Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all our friends and family. We're missing you all!

We've had a busy few weeks so the blogs been collecting dust. We'll be adding some posts in the next few days.

A couple of weeks ago we had a pretty special trip to see the Snowy Owls who come down every five years or so from the Artic due to a shortage of lemmings (which follow each other off cliffs in early 90s 2d I imagine!). Here's one of our favourite pictures...

And this is what Christmas looks like in our Vancouver home featuring Sideshow Bob, our Christmas tree...

An ex-pat Christmas...

We both knew that Christmas was going to be slightly odd this year, given that we were so far from home. It was still good fun though; here's how it panned out....

It started on Christmas eve, when we Skyped my family (10pm our time, 6am there time) & watched them all frantically open presents. Complete chaos in the Sherry household!

On Christmas Day, we also had to get up at 6am to open our presents before David went to work (yes, rubbish, working on Christmas Day). We spent time with both our families as we unwrapped gifts...

As well as being surprised to receive two kindles (thank you Steven & Sarah!), we also got fabulous matching hats (thanks Auntie Debbie!):

At 8am, we traveled to Grouse Mountain for a few hours; I hung out with my friend Cathy, watched Christmas movies & played with Reindeer while David worked.

We then headed home, with our friends Cathy and Dan in tow, for our Christmas dinner. If you were wondering what an ex-pat Christmas looks like, this is it:

It consisted of two borrowed chairs, stolen ketchup from Grouse Mountain and a house plant decorated with lights (AKA our Christmas tree). It was thoroughly amusing & really good fun.

Our minds then turned to one of David's presents that had 'challenge' written all over it - a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle (thank you Steven!). This was the scene at the start:

And by the end of the evening, when all the wine had been consumed, this is what it looked like:

Obviously we didn't complete it that night, despite us going at it for a good couple of hours. We were trumped by the Sherry family who finished their 1000 piece jigsaw on Christmas Day. We are determined to finish it though & hang our masterpiece, once complete, on our wall.

All in all, fabulous day - thank you to everyone who made it so. And Merry Christmas!

CS

Winter birdies

Word on the street told us that Snowy Owls were in town. This was exciting news - as Snowy Owls only migrate through Vancouver from the Arctic once every 7-8 years.

So naturally we went to see if we could find any. We headed South, towards Boundary, which is near the U.S. border.

And I'm delighted to say our trip was an outstanding success. This is what we saw:

Our two foot tall, feathered friend sat happily for hours while we - along with many other tourists - took pictures. I'm pleased to say he had other feathered friends with him too - 23 of them!

We were also visited by many bald eagles (David's favourite). Here's a picture:

Good day all round. The Snowy Owls will be leaving soon to continue their journey, so delighted we got to see them.


CS

Harrison Hotsprings

The weekend of my work Christmas party was rather memorable.

Rather than getting drunk in a club (common Christmas party concept), we headed to Harrison Hot Springs - a tourist hot spot with - you guessed it - hot springs.

When we arrived on Friday night, we dove straight into the water - check it out:

The water was boiling so we couldn't stay in too long - but continuously switched between the hot & luke warm pools. Strangely I woke up in the morning looking like I'd had a perm; the water had a funny affect on my hair.

On Saturday we went on a hike, before doing a treasure hunt around the hotel. It's in a beautiful spot:

We finished off our weekend in true style with a dinner & dance. Fabulous food, delicious wine (Malbec) & good company.

CS

When in Vancouver...

Since we've been in Vancouver, I've noticed a trend.

Virtually every young-ish girl walks around carrying a yoga mat under her arm.

So I've decided to join in & have signed up to 20 classes at Robson's yoga studio.

I've had two so far & loving it. Need to keep practising my 'warrior 1,2 & 3, 'downward dog' & 'sideways crow' if I'm going to improve, but feel better for living the Yogie/Vancouver lifestyle already. 

CS

Tis' the season...

Yes, it is the season to be jolly...and also the season to ski.

Consequently, we're spending most of our weekends on the slopes. And with Whistler being only two hours away, it has become our favourite destination.

Here are some pics of recent adventures...the first is on top of Whistler...

The second is of David's excitement - caused by powder:

The third is of Cathy, Dan & David, enjoying a nice lunch spot:

And the fourth & final is of us posing at the top of the mountain:

The snow has been immense. Anyone fancy a visit?!

CS

Tea for two?

We want to say a big thank you to Leith & Tabitha for David's amazing going away present - tea for two at the Fairmont Hotel.

As Brits in Vancouver, we're missing tea - so it was the perfect treat.

We dressed up for the occasion & David managed to behave respectably. He even raised his pinky when required:

We also demolished the cakes completely - so delicious:

Thank you both - it was a fantastic day out.

DG & CS

Exploring Kits...

So after complaining that we weren't likely to be able to use our bikes until Spring, the weather changed - and we managed to ride around Kitsilano.

The weather, although cold, was beautiful. Check out the autumn colours:

We cycled for 16 miles around the local university, Pacific Spirit Park (great name) & along the coast...before stopping off to have hot chocolate on the beach. It had pretty views all the way along:

It seems that shipping our bikes was a cracking idea after all!

CES

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

First day up the mountain skiing at Cypress...and the snow was dumping down (with no sign of the UK garage scene in sight, despite the name)!

This is the earliest they've ever opened at Cypress - and hopefully, the abundance of snow means that more resorts will soon follow suit.

So far, only one run is actually open - so we did it seven times. Amazingly, I didn't fall over all day. I can thank my beautiful new skis for that. Check out the beauties (I'm referring to my skis) in action:

David also had a ball on his snowboard. He was doing the odd jump or two on route, while I happily just glided down the slope. Check him - and his new jacket - out:

Fun, fun times. And this is just the very start of the season...

CES

Here comes the snow!

I'm delighted to be able to say I've purchased my first set of skis (thank you Mum and Dad!)...and just in time too, the snow is coming down heavily in the mountains!

Check them out here:

We're hoping to make today our first on the mountain. Cyprus, one of the three local ski resorts, is the first to open in British Columbia - and it's only 30 minutes from our apartment!

Given that the snow is still limited and the width of the runs small, it advises only 'expert' skiers to go up. I'm not entirely sure I fall into that category (I speak for myself, not David), but we'll give it a go and see what happens!

CES

 

Working world...

I've now been in the working world again for four weeks, and so far so good.

One particular highlight stands out. During my first week, I was invited to a 'paint party'. This essentially means you throw paint at canvasses - creating your own design as well as a group masterpiece. You also try to squirt as much paint at colleagues as possible, when the teacher isn't looking.

This was the result:

And I'm pleased to say that I've persuaded David to display my masterpiece in our living room. It's a beauty!

CES

Tea time?

We've now been in Canada for seven weeks - and one of the things I'm missing is tea.

The Sherry's are renowned for all being tea monsters. Usually I wouldn't put myself in the 'tea monster' category, but since we've been here I've craved it - all the more because the tea sold in cafes simply doesn't live up to expectation.

And that's why I've treated myself with my first pay packet, to this:

Yes, I've found the perfect English tea shop in Kitsilano, which is aptly called 'David's tea'. It's pricey - but it's delicious. I think 'David's tea shop' may become my regular haunt.

It's the simple things in life...

CES

Garibaldi adventures

We had Friday (11th November) off work - as it's a national holiday in British Columbia. We used our 'extra day' to visit Garibaldi park, a provincial park about an hour north of Vancouver.

And I was (perhaps rather stupidly), surprised by the amount of snow! It was a full winter wonderland:

We also got caught in a snow storm whilst walking:

Great day out though. Thankfully our car, Monty, was able to cope with the snowy roads that were covered in pot holes.

Next time we head for a hike, we'll need to pack some snow shoes.

CES

I want to ride my bicycle...

After a three month journey, our belongings have finally arrived at our apartment. Surviving with one cooking pan, plastic cutlery and a pen knife for chopping veg for seven weeks has been a real challenge.

So when our boxes arrived, I was glad to see we'd packed sensibly. This is what we've shipped across:

Yes, we have transported three bikes from the UK - so we have more bikes than people in our apartment!

It's a shame we're on the cusp of winter, as we're unlikely to enjoy riding our bikes now until Spring...

CES

Reifel bird sanctuary

We went to Reifel bird sanctuary today. It's a great place - it's an open sanctuary, with no cages or fences. Yet, the birds flock to this place all year round - they thrive here.

We saw so much: bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, snow geese, sandhill cranes & many, many ducks. Apparently snow geese are the bird to see, as they're only around in Oct/Nov time, whilst they're migrating.

My favourite picture is below:

However, we took many more photos (I got quite excited about using my new camera). Check out the photos here.

CES

Some pics of our apartment and the neighbourhood

Here are a few pictures of our apartment, the building and views from the beach down the road. 

 More will follow when we have finished furnishing and I've taken the car seats out of the lounge!

Lake Louise - the Canadian version

Before we talk more about our adventures, I just wanted to pause for a moment to reflect on Lake Louise.

As the Sherry troopers will rightly remember, Steven and I had to stay behind when a family skiing trip was organised to Banff National Park because it was during our first year of uni. We were - understandably - gutted.

Now I'm happy to say I've reached Lake Louise - the Canadian version of the "lake" at Crow's Nest. And this is how excited I was to be there...

Steven, you're now the only Sherry not to have had the pleasure of seeing this stunning spot. I'll take you when you come over...

CES

Heading for the hills

Our third week in Canada was spent on a 1,907 kilometre road trip of Bristish Columbia:  Vancouver to Whistler (day 1) to Wells Gray Provincial Park (day 2) to Jasper National Park (day 3) to Lake Louise in Banff National Park (day 4) to Field in Yoho National Park (days 5 and 6) and then a one day 769km mission back to Vancouver (day 7). The distances are big here.

Amazing trip. Here are some photos. Didn't see any bears but spent a lot of time camping in fear of seeing them. We did however see a wolf, a coyote, a moose, countless Elk and a couple of Bald Eagles.

My 30th was spent hiking in the mountains around Yoho National Park. Also discovered an amazing if slightly random restaurant called Truffle Pigs for birthday scallops, steak etc. Complete with bear skin, flying pigs and highbrow life commentary it was a Canadian outpost restaurant on some serious magic truffles. Great food and drink, good times.

As well as the shear distances the thing that suprised me was the difference between areas, we went from rainforest to Mountain to prairies, lakes and rivers to huge mountains to vineyards and almost desert like areas.




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DRG

Monty Montana is born

Our search for the perfect vehicle was over quickly. A Pontiac Montana Sport fully equipped with 3.4l V6, five spoke alloys and blacked out rear windows was just the ticket. Importantly it included winter tyres, a bike rack, roof rack and all the back seats could be removed making it the perfect place to sleep.

Insurance here is a rip off, costing nearly as much as the car - a state monopoly looks after that. You also have to pay HST which is like VAT but 12.5% for second hand cars which is a bit of a sting. Petrol is cheaper and there's no road tax so I'm hoping it will balance out in the long run.

DRG

Planting the flag

Papers signed, money handed over and we have the keys to our new apartment. It’s Thursday and we arrived in the country on Sunday – pretty good going by anyone’s standards. We left the hostel with no fond fair wells, though it served us well we were happy to leave. First night was on camping rolls but we were happy to have our own space. 

Here are some of the photos we took from the beach at the bottom of our road.

DRG

A dream takes flight

The plane journey was exciting, after weeks/months of preparation we were finally on our way.

We weren’t travelling light – I was laden with a bike box, snowboard bag, and a big carry-on bag. Charlotte had a huge suitcase, a laptop and another carry-on bag. I was beginning to feel North American.

A two hour wait in a stiflingly hot immigration hall behind families of refugees did leave us a little jaded but when we were finally on our way to the bright lights of the city we perked up again.

The hostel, St Clair Hotel, was what you’d expect from one of the cheapest places we could find – shocking. Our view was of a concrete park which through most of the day hosted the drug dealing games, where zombies aimlessly ambled occasionally, crossing paths to top up on drugs. The room itself was alright and the showers etc were clean enough. We wanted to escape quickly though.

We were only a few hundred metres from the Steamworks micro brewery as it turned out so it was a great opportunity to check out Canada's ales - which aren't much like English ones but are pretty excellent nonetheless.

DRG

Stepping into the unknown

Handing in our notice at work and saying goodbye to work, friends, family and comfort wasn’t easy. Bristol is a great city to live, and Hargreaves Lansdown was a great place to begin my career.

Choosing to take a blind leap of faith and start a new life in a new country (for a time at least) was never going to be easy. But the buzz of opportunity, the prospect of mountains and sea on my doorstep and the exhilaration of stepping into the unknown meant that I rarely doubted the decision to go to Vancouver. 

The various leaving drinks and lunches were great fun and almost make me want to leave more often. I’ve met a lot of good people along the way. 

DRG