Highway to Hell ACDC

So I am at the end of my time in Canada. It has been heaps of fun and I would defo come back here again. Here is the latest on what’s been going down...

We headed up to Sue's family cabin on Hornby Island for a few days. It takes 5 hours to get there and 3 ferries but once you make it, its well worth the effort. Only about 1000 people live on the island and most of them are hippes, there is tie dye and dreadlocks as far as you can see. The main road has a petrol station and that is about it, but by far the best thing is the' free store' The hippies have no money because they spend it all on pot so they have set up a shop that is 100% free. It’s like walking into a St Vinnies and not having to pay and you can take however much you like, I nearly lost my brain! It rained most of the time we were there but we went on a few walks and Sue took me to the Cliffs that she and Steve got married on, which over look the ocean and it’s rather nice.

Then I went skiing.
Monday night is ladies night on Mt Seymour and there where dudes everywhere so I was ready to impress.
Now...I am not sure what is harder, standing up, going forward, not going to fast, not going to slow, turning, stopping, and falling over, getting up again or the chair lift back up the mountain!
I have to say, I am definitely the worst skier Canada has ever seen. I was how the Bogans like to refer to things as 'shit house'. Then I had to take the chair lift - did I mention I am petrified of heights, there were tears.
After we went to the bar and had a debrief and Cider, sue gave me a 6 out 10, I was expecting a 2 but she said my determination and the ability to laugh every time I stacked it and also that I only fell back and not on my face was rather good.
In the bar there was a 2 piece band belting out some off key tunes and the played highway to Hell by ACDC , which was hilarious because when we were on the slopes I said to Sue that I felt like I was on a 'Ski Slope to hell' - hence the title of this email

I went to VanDusen Botanical Gardens which appeared in the movie " a very Muppet Christmas" they have a Maze that I got lost in which was really fun. I was starting to freak a little just as I found the way out. Team Me - 1 point, Maze - 0.

Went to whistler for a day and walked around the village, its was snowing and really icy so I was slip sliding all over the place but its a wicked village and now I get what all the fuss is about when people talk about going there, and the mountains are massive.

Went to Granville Island, It was St Patrick’s day, saw the parade in Downtown, caught up with a friend from Sydney that has been living in Whistler for a few years and his Americano lady friend, had dinner with Sue's family and went to the mall.

All up it’s been a good last week. Now I am off to Rome to start my Italian leg of the tour, ill be doing that for a few weeks so will have lots of things to report back by the next time I get to a computer.

Peace out
xx

First Stop...Canada

I am staying in Vancouver with some friends...There are yellow school buses and red fire hydrants everywhere and those things that you get the papers from on the side of the street just like in the movies. I woke up on my third day here and it was snowing, which is rare in the city for this time of year and kind of made me wish I bought warmer clothes and left the bikini behind.
Sue, who I am staying with took me to see an Ice hockey game, which is now my new favourite sport. We saw the Vancouver Canucks play the Phoenix Coyotes. The Canucks won 4-3. It’s a crowd of about 20,000 people, all wearing jerseys and with faces painted and flags and everyone is going mental.
I wanted to see two things, a punch up on the ice and myself on the big screen.
Both happened! There was a massive biffo and two guys got penalised and then me and Sue where saying how funny it would be if we got on the screen and then all of a sudden there we were! You know, Pamela Anderson was 'discovered' at a football game in Vancouver.....Unfortunately we were scoffing burgers at the time and I had tomato sauce dripping off my chin and Sue had half a pickle hanging out her mouth but we still got on it.
Then we did a mini road trip down to the states and all of a sudden everyone got a whole lot fatter. We went to a Wall Mart there that is the size of a suburb and a gun section that is just out of control. After we left Sue told me that half of the men in the store would have had guns on them which is really weird. She also said that the other half of the store were probably imbred.

I packed my bag and caught the bus down to Seattle for a couple of days. If you ever wondered what happened to Peg Bundy from Married with Children...she was driving the bus. When I was picking a hostel the brochure said 'lively and busy part of town', I think they forgot to mention 'ghetto' . I have never seen so many crazy crack smoking whack jobs in the one place.
So, apart from fearing for my life and locking myself in my room at 6.30pm, there are some wicked things going on in Seattle. First I went to the Pike Market place, which was on The Amazing Race. I checked out the giant department stores like Macys, JC Penny and Nordstrom’s, where I saw Diane Von Furstenberg trying on shoes; she is famous designer who used to hang at studio 54 with Andy Warhol.
I went out to Volunteer Park which gives you a view of the whole city. Next to it is the Sea View cemetery where they have the graves of Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee. I went on an underground tour of the Pioneer district. Back in the day there was a massive fire and the whole city of Seattle burnt to the ground. So they made friends with the Indians and re built the city on top of the old ruins instead of clearing it all away, so now there are buildings and old shops that have fire damage but you can still walk around down there under street level and check it all out. Some one made a lame joke about being comfortable because I am from "downs under" I told them to”stick it".

A few people told me to check out the Experience music Project and I have to say it was the most fun I have ever had at a museum. It’s all about music and where it originated from and different trends and it’s just unreal. You can have a 'jam' on all the instruments and even record a demo tape. I went up the Space Needle which at 607 feet above ground level is a little stomach turning after a lunch of Macca's but has amazing 360 views of the whole city, it was a little windy and scary but it was a clear day sol worth the rip off cover charge. I also found the Bank of America which is a little taller than the Space needle and at 700 feet is the tallest building on the West Coast of USA so I went up that as well - up on the viewing deck on the 73rd floor is where they do the city traffic reports which was cool to watch and look out the window and see the traffic jams that they were talking about. I saw a few other things, walked around the city and then headed off on the bus back to Vancouver.

Now I am off to the Vancouver Islands for a few days, Sue has a family cabin on Hornby Island. Then we are going to go sking, well I am going to try to learn. Oh and Sue and I were chatting the other night about some TV show we were watching and Alainis Morrisette comes on, so she says 'she used to date a friend of mine', and I said jokingly, "who Ryan Reynolds?" and she goes, ' oh, do you know him, we used to go to school together'. I nearly feel off my chair! She is going to try to find her old class photos.

And I have decided that each place I go I will have a song that I associate with that place. Maybe I heard it or maybe it just reminds me of some thing. My song for Seattle is 'Landslide' by the Dixie Chicks. It was playing in the hostel while I was checking in, and also cause if there was a landslide in down town Seattle, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.