It Begins....

Time for some ramblings....

So it was my birthday on the 26th. I had to work at 6am wwoofing in the hostel, but woke at half 5 to find that 3 of my mates had cleaned up the whole kitchen for me the night before (as a birthday present), effectively giving me no work to do!
From then on the day only got better......

So after a bit of a kip, I got a call from a convenience store about starting work the next day. So I have a job now!! Well it's a shit job but its a start until summer hits and better jobs are available...

ANYWAYS..

So after a bit more sleep, some lads took me out to a nice Irish pub for a few beers about half 3. When we got back (pretty tipsy) I went to my friends room because someone said they wanted to see me. When I got there, I opened the door and the whole room ( a very cramped elevator shaft) was chockas with balloons and half the hostel jumped out from behind the wall, screamed surprise and sang happy birthday to me with a birthday cake. I was speechless. After that the party started and the free shots began. I don't remember too much after leaving the hostel, but I had one of best nights ever. So big ups to the people at the Ocean Island for making it the best birthday Ive ever had... Much love.

So my birthday was my last big night here. The next day I started work (struggle town) and into routine I go.
My mate Adam and I are currently flat hunting, just need to find the right one. We've seen a few nice ones, but they get taken pretty quickly. We have a favourite pub in the Cook Village, so we want to live near there for that sole reason (and its a nice area).

The hostel is still kicking arse. The prices are going up a fair bit for summer, so everyone is moving out. There is so much crazy shit around here. From drunken Germans running around naked on the street, proposing to his girlfriend and offering to wheel her to Vegas to get married in a McDonalds wheelie chair, to alcoholics in the hostel, talking to kettles and claiming to be "The new sherrif in town".

It's been fucking awesome.

Now I have 6 days off work, and in 2 days I am heading to Seattle to see Radiohead.

Life sucks right now.

Canada. Y U No Like Tall Guys???

Another night, another punch in the face from a random walking down the street.

I don't know what's going on with these damn Canucks. For over 6 months I lived in a dingey part of Cardiff, a notorious rough town in the U.K and had no problem at all ever. Before that I managed over 6 months in Edinburgh, walking down Leith Walk into the harbour every day for work and never had an issue. Hell even in Prague two of us had to walk through a gang of thugs with our backpacks to get to our hostel.

But in two months in Canada, I have been started on by a random for 'thinking I'm taller than him', been dragged across the street from behind by some flipping nutter with a cut across his eye, and then two nights ago punched in the face by some crack head before he legged it while being pursued by an army of bouncers that I was talking to.

All I'm gonna say is.......

Victoria

Been a bit slack of late with this thing!

The last few weeks have been flat chat. I've finally broken out of Vancouver!! Now I'm happily settled in Victoria, which is the capital of British Columbia!

I don't even know where to start to be honest. The city is beautiful. There's a wicked harbour 10 minutes from the hostel which has seals and a wicked view. Beacon Hill park is 10 minutes away as well and you can chill out, feed the ducks/geese and peacocks and see a bald eagle or two. The legislative building is AMAZING! Architecturally its beautiful, large and imposing. At night it lights up and can be seen from over the harbour.
I'm starting to fall in love with the place.

I've been lucky to find a hostel that I love. It's called the Ocean Island Inn and its the closest hostel Ive found to The Travellers Inn in Edinburgh. The place is more giant flat than hostel to be honest. Two thirds of the people staying here are long termers, and I reckon half of those are Canadians from other provinces looking for work.
The Aussie ratio here is at a wicked level, myself being one of three (the other two are chill too)
The people staying here are more family than friends, and we do a lot of stuff together as a big group.
I am loving it here so much at the moment that I have decided to live here until I leave Victoria.
I started working at the hostel for free accommodation and food a few weeks ago, and with any luck, I can find myself some night work so I can do both and save tonnes of cash for summer.

The work front has been slow. All the pubs I have applied at have told me to wait until the start of April when the cruise ships start coming in. I have been pretty lazy to be honest, and going out most nights probably doesn't help. I really do need to get my arse into gear soon though as I just checked my funds, and half of my Asia funds are gone!! Going to have to work hard when I finally do get a job...

We had a 90's night at the hostel the other night. Everyone dressed up, there was a dance off and the music was banging. Anyone who knows me knows I love my 90's music so this was right up my alley. I went op shopping with a couple here and Blair managed to find some MC Hammer pants. You just can't compete with that haha.......After the bar closed we went off to a regular haunt called Sopranos which is a karaoke bar. I vaguely remember singing Mr Jones by The Counting Crows with a mate before we were rescued by a bloke from the hostel.

Not sure what else to report. We've had bonfires on the beach, basketball games, karaoke nights, club nights, hikes, and tonnes of other nights here, it's been wicked.

So glad I came to Victoria......

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Reasons not to drink.........

Notable omissions : Hand sanitizer wipes.

Nationalities In Our Hostel/Vancouver

Australians
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Germans
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Irish
English
Kiwis
Canadians

Hey There Cookie, Why Are You Crumbing Everywhere??

tl : dr

Well I suppose an update is overdue!

The last few weeks have been up and down. I have had a few shitty days, mainly due to not hearing back from jobs and being a bit anxious about tapping into my savings.
My thinking at the moment is that I'm going to stop looking and worrying about getting a job for now and just enjoy the nice weather and get out and about. To be honest, I'm a tad over down town Van, especially living on Granville street where you get woken up every night to either sirens, homeless people screaming at each other or people fighting after being in the pubs, which is usually followed with sirens of the ambulance.

So yeah, I have almost a week left here in the hostel which I had pre booked, then I'm going to head to Victoria on Vancouver Island and scope out the work situation and the general vibe of the place. I've been a lot happier since I've made the decision anyway.

Ok what's been happening? Well partying/sight seeing/partying/sight seeing and a small amount of resume chucking as well. After having some dodgey room mates, Ive developed a cool little crew of people to hang with regularly, sight see and party with. It's been amazing. I'm making friends really easily and I feel well and truly in the swing of things now.

Alright, so apart from one very dodgey night coming back from a midnight snack (where I was grabbed from behind by some massive bastard with a cut on his face from the top of his forehead, across his eye and down his cheek, yeah there's a story there) everything has been safe and sound around here.

As far as sight seeing goes, the last week I have been a busy shutter bug in some pretty fucking awesome places.
Earlier on, a group of us headed out to Lynn Valley, which is a short bus ride out of North Van. Out there they have a wicked rainforesty area, some cool walks and a 50ft high suspension bridge. The first picture is of Rice lake, which is a frozen lake on one of the walks there. It was silent and eerie but beautiful. There were even a few blokes doing some ice fishing.

Mike (pommy mate) and I hired some bikes the next day and rode the sea wall of Stanley Park and down and around the harbour where we saw some otters, a baby seal, squirrels and lots of cool diving birds. There's no better feeling than getting on a bike and reverting to a kid again. I think I had a six hour smile, that or a mild stroke (which would explain a lot)

A few days ago three of us made use of the awesome blue skies and headed to Grouse Mountain, which is a short ferry and bus ride. Vancouver gets voted in the top ten of most livable cities quite regularly, and the reason is you can do pretty much anything you want and it's only 30 minutes away. Skiing, hiking, beaches, it's all there, add that to a very very mild climate and Bob's your aunties lover, most livable city in the world!

Anyway..... Grouse Mountain was wicked. They were charging $40 to get up the hill, which we ummed and ahhed about as we were only going up there to hike and take photos. Luckily an English lady saw us in two minds and let us tag along on her members pass thingo and we all got in for half price! What a diamond.
It was well nice up there, unlimited visibility of Vancouver and around and it was actually warmer up there than in town thanks to the sunshine.

Well that's about it for now. Eventful partying last night and now a repeat tonight means this weekend should be killer!!

Buffalo!

Rampage Time!

Trip officially starts today.

 Also

First use of my noodle thongs.