guarantee you’ll be miserable. So if you ever get the chance to go, do yourself a favour and just embrace it! We did, and we had a blast.

For the majority of our time in Vegas we occupied ourselves by walking up and down the strip, exploring almost every hotel and/or casino on offer. For my birthday present (along with some new sunglasses), we went to see Jersey Boys at Paris (we highly recommend it – great show!) and spent the evening eating dinner overlooking the Bellagio Fountain show. We put a few dollars on the pokies here and there but nothing serious. Neither of us are big gamblers (except me, during the Spring Racing Carnival ;-), and I was more interested in the shopping anyway, even though it was just window shopping this time. I tried my hardest to find something to buy but it just wasn’t happening. Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed browsing and Steven thoroughly enjoyed the free mini bottles of water the sales assistants would hand him every time I walked into a fancy store (I guess they had to give him something to occupy his time). The dare devil in me also had to give the New York, New York rollercoaster a run for its money (literally – quite expensive at $14 per person, per ride) – it was great fun. Much to the delight of Steven’s ear canal, I actually couldn’t force a scream out I was so scared.

NY NY rollercoaster - we did it!

Jersey Boys.

Trevi Fountain inside Caesars Palace.

The Vegas Eiffel Tower.

Bellagio fountains show.

On Sunday morning (my actual birthday), we headed out to Henderson, Nevada, to watch our friend (and former cycling coach) Cam race in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. Although it was steaming hot all day (48.5 degrees), we embraced the sunshine and hot weather as much as we could and cheered Cam and other new-found friends on during the day. Cam ended up finishing 9^th in his age group overall which is no small feat given the circumstances! 

Activ support crew.

Cam and his finisher's medal.

We spent our last night in Vegas at the Mirage Hotel and Casino. With a more open travel schedule we had an additional free night in Vegas and we’d decided on our final night we wanted to experience a hotel right on the strip. It was certainly different – a lot busier and more chaotic than Trump, owing mostly to the casino aspect I think. We spent most of the afternoon hanging out in the pool and drinking ridiculously expensive pool bar cocktails.

Our view lounging by the pool at the Mirage.

The Mirage also hosts the Cirque du Soleil Beatles show “LOVE” which makes it quite busy at night. We ended up buying last minute tickets to see LOVE. Unfortunately we were a little disappointed with the show itself – by no means with the music or the visual spectacle (which it most certainly was), but with the fact that we both expected the show to include many more acrobatic elements – it failed miserably in this respect. To me, the show was more akin to a really impressive episode of So You Think You Can Dance – the Beatles special. If I knew going in this is what it would be, I definitely would not have been disappointed (although I would have then paid a lot less money!).

After another day taking in the sights (and smells) of Vegas, we were originally due to embark on an eight-hour road trip to Yosemite National Park in California. This was actually something I had been particularly looking forward to since … forever. Of course as you may or may not know, Yosemite had recently experienced an outbreak of Hantavirus, so we reluctantly (but wisely) cancelled our trip to Yosemite. Thankfully during my mammoth researching sessions for this trip I had also looked into Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. Zion and Bryce were both closer, viable options so we madly booked some last minute accommodation just outside Zion and spent three full days hiking and exploring these two lesser known beauties. 

It’s funny when I used to think about the USA all I would picture were the big cities – New York, LA etc. I am so grateful that during our time living in Canada we’ve been able to travel to many lesser known cities and/or places in the USA that have the most amazing natural beauty which is something so many tourists miss out on. Honestly, the USA has so much more to offer. Don’t get me wrong, I love New York (haven’t been to LA but it doesn’t particularly interest me at this point) but Alaska, Zion, Bryce, the Oregon coast … they are equally impressive in their own right.

After finalizing our last minute plans, we made our way to Springdale, Utah, a small town just outside Zion National Park. Well, it couldn’t be helped, but our accommodation left a lot to be desired, to say the very least. I was sure that evil Hantavirus would be hanging around in our room in Zion somewhere. Thankfully we were determined to spend as much time outside in the park as possible, and we did.

Zion was amazing. We had been so spoiled having just visited Alaska, I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but I wasn’t disappointed. It was so breathtakingly beautiful and an entirely different landscape. Our first stop was the Visitor Centre to get a map and some guidance from a local ranger. We then spent our two days in Zion hiking both easy and more difficult trails – ranging from 2 – 5 hours in length. We saw deer, giant spiders, birds and ground squirrels and hiked some great trails, which were quite challenging in places. 

Zion NP - Day 1.

Some views ... again, photos don't do them justice.

This little image made us feel REALLY comfortable hiking the trails!!

We split our time in Zion National Park by spending a day hiking in Bryce Canyon, which was approximately a two-hour drive away. Again, Bryce Canyon was completely different to Zion and incredibly picturesque itself. We spent the entire day hiking down, into, through and up the other side of a very small portion of the vast area. From memory we did about 12 miles of hiking that day, with an 8000-foot elevation gain. It was challenging but definitely the best way to experience Bryce. 

On our way to Bryce Canyon for the day. Stopping for photo ops. There were plenty!

Steven goes for a climb.

Views from our drive - Bryce Canyon back to Zion.

Some views from our Bryce Canyon hike.

It’s almost impossible to take a bad photograph in places like Zion and Bryce. Reflecting on our adventures, Steven and I both agreed that it all probably worked out for the best because there is a possibility we would never have returned to Utah to visit these two parks if we had gone to Yosemite as originally intended. I know I’ll get to Yosemite one day.

Relaxing by the river after a hard day of hiking.

Sunrise in Zion - our final day.

Pre-hike stretches.

Cam, Sheree & Taylor joined us for the hike to Observation Point.

We did it!

Just one of the many little ground squirrels we came across.

More stunning scenery.

Cooling off in the river post-hike.

Steven decides to venture into the "quick-mud"

Almost got him!

Thankfully he survived.

On Friday we woke early to make our way from Springdale back to Vegas. We had scheduled a Grand Canyon helicopter tour, which was to pick us up at the Mirage at 9:50 am that morning. Everything was running smoothly until the bus turned up (on time), the driver got out and told us our tour had been cancelled. My immediate reaction was extreme disappointment and then some anger. Particularly when the company knew the tour was cancelled two hours prior and they didn’t call us. If they’d called us when they first cancelled it we would have been able to detour via the Grand Canyon on our way back to Vegas and we could have then at least seen it.  Anyway, after the failure of the tour, we spent the rest of the day wandering around and exploring the last few hotels we hadn’t managed to see. Once of these was the Venetian which is really impressive (I would highly recommend checking it out). We indulged in a gondola ride and some gelato (for the authentic Italian experience!). 

The indoor gondola ride at the Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas.

Friday evening we caught a flight back to Vancouver and arrived very early on Saturday morning. It’s safe to say we were both absolutely shattered after the two hectic, but fun weeks of travel. As they say there’s no rest for the wicked so no sooner had we arrived, but we began gearing up for a week of furniture selling and house cleaning in preparation for the final departure.

Fun times ahead … x.