No more hostels?!?!

Well hi there everyone – I hope all is well wherever you are! I have had a busy time since my last update – although not necessarily a very exciting time for you guys to read about… still… here it is!

Last Friday night I met up with my friend Karen and a couple of her mates to go and see Spiderman III. It was actually a lot of fun, and afterwards we went back to the Samesun (one of the many hostels in Vancouver!) and had a drink in the bar there. I decided it was time for me to call it a night when a group of Australians started doing the ol “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” chant repeatedly and strolled back to my hostel (about 10 steps away) to fall asleep to some guy down on the street playing the intro to Wish You Were Here on his guitar for a good hour. I count myself lucky really because the girls in my room said he started at about 8pm and went until at least midnight – it wouldn’t have been so bad if he had known the whole song but at this stage I could quite happily never hear that song again!!!

On Saturday James and I caught the Seabus over to North Vancouver and had a bit of a wander around the streets and the market over there. After that I headed back to the hostel and my room-mate and I (and to be honest I have NO idea what her name is) went out for dinner. After a most excellent curry I meet up with usual suspects for a couple of drinks (margaritas no less – Tracey tells me they are a Saturday night drink!) and then had another go at sleeping while being serenaded by the Pink Floyd fan down on the street.

On Sunday I headed out to Jericho Beach to move in to my new hostel. I was supposed to be staying at here for three weeks but decided pretty quickly that it wasn’t really my bag. It is in a great spot right on the beach, with some lovely walks and stuff around but the hostel itself is an old army barracks that hasn’t bothered with some stuff I think is kinda important like dorm doors that lock, or showers with hot water!!! Plus at the moment there is hardly anyone there so there are just a few people rattling around in this massive, cold old building and it is basically a bit creepy! Anyway – the exciting news is that the dodgy hostel spurred me to action and I am now moving in to an apartment for my last couple of months here. It is not much more expensive than the hostels and I won’t have to share my room – I am ridiculously excited about that fact!!! There is also a very cute cat that lives there and my room-mate seems like a lot of fun. I will let you all know how the move goes on Friday!

Yesterday I walked back to Jericho Beach from work because it was beautifully sunny and I thought I should make the most of it. I walked around the waterfront for a lot of the way and actually got to see a Beaver in the little lake by the hostel… they are much bigger than I expected and are very fast swimmers (that is code for Clare was too slow getting her camera out of her bag!!!). Nice to finally see one because I was beginning to doubt that the national animal of Canada actually existed!

The other big thing I have been up to is budgeting and planning the rest of my travels before I head home in seven weeks time (see the itinerary blog for details if you are interested). I have now got trips to Whistler, Tofino, Banff and Jasper all sorted, which leaves me with three free weekends to finish my exploring of Vancouver. I am really looking forward to the next seven weeks traveling – and to getting home at the end of it. I have started applying for jobs at home too so fingers crossed that someone decides to make my life easier by giving me a job. Somehow I think the novelty of being 29, unemployed, single and living with my parents will wear off for all concerned pretty quickly!!!

Well, that’s about all from me at the moment. I hope you are all well.
C