The classes here are good and the tutors are of a high calibre. Most of them work in their field and teach us in the evening after work. I am learning more about Company Branding, Advanced Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, Mind Mapping and general lateral thinking in order to conceive creative concepts beyond my initial ideas and thoughts.

I have moved into an apartment by myself which was nice as my last apartment was full of younger party kids. Since I have ‘been there done that’ I really needed some space and peace to get my work done. I’ve made a few more friends and have been out to some really awesome food and drinks at a lot of cool bars for some funny nights out downtown.

Yesterday was part of the long weekend here and I took that opportunity to go to Whistler for a quick snowboard with 3 friends I met recently. I think I improved a lot this weekend even though the snow was falling on us the base was melting to create a softer, sludge rather than powder. I had a lot of fun anyway and was around people that were better boarders than me, so I improved quickly to keep up.

Angela is one of my tutors. She pushes us to be very creative and always has a funny photo at the end of her presentations.

Chillin’ at English Bay for a beer with friends at the end of the day. 3 blocks south of my apartment in the city.

The suburbs of Vancouver in spring go wild with Blossom trees.

Caleb is a good friend of mine from college. He built this bike and it’s flippin’ awesome.

Caleb pimpin’ the cash. Actually it is to pay his fees for the semester.

Blackcomb Mountain lower gondola on the way up to mid mountain and then the peak for some snowboarding.

Getting heavily snowed on while riding the chairlift to the top of Blackcomb Mountain.

Another funny sign for sports massage in the city.

This must be a first. All sunny days in Vancouver. NO it is NOT photoshopped, it really did happen.

I know this is not hetro or masculine but I just reckon spring in Vancity is kickass.

Breakfast for the masses.

Morning out of the window of my new apartment in the West End over-looking Stanley Park with the Lost Lagoon in the foreground. There are massive, snowy mountains in the background but they are washed out in this photo and you can’t see them.

They built a snowboarding rail outside my window for a day when I was living on Granville downtown.

Sunset from Caleb’s apartment in the Shereton Apartments downtown.

A retro hotel sign on my walk from the bus home.

A view from West 7th Ave, Fairview.

My favourite beer. It is from the USA, so it is difficult to find in Canada ..but.. I found it.

Bonus video – A fire alarm went off at my school, BCIT, and the firemen were called in. It was a big deal and very dramatic until they all got out of the fire truck like they really didn’t want to be there. Maybe it was their day off?
Sorry for the shaky video, I didn’t want to get rolled on Granville.

Coal Harbour is where all the sea planes take off from and a lot of expensive yachts and speedboats are penned. I started in Cardero Park and walked along the seawall up to Vancouver Convention Centre. The Convention Centre is the west most side of the building. It also has the International Cruise Ship Terminal and the Pan Pacific Hotel. The eastern side is called Canada Place and has the big iconic white sails.

The planes look cool as they take off and land in the Vancouver Harbour. The seawall has the best views of the North Shore (North Vancouver), Stanley Park and the mountains. There are a lot of Cherry Blossom Trees lining the walk as well as bars, cafés and shops. The sun was out today so everyone was out running and chillin’ in this area.

The boat pens and Vancouver Downtown in Coal Harbour.

A Boathouse installation on the seawall.

More boats and Stanley Park in the distance.

Sea Planes take off from Coal Harbour and fly around the city and mountains. I took this while I was in Stanley Park.

Simba is the dog of the people I am staying with in the West End. He has a mad chewing and destroying disorder.

An inspiration each morning outside a coffee roaster’s shop at my bus stop.

I visited Yaletown which is a neighbourhood in the Downtown core of Vancouver. It was very clean, trendy and expensive. The views are amazing for the residents and there are the typical vanity services that you would expect such as waxing, pedicures, dog grooming and world class hair salons. I liked the quieter vibe of the hood and they have a lot of cool bars and cafés in their main strip. Talking about ‘strip’, you can get a man’s Brazilian wax at a good price if you want to rock out that hard.

I also checked out the West End which is another hood near Stanley Park in the west of the city. It is also more quiet and has a suburban feel although it is just outside the busy parts of the city. It is full of organic and whole food stores, finer and big brand shopping as well as nice parks and direct access to Stanley Park. I found a place to stay in the West End and hopefully that will be a good experience for a month or so.

Some funny things that I have experienced include:

• Helping a paralytic but polite Irish guy find a street after he fell down 4 stairs and apologised when he finally managed to get himself up
• Stumbled across a flee market for homeless people that sell stolen charity goods
• Saw a guy buy a stolen flatscreen TV from a crack addict for $50
• Probably the biggest seagull that ever lived
• One of the most famous Bollywood actors in the world and I still have no idea what his name was or who he is
• Almost taking a room in an apartment with a guy that, at the last minute, admitted that he has an air purifier that dispenses weed into the air all day so that it keeps him being ‘creative’.
• and a gang on modified bikes cruising the streets of south Granville Street on bikes that were about 10 feet tall.

No moms allowed !

Some really old heritage buildings near the West End.

The Gastown steam clock.

Coolest bar in Olympic Village. $3 half pints.

The famous Giant Sparrows that signify fragile ecology.

Japadog. One of the many street food options in Downtown.

A pretty lane in Yaletown.

Get a manlizian and get ready for summer on Wreck Beach.

Trying to avoid buying cookies from super cute Canadian Girl Guides proved too difficult.

On the way home, after the ride, I stopped in to watch some Hockey (Ice Hockey) at a G Sports Bar & Grill on Granville street. There were only a few other people in their, obviously die hard fans of the Montreal Canadiens, and it was like a scene from a movie. Dudes yelling at the TV and a million beers to choose from while stuffing down food that would have given Phar Lap a stroke. One of the coolest things was that the food and beer was affordable. Not cheap but not a rip off either. A pint of Sam Adams was $6. It is such a nice change to be able to buy food and drinks without that gasping shock of hearing how much you owe the bar.

My new favourite thing, Totem Poles.

So awesome.

This rock is unusual as there are no other rocks in this area.

Blossom trees making the city more awesome. Good job Blossom trees.

Running the Hay Fever gauntlet to the skytrain station.

Heaps of massive TVs playing full contact sports & lots of beer. A dream come true.

A TV to watch will taking a wee wee. Genius.

Moved into a really nice apartment in Fairview which had a ‘fair view’ of the city and mountains. You can see the snow on Grouse and Cypress Mountains during the day and the ski lift lights twinkling at night. Looks awesome.

Checked out the downtown area which is not bad. The bars and restaurants are amazing, especially the Fish Shack but the homeless people, not just in East Van but everywhere, is really bad. I’ve never seen that before. It brings you down as it immediately shows you how lucky you are but how hopeless you are to helping them all. With high rental costs, low wages and scarce jobs, it seems like the city is trying to push out or kill off the low income earners so that the wealthy can spend more on ski lift tickets and sports equipment. I carry a pocket full of change and just hand it out to them so I don’t get stabbed.

Got a bad flu 2 days in and recovering now. Haven’t been able to get out too much lately except to get some soup down on Granville Island and have a walk to get aspirin from ‘No Frills Supermarket‘ lolz. Getting the flu has left me a bit homesick for my friends and Margaret River (and yes.. you) already but I think that’ll pass when I can get going again. Haven’t heard back form the college so will have to hassle them tomorrow and kick them in the arse.

It’s such a nice city and has a massive contrast to it. On one hand you have 50% of people that are just go go go and wear sports clothing 24/7 so they are ready for any offer of activity at any time. Then there are 25% of people are Asian with Canadian accents which makes me laugh in a good way, and the other 25% are homeless people passed out in the weirdest positions and places. Vancouver, so far, reminds me of a beautiful city occupied by the drop-outs from Beverley Hills and Hollywood, Los Angeles. It’s a great city, not quite what I expected, but the outer areas such as the suburbs, mountains, parks and waterways are amazing.

Homeless get an anonymous gift of 30 million dollars.

Granville Island entrance where they have markets, a children’s theatre and a brewery.

Boats and the edge of the markets on Granville Island.

View from my apartment.

Lola Brown, my first Canadian friend.

The walk to the supermarket has lots of Blossom trees and parks.

The city of Perth had closed the southbound freeway lanes for a few hours while we rode our bikes back to the city. The wait to start was very long as the police had not yet got all the cars off the freeway so all out energy food was quickly turning into fat and we were running out of jokes fast and tried to start a mexican wave using our bells but no one was really that interested.

After we finally got started, the inevitable first bike breakdown happened with Randy’s chain completely falling off. My bike team are all amazing people and a lot of fun so it was easy to just set a pace of about 32km/h and sit comfortably chatting, dodging other riders and wondering how it was that every 10 kms presented another flat tyre or paramedic helping someone that had crashed or just simply passed out. The sun was out as always and it was around 27 degrees. Perfect for riding. I had iTunes blasting my aggressive, energy playlist that consisted mainly of Slayer, Napalm Death and Entombed. Randy was singing away to the Black Keys and The White Stripes while he set the pace at a rate that would make a Tour de France rider feel exhausted. He got a lot of strange looks and comments such as, “How the heck does he have enough energy to be singing?”.

Lucy and Josh are seasoned riders and this was a warm up for their 150km bike ride next month. They had all the good snacks and camelback water packs so I leeched off them and ate most of their jelly snakes. By the end of the ride I was really starting to feel dizzy, thirsty and my body needed some pasta or something nutritious as it is used to a lot more food during the day than I had on the ride.

We finished up and separated. I got home and felt good but as soon as I lay down I was shortly in a coma that lasted 2-3 hours. After some more gatorade and pasta I was back to normal and changing my phone number so that Lucy could not bully me into another bike ride again. It was a great ride, experience and my longest to date. Good job.

This bike path to the Margaret River town is pretty good. It has a lot of uneven concrete slabs, cracks and steep curb transitions but it has a really fun beginning section where you ride through a bush section and over a little bridge. I would recommend a mountain bike rather than a street bike like mine. The distance is far enough for a good run and the hills are quite steep. Then path generally goes from Preverley Beach to Margaret River town.

In London I visited 2 of my cousins and their families. Similarly to seeing Zach’s show in the West End, I felt amazed by seeing my mum’s side of the family and being able to chat with them, hug them and find out how they all live. I then visited my uncle and aunt further up north in Burwell. I continued up north to stay with my other cousin and his family in Oxford and then on to the Lake District to see my aunt and her husband as well as my cousin and his family.

As confusing as that is to read, I felt very clear that I am connected to all of them and their families and wish the world was smaller so that I could see them a lot more often. I felt very fortunate to have been able to visit them all and I feel for the first time in my life that I actually do have a family outside my immediate one and I know that this trip helped bond them to me… in my mind anyway.

A typical village in the Lake District. This is the town of Grasmere.

Cheeky squirrel in a Park in North London near East Finchley.

My favourite photo of the trip. My cousin’s son Alistair resting at a school sports carnival.

Paris is simply an amazing city that has an amazing feeling about it in every district. Once you get to know it well it makes you feel like you were born there. The city is open and has a sense of humanity about it. When you look at the architecture closely, you can imagine vividly the long, laborious days and nights that workers dedicated their lives to creating this city as it does not look machine-made like most modern ones.

After reluctantly leaving Paris, we drove to many other towns to finally reach Nice where we promptly got back on a plane to Paris. Nice was ok but just didn’t have much of an exotic european feel about it like the other towns we passed by. Australians see amazing beaches every day, so it was hard to convince us that Nice had a lifestyle we had not lived before. Our favourite places in France were Paris, Palace of Versailles, Moet Chandon Épernay, the backstreets of Dijon, the Verdon Gorge, the little town of Meyrueis, random snow in Summer on hillsides and the quiet laneways of Sainte-Maxime.

Real Graffiti.

River crossing in central France.

Village built into the side of a hill.

Holiday home accessed only by canoe by 2 curious Australians looking for some action.