A Canada update

Departing from Nelson on an Air New Zealand flight via Auckland, we arrived in Vancouver mid afternoon on Sunday the 16th of July. My first task after clearing customs was strolling through and finding an A&W to order poutine. Ah, poutine. How I'd missed it. Then we located a shuttle to the other terminal, near where the float planes depart and strolled over to catch our float plane flight to Nainaimo- this was my first visit to the Island. We spent most of the next day wandering the waterfront and took a ferry to a small island to go on a nature walk. There we spotted a black tail deer in the bushes. The next day we took the bus to Victoria on a day trip. We spent hours in the museum- especially admiring the exhibit from the British Museum with lots of old stuff from various regions- including a mummy. We also wandered around to the Fishermans Wharf, and a bit through town. Victoria was beautiful... The next day we caught the ferry over to Vancouver, found the very cheap hostel that I'd booked, and then caught a bus to Stanley Park to visit the Aquarium. I'd always wanted to visit, thanks to the great old TV show, Danger Bay. It was interesting- perhaps not as great as I'd expected from my Danger Bay memories, but worth a visit nevertheless. Then our next stop was the Capilano suspension bridge and the treetop walk. I'd pass on that next time- it was overpriced. Then we took a bus to the seabus and headed back to town to find some supper- ending up at an italian/ greek place. Ah, I love greek!!! The hostel was HOT, HOT, HOT!!! I recommended them leaving fans in the rooms. Boy was it ever hot...

Up the next day we found a place serving perogies (I can't recall if it was hungarian or polish), and had that for breakfast. Man I never realized how many food places there are in Vancouver. I wonder how they all manage to survive. It was then time to catch the bus to the airport for our flight to Saskatoon where we visited with one of my old university friends. We then departed early the next morning for a flying visit through Regina, catching up with as many friends as we could squeeze into in such a short visit. It was great to see them all. Then back to Saskatoon on Sunday and home to mom and dads. Here it has been a quieter paced week visiting and catching up with family, going through heaps of my stuff, etc. We've seen a bit of wildlife including several deer, rabbits, gophers (of course), a bunny, and a squirrel. We spent several nights at the cabin. I went for a swim today- brrr the water was cold.

Tomorrow or Monday we'll start our journey by car back west. The agenda includes West Edmonton mall, and the Rockies and Kelowna before flying back to NZ on 14th of August.

This holiday is going WAY too fast...