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.
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| 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.
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| Erin on the Capilano Suspension Bridge. |
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| 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.
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| Entrance to Lions Gate Bridge |
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| 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.
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| Climbing the mountain |
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| On Chief Peak 1 |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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