Dylan's Canadian Adventure

Hi-Res Photo Downloads

2009-04-23T13:13:00.004-07:00

Have you ever looked at my photos and wanted them bigger, better and on your computer? Well now you can! I am now uploading the original copies of my photos so that you can enjoy them in their full hi-res glory. You can download individual pics, or full sets by clicking on the following image in the "Vids & Pics" section on any of my blog's pages.

If you have any problems downloading the photos just let me know and I'll see what I can do. So, download and enjoy!

P.S. If you want to download my videos, you can do this from the video's vimeo page. This just requires signing up for a free vimeo account, and the download link can be found in the bottom right hand corner of the video's page.

Queen Elizabeth Park

2009-04-21T12:46:00.012-07:00

The day following my afternoon in Downtown Vancouver, I visited Queen Elizabeth Park.

The park isn't that big (especially compared to Stanley Park), but was great to look at on a sunny day like the one I went on.

Furthermore, the park is the highest point within the city of Vancouver, so the view was spectacular.

At the centre of the park is the Bloedel Floral Conservatory. It was nice to look at, but I didn't enter as I didn't want to spend the money, and the weather was just too good outside.

Just beyond the conservatory was a fountain surrounded by places to sit. It would have been a perfect place to chill and have lunch. Unfortunately I hadn't brought any food with me, so I just chilled, took photos and recorded the fountain doing its fountain thing.

One of the mountains visible from the park is Grouse Mountain. I wonder if that's walking distance.

Continuing my walk around the park it was clear that it has a strong emphasis on horticulture. Quarry gardens, rose gardens etc., they put a lot of work into it.

I should also mention there is a restaurant in the park called "Seasons in the Park".

Just looking at the place I figured it would be a bit pricey to actually eat there, so I waited until I left the park, and grabbed a sub sandwich from a Subway downtown. Maybe I'll come back when I've earned a bit more cash.

Downtown Vancouver

2009-04-17T13:45:00.009-07:00

It was a wonderfully sunny day, so I went into Downtown Vancouver. The general plan was to see some of the many interesting examples of public art that can be found all over the place.

I started at English Bay beach, which had many visitors due to the weather.

I then proceeded along the shoreline opposite Granville Island.

As usual I got hungry, so I decided to traverse northwards through downtown to a bistro I had visited on my first day in Vancouver.

It was really great chilling here, looking out at the North Shore, while munching on a delicious sandwich, and swigging some ale! Here is a short video clip for your viewing pleasure.

I finally caught the bus back to my place, and noticed this while waiting for its arrival.

Deep Cove

2009-04-14T22:28:00.013-07:00

A couple of weeks ago a friend and ex-colleague from Safeway, Liz, sent me a message asking if I wanted to go to a place called Deep Cove. I of course agreed, but on the day we planned to go we decided to cancel due to the weather. We thought it was going to rain, but it didn't, but it was a very gloomy day.

Then the day we eventually went on had fantastic weather, good call Liz!

We started the day at Cates Park and walked around to the cove through the residential area in-between. I of course asked whether Kate knew we were in her park, yeah, terrible, I know. Anyway, the view that the houses in the area had from their windows screamed "expensive property". The view was stunning, especially on a day like the one we had.

A nice little treat as we made our way to the cove was discovering an Easter tree in the front of one of the homes. Liz got very excited about this.

Not long later we reached Deep Cove.

The harbour has a great view across the Indian Arm and out towards the Belcarra Regional Park.

Walking across the cove we came across a dude performing an interesting sport known as slacklining. Liz was rather impressed with the skill being displayed, as was I. For your viewing pleasure I recorded a short clip of the guy doing his thing.

We then proceeded to the Baden-Powell Trail which led us to Quarry Rock, this looked out over Deep Cove and beyond; it was an awesome view.

After heading back down the trail we ended the day with doughnuts at a place in Deep Cove. All in all it was a great day out.

Millstream Trail

2009-03-13T15:35:00.017-07:00

A couple of miles north of where I live in West Vancouver I discovered the Millstream Trail. It's not a long trail, but does go through a really great wooded area. Furthermore, the walk to the trail was awesome, but for completely different reasons. Finally, to top it off, the trail comes out at a great spot overlooking the whole of Vancouver! But let's start at the beginning; about 2 walking minutes north of my place is Highway 1, and just beyond it is the neighbourhood known as "British Properties"

The houses in this residential area are just amazing. If I had mountains of cash and wanted to move to Canada on a permanent basis, I'd want to live here for sure!

Not only are the houses awesome, but the view of Vancouver you would have from your window is staggering! I doubt it would ever get boring.

So, after an hour of admiring the homes of Vancouver's ridiculously rich I came to the trail in question. In case you want to know, the trail starts at the intersection of Millstream Road and Eyremount Drive.

The trail begins to the right of this signpost, just beyond the house you can see in the background.

A few days before I took this walk there had been a lot of snow, and the trail was still covered in it. Also, the streams were partly frozen. I'm glad I chose a warm day to do this one.

I was actually pleased when I read the warning sign for the trail. The line "This property is presently an undeveloped wilderness in its natural state" was exactly what I wanted. I just hope areas like this stay the way they are.

That said, I was a little dismayed when I came across an obstacle to my journey. I called this obstacle "The Fail Bridge". The bridge across a small stream had collapsed and been taped off.

However, this did not stop me, and I found a way across the stream a few metres up from the bridge. Fail bridge failed again, ha! So I continued on the trail and was happy to find that the other bridges had not gone the same way as the first.

As mentioned before the trail ended at a great little spot overlooking Vancouver called the "Hi-view Lookout". The view was amazing, and you could see for miles and miles!

In this pic (from top to bottom) is the sky, Vancouver, Downtown Vancouver, Stanley Park, the Burrard Inlet, West Vancouver and some trees. You can also see Vancouver Island from this point, but the sun was in that direction, and I doubt any photos would have come out very well even if it hadn't been.

So after some time admiring the view I set off back along the trail and home, where I ate straight away as I stupidly didn't think to pack a lunch and was rather peckish by the time I got back.

Rogers Plus

2009-02-20T13:30:00.001-08:00

I should probably mention that I left the Safeway meat wrapping job, and am currently working at a "Rogers Plus" video rental store. It's much more my scene, and also much closer to where I live. Furthermore, I'm getting better pay and more hours!

Also, to top it off I can get 2 free rentals a day, which trumps the 10 a week I got at Blockbuster. Win!

West Vancouver Seawall

2009-02-12T23:15:00.009-08:00

Today I went for a stroll along the "West Vancouver Seawall". It was late afternoon, and the sun was beginning to creep towards the horizon. This and the looming clouds gave me some pretty good pics in my opinion.

The walk isn't particularly long (10 blocks), so leaving late wasn't a problem. I knew what time it was due to this being at the start of the walk.

A few minutes in and I stopped at a pier, and met Bob. He also seemed to be enjoying the view.

At another pier and I meet Bob's bro Terry.

At the end of the walk I was surprised to find this interesting feature. It is simply entitled "German Friendship Globe".

However, the most surprising thing about this is that the globe is slowly rotating! Very cool.

As usual you can view more photos by following the associated pics link on the right.

Totem Poles, Snowshoeing & Xmas

2009-01-26T22:20:00.024-08:00

Sorry for being so lazy about updating this blog, it's been a crazy few weeks.

Anyway, before Christmas I made another visit to Stanley Park to finally see the infamous totem poles.

It was approaching dusk, and the sunset was awesome. I got to see a few other features as well, such as this sculpture...

and this dragon ...

The walk gave me a pretty amazing view of North Vancouver, which was amplified by the sunset, and the snow on the mountains beyond the city.

A few days after this I went up Grouse Mountain again with Liz from Safeway. This time it was at night, and showshoeing was the order of the day! This was a lot of fun as it had been snowing heavily for a couple of days beforehand, so the coverage and texture was perfect! Going up hill was fine, but downhill was quite tricky, and half the time I was sliding on my ass. However, the snowshoes helped with this.

Unfortunately this was the only half decent photo I was able to take. This was mainly because it was very dark, and partly because I was busy making sure I didn't fall down cliff or something.

On Christmas Day I went out for a dinner with a few SWAP participants.

We enjoyed a meal and plenty of booze at the Beaver Restaurant and Bar under the Samesun Backpackers Hostel in Downtown Vancouver. It was great fun!

Well that's it for now, and I'll try to post updates more regularly from now on. However, if you get impatient you can hear about my day to day exploits by checking out my twitter page. If you don't know what twitter is, it's basically a bit like facebook status updates. And if you don't know what facebook is, then check out this interesting video description of twitter here. Furthermore, when I post any blog updates (either to this blog, or my personal blog) they will be automatically referenced in my twitter feed with a link to the post. Well, until next time!

Grouse Mountain

2008-12-12T22:02:00.015-08:00

Recently two work colleagues from Safeway and myself went up the "Grouse Grind". This is basically a steep path up to the resort near the top of Grouse Mountain; one of Vancouver's local peaks.

Even though the path is very steep, it isn't overly long. We completed the ascent in about 90 minutes. However, the record is something like 25 minutes!

So you know how you're progressing there are markers at quarter intervals.

Once we finally reached the top we sat down and had a coffee (don't get to do that when going up mountains usually), and then took a stroll around the top. There was plenty of snow around, which gave the place an almost enchanting feel. However, the most exciting thing was the bears, and thanks to an electric fence between us we could get pretty damned close! Then there were the reindeer, not as exciting, but still a first for me.

After watching some Christmas singers in the resort we took the aerial tramway back down to base of the mountain. On the way down we were treated to a spectacular view of Vancouver.

And finally, what you've all been waiting for, the video. Be careful, it's a long one!

Ice Hockey

2008-11-29T04:49:00.003-08:00

Last week I went on a SWAP organised event to see an ice hockey match. The "Vancouver Giants" were playing the "Chilliwack Bruins".

However, getting to the stadium became a bit of a mission. This is because the bus we needed to get to the stadium was completely full 3 times in a row. At this point we tried a different bus at a different bus stop and succeeded. However, there was a guy (who I'm pretty sure was on weed) that I sat next to who suddenly, and without warning decided to tell everyone to have a "happy happy day", and then started to sing "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands". Weird!

Anyway, we finally arrived, and had only missed a few minutes of the start of the match in which 'The Giants' had scored a goal. The game was good, but the constant deluge of advertisements at every possible opportunity can get a little annoying. However, the beer helped!

From watching a couple of matches on TV I was expecting far more violence than there was in this game. I know, I shouldn't want more violence, but I do, I'm only human! Well, the final score was Giants 4, Bruins 1. It seemed very one sided, Vancouver rocks!

After we all left the stadium we had to wait for a bus, which took a while at that time of night, but we did have a laugh.

And here is the video, enjoy!

P.S. You may have noticed a new section on the right hand side of this page entitled "Vids & Pics". This is available wherever you are on my blog, and provides links to the vimeo video album, and each photo album that I've uploaded to facebook. These photo albums contain all the photos that I take (including those not added to the blog) and are of a higher quality than the blog pics.

Beaver Lake

2008-11-21T16:48:00.017-08:00

The other day I was going to visit horseshoe bay, but I missed my bus and didn't really have time to get the next one as I was going to an ice hockey game that evening (more about that in the next post). Anyway, I decided that it was too nice a day to waste it, so I made my second venture over to Stanley Park.

Last time I voyaged over there I hadn't really planned it, so there were features that I missed which I wanted to see this time round; the main one being Beaver Lake. After ambling around the general area of it's location (I hadn't brought a map with me), I finally found it.

It was getting fairly late in the day and the sun had started to set. This meant that the lake came across as being rather eerie. This was exacerbated by the fact that there was hardly anyone around at the time. I quite like the atmosphere of the photos that I took.

I then headed south through Stanley Park towards Vancouver's Downtown area where I was to meet the SWAP group for the ice hockey, and came across a statue of the park's namesake and an awesome view of the dusk cityscape.

"To the use and enjoyment of peoples of all colours, creeds, and customs, for all time, I name thee Stanley Park."
Lord Stanley, Governor General, October 1889

Guided Tour

2008-11-15T21:13:00.008-08:00

This video is a short guided tour of the shared house that I'm staying at in West Vancouver. As usual you can either:

View the video on this page.
View or download the higher quality version here.
View any of the previous videos here.

Meat

2008-11-04T23:30:00.008-08:00

Well, I've finally sorted out a job. I'm a meat wrapper at a local Safeway supermarket.

Yeah, I know, it isn't glamorous (at all), but it's money, and I'm already in the process of sorting out something better.

Stanley Park

2008-10-29T22:43:00.013-07:00

The other day it was particularly sunny, so I decided to visit Stanley Park. There really are a lot of squirrels, and that's not just in the park! It was mid-afternoon when I arrived, so I didn't have time to see everything I wanted, but that just means there'll be more to see the next time I go.

Below are some of the pictures I took, as well as a video.

And here's the video. As usual you can either:

View the video on this page.
View or download the higher quality version here.
View any of the previous videos here.

Arrival Video

2008-10-22T18:42:00.013-07:00

Sorry it's taken so long to get this video together; there were some technical issues. Anyway, this is a music video of my arrival to Canada.

You can either:

View the video on this page.
View or download the higher quality version here.
View any of the previous videos here.

Enjoy!

Arrival!

2008-10-15T16:28:00.027-07:00

Finally sorted out a new laptop, so here is my first blog post from Canada!

It has been a very hectic week, as you can imagine. The flight wasn't as gruelling as I originally thought it would be, and the other BUNAC travellers were very friendly, but the in-flight entertainment was a bit rubbish. The movies themselves weren't that bad (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Sneakers), but the problem was that the screens were shared, and I was quite far away from mine. Anyway, after 10 hours, and a few questionable airline meals later, we arrived in Vancouver.

From the airport we made our way to the hostel in Downtown Vancouver, and got settled. Seeing as it was only early afternoon a group of us went out into Vancouver and wandered down to the waterfront. All the way down the street, and then more clearly when we reached the end could be seen the mountains to the north. A very strange sight when you are used to the London backdrop. We stopped at a bar and had a drink (had to be done), where we came upon a very nice dog who just wanted to play frisbee, and it really didn't care who threw it, anybody who came near was fair game. That evening we all went out for a meal, but it took forever to find a place that everyone wanted to eat at (there were 11 of us).

Sleeping over the week has been a bit off, the jet lag has almost gone now, but I'm still finding that I'm waking up way too early. On the first night I woke up at 3 (understandable I guess seeing as we went to bed at a little after 8).

Day 2 was orientation, which involved going to a presentation at the SWAP offices (SWAP being Canada's equivalent to BUNAC). Here they told us about how things work in Canada (like their culture of tipping for everything), and applying for a social security number etc. After the presentation I tried to use their computers, but they are either ancient or dying, so I couldn't do much more than check for jobs and accommodation. A smaller group of us went out for steak meal that evening at a place called "The Keg". The service was excellent, and it's the first time I've had a steak where I didn't have to eat around huge amounts of fat and bone.

Since then it has been a lot of wandering around Vancouver, handing out my résumé to various places and sorting out somewhere to live. I could have stayed at the hostel for longer, but it wasn't fun sharing a room with 3 complete strangers, especially when one snored like a freight train, and threw up on my bag one night. So I was glad to move out, and into a shared rented house in West Vancouver. The place is in a particularly pleasant area, and for the price is very reasonable.

So far Vancouver has been great. The people are friendly and the views are amazing. Now back to sorting out some money to check out the rest of this beautiful country!

The Night Before The Morning After

2008-10-07T10:16:00.012-07:00

Tomorrow's the big day! Canada! Awesome! It doesn't really feel real yet, and I don't think it will until I get on the plane. I'm pretty much all packed, and all the loose ends have been tied up here in the UK. So, all that's left is to do is catch my sky chariot (aircanada airbus) to Vancouver.

I'm not sure when my next post will be, it depends on how busy I am, and when I get to a computer; possibly a few days. Also, there probably won't be another video for a few weeks, that'll have to wait until I get a laptop sorted out. However, I will be recording video during that time.

Now the adventure begins!

Jobs and Money

2008-09-27T04:34:00.008-07:00

Just a quick update. It is now only a little under 11 days before I'll be in Canada. I have sorted out some Canadian cash, as well as traveller's cheques. It was funny when I collected them from the bank, as I had to sign and date each one before leaving; there were 34 of them! Not that I complained too much, as the woman serving me was rather attractive.

I've also applied for a job as a "Computer Rollout Technician" in Vancouver. Not sure if I'll get it, but it's worth a shot.

The Vlog

2008-09-04T08:25:00.015-07:00

Now, not only will I be updating this blog while in Canada, I will also be keeping a vlog. For those who don't know what a vlog (or video blog) is, then you can find out by clicking here.

Basically I will be recording videos of my adventures and uploading them to the web, I'll then embed the videos in blog posts here.

At the moment I have decided to upload the videos to a site called Vimeo, as they tend to end up being of a higher quality than on some other sites, and I personally find it pleasant to use.

All my Canada vlog vids will be stored in a Vimeo album here. So you can just visit that page and view any of the videos I have uploaded up to that point. Furthermore, Vimeo lets you download the original video file to your computer (the download link is usually found in the bottom right hand corner of the video's page).

Anyway, the first video is an introduction about my year out in Canada. You can either view the video below, or click here to view the higher quaility version, or to download the original file. Enjoy!

Flight Confirmed!

2008-09-01T05:51:00.012-07:00

Well, I've finally sorted out the flight to Canada, it's booked and confirmed! I will be leaving on Wednesday 8th October 2008, and will return a whole year later! I'll be flying with Air Canada from Heathrow to Vancouver, and will be travelling with other BUNAC participants. So, I'll be able to chat with people who are in the same boat as me (or plane in this case).

However, after looking at the flight times, and accounting for time differences, I'll be on that plane for 10 hours! The longest time I've spent on a plane (not including waiting for take-off) is about 45 minutes. They had better have good on-board entertainment!

Image owned by caribb.

Not Too Long Now

2008-07-15T05:36:00.010-07:00

Well, this is my first post to my Canada blog. I'll be keeping this up-to-date with the highlights of my time in the country of maple syrup and mounties. If you don't know, I will be living and working in Canada for a year. This is through the BUNAC Work Canada scheme.

At the moment I've reached the stage where my work visa application has been accepted, and all that remains is to get my affairs in order here in England, and organise when and how I'm getting out there. The general plan is to move out there at the start of October.

I'm so excited, it's going to be awesome!