In the beginning ...

G'day all,

So after the first week of having a look around, getting to know the area and the obligatory shopping trip we started our serious search for an apartment and a job for Marty (with some more sightseeing inbetween).  Luckily, the apartment search didn't take too long with us finding a nice place just off Commercial Drive, East Vancouver (or East Van to us locals).  It has a very similar vibe to the Brunswick/Fitzroy area of Melbourne and is only a 5min train ride to downtown Vancouver.

East Vancouver

Erin has started work without any major hiccups and is all ready to run the place in less than a week.  Marty, on the other hand, is yet to find work but has had a couple of interviews, so hopefully something is not too far around the corner.  However, his cooking and cleaning skills have risen remarkably in a week and the apartment has never looked better.

While all this house hunting, furniture shopping and job hunting has been a blast, we have been able to fit in some sights as well.  We have visited the Capilano Suspension bridge in North Vancouver, Stanley Park, West End, Kitsilano and Squamish.

The Capilano Suspension bridge has a 150 year history and yes, Erin did actually walk over it (twice in fact).  It spans 450ft and is 350ft above the Canyon floor.  Marty was having some serious Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom moments.  We also trekked the Cliff Walk which was a see-through platform 300ft above the Canyon floor.

Erin on the Capilano Suspension Bridge. 

Indiana Jones moment.

Stanley Park is the oldest and largest Urban Park in North America.  It has a paved path all the way around the perimeter which forms a 9km loop.  But also there are a number of trails and lagoons within the park itself.  From the seawall you can see across to North Shore mountains and the Park contains the entrance to the Lions Gate Bridge which connects Downtown to the North Shore.

Entrance to Lions Gate Bridge

Lions Gate Bridge over the Burrard Inlet

On the weekend we went and stayed in Squamish, a small town about 80km North of Vancouver on the way to Whistler mountain.  It is known as the "Outdoor Capital of Canada" with hundreds of kilometers of mountain biking and hiking trails.  We spent the Saturday climbing the peaks of the Chief Stawmus mountain which are at 610m and 655m respectively.  The climbs were a rather steep 25% gradient, at times having to use chains and ladders to pull ourselves up the rock faces, but it was worth it just to have a chipmunk eat a peanut out of our hands (Oh and the view was ok too).  The evening was spent sampling the local brews at Howe Sound BrewPub.

Climbing the mountain

On Chief Peak 1

Feeding a chipmunk

On the Sunday we both got our first experience of mountain biking on some single track trails of Squamish.  It turned out to be much more difficult than we orginally thought with us only covering around 25km in 5hrs of riding.  And that was on the so-called "easy" trails.  But it was a good experience and we got some good views of the lakes and mountains in the area.

Mountain Biking

We have also been able to get our footy fix with the local Aussie bar "Moose's Down Under" showing a game a night on the weekend's.  The ANZAC day game was shown live with the local footy clubs running some competitions and trying to recruit members.  The president of one of the clubs has attempted to recruit Marty, but he is just assessing his options at the moment.  We don't like to use the word mercenary, but hey, we've got bills to pay!

There was also an ANZAC day service in one of the parks organised by the local government with contributions from the Australian and New Zealand consulates that went really well and we were glad we attended.

Wreaths at ANZAC Day service

Marty has joined a local running club for an hour of pain every Tuesday and Thursday evening's.  There are people in this group who can run sub 2:45 marathons and others who do 50mile trail runs as a "training run".  Erin has joined a fitness group that covers bootcamp and running clinics a few times a week.

So thats about it.  Leave a message if you like, we hope all is well with you and your families.

Marty and Erin

First Impressions

G'day all,

So we arrived in Vancouver last wednesday night after the longest day of our  lives and we were happy to be on solid ground again. After getting to the hotel we went for a walk and found Granville street (about 2 blocks from where we are staying) to be where all the pubs and shops were. We stopped at a pub for a drink and watched a bit of the first game of the playoffs for the Vancouver Canucks in Ice Hockey. The Canucks are everywhere, the people here are absolutely fanatic. It doesn't look good so far though because they are 0-3 down against the LA Kings for a best of 7 games, so it may not last much longer. Marty is attributing their losing to our arrival as they finished top of the ladder in their conference and the LA Kings were 8th. 

A shot from Game 3 of the Stanley Cup quarter final playoffs between Vancouver and LA Kings

A Canucks Donut

We have discovered very early on that it is still quite cold here, but it did give us an excuse to jump on the Canucks bandwagon and buy a scarf each. When the sun comes out it can get warm (although that has only happened twice so far) and it is very warm anywhere you go inside.

Off to watch the Canucks

We have been getting a bit confused with everything being on the other side, drive on the right side of the road, keep right when walking on footpaths, getting into the car on the other side, even keeping right when going down stairs and escalators.

Besides from watching the three hockey games (they play every second night) we have been walking around downtown alot, I've done a bit of shopping (I may of gotten excited about some of the cheaper clothes), and we have been trying to sort out an apartment, bank accounts, phones and jobs. We have been looking at a couple of apartments and are putting in applications today but that is as far as we have gotten, hopefully the applications go well and we will be into a place shortly. We have extended our stay at St Clair Hotel until Sat 21st but I'm not sure what we will do after that.

In relation to jobs, Marty has applied for some and is hoping to hear back and is looking through more, covering sports sales, engineering and landscaping jobs. ALS contacted me last wednesday and I am going out there to meet everyone and have a look around on tuesday. I start next Monday 23rd April but after training will be working tuesday to saturday.

Marty and I both completed the Vancouver Sun Run on Sunday and we went well. Marty finished in 43.11 and I did 1.08.25 and we were both happy with that, Marty off not much training and recovering from the Ironman and me coming off my knee injury.  There were 49,000 people registered for the run which makes it twice the size of Run4theKids but not as big as City2Surf.

The start of the Sun Run

Before the Run

 

Tourist wise we have not done that much, we went for a wander around Gastown (part of downtown Vancouver) which is a older area with cobbled streets, and we spent sunday afternoon on Granville Island visiting the public market and the Granville island Brewery. 

The entrance to Granville Island

There is still much for us to do but luckily we have a while to cover it all.

 

The views around Vancouver are absolutely amazing. Its almost impossible to go anywhere without seeing snow-capped mountains in the background.  Below is a photo Marty took while going for a run on Friday afternoon.

Pic From Stanley Park

Well that's about it for now.

Ez and Marty