Canada Day

Yesterday - Friday, July 1st - was a public holiday for Canada Day. This year was the 144th anniversary of the day when three British colonies became Canada.

Around 4pm, we met up with Gerard, Janelle and Claire, and headed to John Lawson Park in West Vancouver - picnic dinner in hand. We parked at a cute shopping area called Park Royal, which we'd never heard of before but definitely want to go back and explore sometime!

After walking about 1km from the shopping district to the park, we settled in to enjoy our roast chicken, salad, cupcakes, and live entertainment by local bands. At one stage the Rocky Mountaineer even came chugging past right beside the park, and the passengers were lined up at the windows, waving to us and brandishing Canadian flags. That was fun to see!


















At 8pm we went to Stuart and Rosanne's place in North Vancouver to hang out with them and their other guests until the fireworks at 10:30pm. They were hoping to have a great view of the fireworks from their balcony, but there turned out to be a tree and a power pole in the way!



Happy Canada Day!

Stand Up Paddle Boarding

On Friday, we had a spontaneous opportunity to try stand up paddle boarding!

We'd driven out to Maple Ridge (an hour away) to experience the $12.99 Prime Rib Night at Bruce's Country Market with some new friends, David and Deborah...

L-R: Me, Ken (the prime rib cook), Deborah, Marky, David, Ben

Verdict: DELICIOUS!

...And by the time we got up from the dinner table, David had offered to take us out to a nearby lake and give us a lesson on his new Father's Day gift (note so that makes sense to Aussie readers: the North American Father's Day was last weekend)... a stand up paddle board!

We went back to their place and they loaned us their kids' shorts and t-shirts to wear. Then we threw the board and paddle in the back of their car, and David, Ben and I set off for a small lake 15 minutes away.

It was about 9pm by the time we got out on the water, so there was just enough daylight left for David to give us a demo (he'd only done it once before!), and for Ben and I to have a few turns each. David had assured us that we would not fall in... and, to my surprise, we actually didn't! (The water temperature wasn't a bad incentive to stay on the board either!) It felt pretty wobbly at times though...

So, what did we think of stand up paddle boarding? ...It was fun, surprisingly easy, and definitely worth another go sometime!

Thanks, David and Deb, for an enjoyable and unexpectedly spontaneous evening!

Manning Park weekend

On the weekend, we headed out of the city for a relaxing weekend with a few friends. We stayed in a log cabin in EC Manning Provincial Park ("Manning Park"), BC, which is 2.5 hours east of Vancouver.

Heading into the mountains on Friday evening...


The cabin is owned by a workmate of Angharad's (our first visit there was last Canadian Thanksgiving), and is surrounded by mountains covered in tall pine trees and poplars. A beautiful setting!


There were only six of us, and we had a wonderfully relaxing weekend... reading books, playing games, singing, going for walks, cooking up delicious meals, doing Tim Tam Slams, and generally having a very nice time indeed!

Breakfast on Saturday (L-R: Angharad, Juanita, Heidi, Hod, Ben)...


On a walk up the hill from the cabin...






Log cabin loungeroom and fireplace...


Heidi getting some sunshine...


Juanita in the kitchen...


Lunch on Sunday (L-R: Heidi, Anna, Juanita, Hod, Ben)...


Hod tackling a tome...


Angharad, thanks so much for organising it. We're already looking forward to the next Manning Park getaway!

Happy 4th birthday, blog!

Tomorrow will be 4 years since I wrote the first entry of this blog!

To celebrate, I thought I'd link to five of our favourite blog entries from the last 4 years. Ben and I often re-read our old blog entries and smile at all the wonderful experiences we've had, so we'd love it if this inspired some of our readers (new or old) to go archive-surfing too. And if you felt inclined to leave a comment, we'd love it even more!

Five of our favourite blog entries from the last 4 years:

We went Ape!
An Aussie Orphans' Christmas
How to get out of a carpark in Paris in 48 simple steps
Snowshoeing at Lake Louise
Death Valley

What are your favourites?

Happy birthday, blog!!

The real Vancouver

Photo by Ian Smith, PNG. Courtesy of Vancouver Sun website.

Thousands stream into Vancouver to clean up after riot

Facebook groups aim to ID rioters, help clean up

Vancouver unites to clean up shattered city

Read the writing on the wall: Vancouverites hope to make amends after riots

The real face of Vancouver [photo special]

Thank you...

What a night...

Links to Vancouver Sun articles since the Vancouver Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals to the Boston Bruins about 3.5 hours ago...

Great Canucks season ends in painful loss to Bruins

Downtown Vancouver erupts into violence after Stanley Cup loss

Bus system grinds to a halt, transit system in chaos, as riots rage

"You need to leave." Vancouver Police warn Stanley Cup rioters

Canuck hockey dream is now Vancouver's nightmare

How embarrassing for the vast majority of decent Vancouverites.