25th & 26th June - Vancouver, Grouse Mountain

26th June
The day dawned sunny and warm and we awoke early and headed up the Grouse Mountain - aptly named the peak of Vancouver. The mountain is around 1200 metres above sea level and not named after the great skiing and hiking but a diminutive little bird called a grouse..

We caught the gondola up which squeezed around 100 people in for the six minute picturesque ride up to the top of Grouse Mountain above tall fir trees. The top of the mountain gave spectacular views of the sea and the city. It is truly beautiful in Vancouver.

The area is really touristy to cater for the needs of those who like to travel in warmer Canadian climates (namely old Americans with white sneakers and the hikers who use Grouse as a base. The area has huge wooden carvings, mostly really tacky, with the odd nice one.

We sat down to a "real life" lumberjack show. A mountain crew guy walked on in cleaning rubbish and ended up falling in the log rolling water much to our amusement. The show consisted of two lumberjacks competing in various lumber sports such as the wood chop, log sawing and chainsaw carving. The highlight was a 15cm chair carved from a log and then they got a 3 month baby from the crowd to sit in it. (You sorta had to be there.)

The log rolling was entertaining and these guys were actually good. The aim of log rolling was to free up logs transported down the river that had become stuck. The show ended with the mountain crew guy scaling a 20m high pole and flying off it.

Looking to the peak of Grouse Mountain wasn't too far so we wandered up. Seeing drifts of snow to 2m thick was awesome and gave us a sneak preview of what was ahead of us in winter. Tan made the obligatory snow ball, some what better than the one Azza made a while back while Dan played in the snow. Skiing the peak at night under lights sounds very good. The climb wasn't too bad and when we got to the top we could see this kick arse mountain to the east covered in snow. (Tan lets go there tomorrow - a phrase Tan got sick of hearing!). Seeing snow amongst the fir trees and snow capped mountains in the distance is a sight to behold especially in summer.

Back down the hill and off to a bird display of hawks, falcons and owls. They were nothing compared to Grinder and Coola, the resident bears on the hill. From two different regions these two have been living together on the mountain after they were orphaned as cubs. They frolicked in the water and had some play fights.

After the bears quietened down we trekked our way down to a little lake. Most of the track was covered in snow so we used a bit of poetic licence and made our own tracks until we could see portions exposed out of the snow. The snow rimming the lake was magical. Tan panicked after seeing the sign "be careful for bears" and visions of been eaten alive. (She was carrying a banana skin which bears love (?)). The trek back up through the snow on our imaginary track lead us to behind a sign saying "No Pedestrian Access". Oh well.... it was a great little walk.

A quick bite to eat overlooking the gondolas leaving, the queue was too massive to even contemplate leaving the mountain, we decided to watch the "Grinder and Coola" story on there arrival to Grouse. An excellent story for these cubs which would've been shot if they weren't rescued.

Another quick walk checking out the ski lifts and runs and we were in the gondola down the mountain with no queue. A bus trip into North Vancouver and after a nice warming cup of coffee we check out the rather unexciting area with a few little parks.

The ferry across to Vancouver was fast. This thing is like the Perth - South Perth trip but faster and bigger. The sun glistening on the water and the buildings made a pleasant evening.

25th June

A rather unexciting day of just organising stuff. We realised that Tan's phone (the one that came off Noah's Ark - Tim!) wouldn't cut it as it didn't receive signal on international roaming. So after swapping out sim cards to Dan's phone we bit the dust and went off the the local phone supplier 'Rogers' to buy a new mobile ' or cell phone' as the Canadians would call it! We learnt all about Tri Band (which we apparantly needed) and took great delight in having some new technological thing called "Quad Band - no its quad!!' - not that we had any idea what so ever what that means, but were most excited that our phone now took photo's and had a groovy ring tone. Doesn't take much to impress us. So we now have a local Canadian phone. However over here, you had to pay extra to get basic stuff like caller ID and voicemail.. oh well, what can you do? The guy selling us the phone looked about as interested in us as watching paint dry and for some strange reason didn't get any of Dan's jokes - jeez can't understand that one :)

We also set up our Canadian bank account which again is quite strange. We had a sit down meeting with a representative from the bank who was most helpful. We left with new cards and his direct email for when we wish to have a Canadian credit card. Again a little strange, because as an Australian we can't have credit. We have to put down a deposit with the bank for how much credit we would like and then they give us a card to that value. We think for now we'll cope with our Australian credit cards. We've now got bank accounts coming out of our ears!!

24th June - Vancouver - Granville Markets

Another quite nice Day and we headed over the Granville Island. We caught the bathtub sized ferry (that tiny little boat in the picture) which holds a maximum of twelve passengers which cruised along the waterway and dropped us at the Granville Island, right outside the Granville Public Markets.

The Markets are a food lover paradise (which luckily we both are!) There are hundreds of stalls with fresh fruit (all summer fruit, berries etc), fresh bread, pastries, fish, cheeses and everything in between. We wandered around for ages trying to decided what we would eat for lunch later on.

After heading outside, we sat and watched a buskers show who juggled flaming sticks and more amusingly got out of straight jacket with chains and padlocks tied on. We're not sure how he did it but it was good fun and he took great delight in picking on people in the crowd and also walking by.

We headed back in for lunch, Dan for curry and Tan for home made chicken noodle soup, some what reminisent of lining up in the soup nazi's kitchen for those who remember the Seinfield episode! We shared our lunch outside by the water with the seagulls ready to pouce, hence this sign posted everywhere!

They were quite tame and would let you get nearby, although you became a target for those flying overhead! Note the view of park of the Vancouver skyline in the background.

The rain started pelting down (we are getting used to carrying an umbrella now - although we have been told numerous times our brolly is 'cheap and nasty' and won't cut the winter...

We sheltered in Starbucks for coffee and hot chocolate (with about a litre of whipped cream on top) until the rain quietened down then walked over the bridge home).

We headed down to Jaggers for drinks and dinner and met a man who told us all about how he liked to go to Wreck Beach (nudist beach) - sometimes there is such a thing as too much information. But we had a good night and got to taste some more of the local beers and wine as well as Chilean wine which is also very good.




(Above) rain rolling into Vancouver! You can't really see it on this photo but there is lots of construction already starting in order to be finished for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

23rd June - Vancouver - Stanley Park

We awoke on Saturday morning and headed off to Stanley Park, one of North Americas largest urban parks. We commenced walking along the sea wall which went for around 9.5 kilometres although a couple of km's had been closed due to massive storms that hit last year, the damage of which was evident by the many fallen trees around the park. The park itself is about a thirty minute walk from downtown Vancouver and is an oasis. It's hard to believe that once you are there you are so close to a city. The trees were in bloom with the onset of warmer weather with reds such as the maple leave below scattered all over the park.

We walked along the trails named 'Racoon Trail', Squirrel Trail' etc and around the beautiful 'Beaver Lake'. We were getting quite despondent that we actually wouldn't see any of this wildlife when the little fella below ran out in the middle of the track. He was so tame we could of fed him, but we didn't have any suitable food, plus you aren't meant to of course! We're still not quite sure if it was a squirrel of a skunk - Dan thinks skunk - Tan thinks squirrel. We did see some cute baby chipmunks too!

Beaver Lake which we came across was one of the most beautiful lakes we have ever seen in all of our travels. The photo below does not do it justice. The lake is green, quite and nearly fully covered by flowering water lillies. There were ducks in the pond with their baby chicks and the chicks was would run over the water lillies and then swim to the next one. It was quite cute to watch.

We also saw the famous totem poles in the park, in recognition of the first nation people or traditional land owners. It was quite interesting to read about the story behind the totems and what they actually meant.

We shared the pathways with many people who were out enjoying the sunshine including rollerbladers (we are definately going to give that a go), bike riders and runners. Some of the trees were quite interesting in their shapes from the wind too.

We also the the famous Lions Gate Bridge. But perhaps more importantly we now know what the beer is named after! We sat and had some lunch in the park watching a game of cricket with Dan throwing in the occasional catch cry of 'bowling Warnie' which possibly went over their head and for dessert tried possibly the richest most disgusting cake/rocky road sweet that appeared to be pure fudge icing with a few peanuts and marshmallows in it. We decided to stick well clear of that one in future!

After nearly seven hours of walking we headed home via the shopping precint of Robson Street and admired just how beautiful Vancouver is from the many parks and waterways scattered throughout!

22nd June - Vancouver, Canada

Today was all about checking out the city of Vancouver. Apart from the grey skies and a touch of rain it was so good to see the sea and snow capped mountains!! We dropped in and caught up with Leo and Brendo at UEx corporation, a uranium explorer in northern Saskatchewan and had a chat on what they are upto at work. Looks interesting. We found BC place, home of the grid iron which had a big kids basketball ring. As usual we played around and shot some hoops.

We wandered into Gastown to see the iconic steam powered clock which plays a tune every 4.5 minutes (we later found out it was renovated and is now electric!). We checked out some rental guides and we are looking at a small apartment in the city but it is early days.

We caught up with the boyz again for wine and beers at an Irish pub. It wasn't too much of a blow out for us but a good night.

21st June - San Fran to Vancouver, Canada

We caught our airport shuttle to our International Flight to Canada (from the Domestic terminal - go figure?). Alaskan Airlines did the job and after an intense security scan including a very thorough explosive scan with a cabinet that puffs you with compressed air to get any traces of explosives. Tan got a fright when the jets of air hit her body!

We left the U.S. and A in our polar bear plane to Vancouver. The flight was really good but 2 hours and 12 minutes was classified as too short to give a meal. Dan gets a meal on a 48 minute flight from Kalgoorlie to Perth. Not to worry, Dan helped out a Dutch woman and her children when she couldn't turn off her new iPod. The hostie spotted us later on and gave us complimentary drinks for that little intervention. Noice. We flew along the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. This area is loaded with volcanoes and we all remember the Mount St Helens eruption from the early 80's. Mt Hood and Mt Rainier and the others were all small capped and sitting proud of the surrounding hills. Dan was quite wrapped to see them.

Oh Canada. The hills were snow capped as we flew into a sunny day at Vancouver. After a lengthy queue we got through customs and we were in. Hooray!!!

The taxi took us into town to the Urban Hideaway, a guesthouse in Downtown with two really nice cats. We were starving and ended up having a very late lunch of Vietnamese. Yum! There are so many varied places to eat in Vancouver and a distinct lack of McDonalds (this doesn't worry us as we only use Maccas as a last resort and that's only to go to the toilet!).

We ended up going down to Yaletown to catch up with the boyz. Brendo, Tan, Leo and I shared a beer on Leo's balcony (16 stories) up on a nice sunny day (with periods of rain). We made it down town with Lesley and Andrea for a tin and had a ball of a night. We walked home in the light rain after a few tins. Canadian beer is quite good but Dan needs to sample some more to find the best ones or so he keeps on saying.

20th June - San Francisco

A lazy day today after three solid days and a late night at the theatre. We booked some accommodation in Vancouver and then made our way down to Oakland Bridge. This bridge is longer than the Golden Gate and is a double decker, one for each direction of traffic flow. The difference is the currents aren't as bad and the wind/fog is non existant in comparison to the more famous bridge. There was a huge statue of a bow and arrow and the ledges had star fish and turtles as anti skate devices (different).

We walked past Fishermans Wharf towards Pier 39 - a tourist trap if we ever did see one. The rampant commercialism, inflated prices and souvenir shops almost outweighed the number of tourists. We watched the now famous sea lions at the pier and worked our way through the crowds and found the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co restaurant. A quick "Forrest Gump" pose and we were out of there.

Pier 41 was more our style, and sourdough bun full of clam and corn chowder washed down with a Bud did the trick. (We are so American - pause - Not!)

After lunch we checked out Ghiradelli Sq and sampled some choccy and then burnt it off walking up the steep hill close by. The intersection with Chester St gives the iconic cable shot with Alcatraz hanging in the bay. Yep.. we saw it. The cable car stopped (we were suprised coz it looked full) and we were off past Lombard St and back in to the city. Hanging off the poles was a real treat and with the wind blowing in our hair was like a scene from the movies. I can't name any but you get the story!

19th June San Francisco - Alcatraz

Just north of where we were staying was classed as a little dodgy. Oh well... we walked through there at around 8am and there were homeless people everywhere. A little sad. We didn't get hassled though. We caught the historic F line tram (just like a Melbourne tram) to Pier 33 where we waited for the Hornblower Alcatraz ferry to take off.


The ferry ride was quite short and we were the first group to arrive on Alcatraz (alcatraces is Spanish for pelicans - none here). After listening to a spiel on the island we walked up and saw two twitchers (bird watchers) with a ranger taking photos of Western Gull chicks. Western Gulls are like a big sea gull or Pacific Gull in Victoria. It was great to see the little grey chicks all fluffly with down.

We got to the lock house and walked through with a great audio tour. We didn't see Sean Connery or Kevin Bacon or Clint Eastwood but instead heaps of tourists!!! The tour was good running through rations and rules and some of the daring escapes. Typical of San fran this time of year it was foggy and the wind was icy cold (nice on sunburnt skin). The tour was interesting as it was presneted from both the wardens and former prisoners point of view. The biggest spin out was the amount of birds on the island. They were everywhere!


We made our way to Fishermans Wharf where they have farmers markets on certain days. Today was one of them, where we sampled fresh berries and sweet stone fruit like apricots, nectarines and peaches (great coming the start of winter in Australia).

We ended up having some Mexican style food and Dan suprised me with his vegan choice of a tamale. It was yum.

After the tour and a quick cable car ride along the California line, we decided we would hit Alamo Square the home of the 'painted ladies" or 'Psotcard row" which is the iconic Victorian houses in a row overlooking the city. (the Full House house). They were quite nice with the city set in the backdrop.
Afterwards we caught a bus to Haight Ashbury, the intersection of two streets where the hippie uprising occurred. This area had some really great shops and heaps of quirky stuff for sale. We stopped for a chai and then made it home.



When we got back to Union Sq we enquired about the theatre. We booked "Jersey Boys" a show about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. After a quick $5 meal at the hostel we were back at the theatre. the show wasn't too bad but then again Dan didn't know what the show was really about. Like myself in the second half it all started to come together.

June 2007 - Perth, Melbourne, San Francisco

11th June 2007

We left Perth feeling absolutely knackered. Packing the house into a 3 x 3m storage unit was more difficult than what we imagined!! Steve (Tan's Dad) summed it up very well on the Monday night. "You both look to excited. I thought you would be excited about the trip" In fact we were tired.

12th June 2007

This morning we woke up ready for the trip to Victoria. First stop was our house to pick up Mitchell and Sophie. I opened the front door cautiously as the cats hate been locked inside. That's funny.... they weren't keen to get out. Walking through the house to the laundry and Sophie looked up completely nonplussed about the night in the empty house. I wander where Mitchie is? Shite.. The little bugger had opened the locked (apparently) cat door and was no where to be seen. He escaped! I got a leg up onto the roof, moved a few tiles and started calling him in the roof cavity. No luck!!! We packed up Sophie and went to the airport (one cat down) unhappy. We actually think evil Sophie unlocked the cat flap so she could spend some one on one time with us in Victoria. It worked as she was quite happy with the attention.

Air Express were quite good. We bought one cat cage ($65) in addition to the double one Soph was travelling in and found it is going to cost $160 to send him unaccompanied (if he comes home). Looking tired and stressed we boarded the plane to Melbourne.

After some fast calling and organisation we had a plan in place with Lyn (Tan's mum) and Steve and Jayne next door!

Success!!! We received a MMS picture (pity Tan's phone is really really old (like really old)). A text back and Steve, Jayne and Em had Mitchie in the bag. Hooray. A few 10pm calls and Mitchie was on his way to the airport. We didn't pay the $1,000,000 ransom but he still made it.

13th June 2007

Dan awoke to a call at 7:20am. Mitchie is in Tarneit. Dan's brother Andy picked up the solo traveller and Mitch made Andy's his home for the day. That night Andy brought him down and he was an absolute pog. I don't think he enjoyed the red-eye from Perth and the fact the Sophie had pole position on the bed.

16th June 2007

We planned on a quiet night with Dan's family at Tim and Karen's though it wasn't the case. Point in the case, exhibit one below. Seven bottles of wine between three girls!

Sunday 17th June 2007

We left not so sunny Melbourne for San Francisco on Sunday 17th of July via Sydney after spending five days in Melbourne with family and friends. We slummed it in the first class lounge where we sipped on Moet to celebrate the start of the trip. A lengthy process in Sydney where we were forced to go through quarantine again and our bags were x-rayed, Tan got frisked and checked for explosives, our bags got manually rechecked and then Tan was asked to remove her shoes for manual checking. We would not have wanted to have a tight changeover of planes or we never would have made it!!

A fairly uneventful 13 hour flight and we landed in San Francisco!! We cleared customs and immigration after having our photo's and fingerprints taken and we were on our way! Caught a shuttle bus (the driver was mad and zipped in and out of 8 lanes of traffic which we were told was nothing) to our accommodation.

Ground Hog Day 17th June 2007

Why call it Groundhog Day? We started exploring the USA ten minutes before we boarded the plane in Melbourne. A benefit of crossing the international date line I suppose.


USAHostels on Post St is smack bang in the middle of the city and a great spot to stay. A quick wake up shower and change and we were off to explore the city. First stop was Union Square. The main shopping precinct of town surrounded by tonnes of shops (Dan was excited by Victoria's Secret and the models in the window!). Macy's, Bloomingdales and Saks amongst others were there but we didn't stop to look.

We saw our first of the iconic San Francisco cable cars at the turnaround point at the end of the line. After wandering around Union Square, taking the odd tourist shot, we were ready to tackle the infamous hills.

China Town greeted us with dragons and an impressive arch. The sites, sounds and smells of China Town were fantastic.

This area is the queen of tackiness. Gigantuan porcelain tigers, 7 foot high engraved elephant trunks and the obligatory wavy paw cat statue. We found the fortune cookie shop in a small alley and watched the old chinese lady hand fold them. They are actually a small waffle that is plastic when hot but cool quickly. the machine was automatic with squirting mixture into the waffle pan and cooking them away.






There was lots of Chinese laundry in this alley hanging out to dry. A little back up along the alley was the Tin Yow temple, up four stories with the ceiling covered in red paper lanterns. The Chinese are so colourful with the way they decorate. At this stage we were getting a touch peckish so we had typically American cuisine - dim sum. No not dim sims but dim sum at side street Chinese restaurant. Steamed Shanghai dumplings, stuffed bell peppers and cashew chicken hit the spot. Dan had his first American beer - Budwieser (not as good as the Czech stuff).

After dinner we walked along further north, near the pyramid shaped Trans America building, the tallest in "the city". At this stage Tan was walking like she was drunk from tiredness. As we were about to turn back, I noticed some markets. Like Freo, but in the middle of the closed off streets. No purchases but there was some impressive photography, especially of the bridge. We walked downhill from the markets, past Victorian style houses and to Washington Square. North Beach (I don't see no beach) has a festival in the square on a yearly basis and it was great to relax in a party situation on the grass listening to the U2 cover band. It was such an eclectic bunch of people - hippies, hispanics, Italian (this part is called Little Italy), big Americans, small Americans, Chinese, lesos/gays, hippies, grey nomads and two very tired Aussies. It was a great way to recouperate with people watching and great music.


After a great time listening to the bands in the park we went to Lombard Street - famously known as the crookedest street in the world. We walked to the top for some great views of the city and watched the cars trying to negotiate the streets. We then headed back to dinner and bed - very jetlagged!!!

Monday July 18th - San Francisco

San Francisco, famously known for its hills, and yep we walked the steepest of them such as Nob Hill (Above). San Francisco has 42 hills. A great way to get some exercise in!! Some of the footpaths have stairs inbuilt as the roads are that steep but once at the top you are guaranteed a fabulous view of the bay (or the next hill!!).

We then wandered down to the famous Fishermans Wharf viewing Alcatraz across the island. We decided to hire bikes and ride around the bay and across the Golden Gate Bridge.

We rode through Chrissy Park alongside the bay with the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance obscured by a thick blanket of fog.

After riding along the bridge, we powered down the hill to the small town of Sausilito on the Bay where we stopped for lunch and a look around. American lunches are very hearty (read: friggin massive) so we were very full afterwards. At the end of the day caught the ferry back with some hosties from Virgin (England) who thought it was fine to cycle in pearls and high heels. We passed Alcatraz in cold cold winds to where we started and dropped off our bikes. The day was sunny although the wind was biting cold and we found that by the end of the day we were both terribly sunburnt.