Living on the North Shore we walk 10 mins to Lonsdale Quay (a fantastic market - more about that later) where we get the seabus (they leave every 15 mins throughout the day, slowing to every 30 mins around 8pm) for a 10 min journey over the Burrard Inlet to downtown Vancouver. From here we get the skytrain that takes us around Burnaby, to the East, or buses galore over to the West. We have never had to wait more than 10 mins for a bus. But hey, Canada is a big country and if you want to see a bit of it you need a car to get you around as the public transport system is not that good after you get to the city boundary.
The Seabus from the North Shore, Lonsdale Quay, to Downtown Vancouver:
We got a car. It's a red Mazda MPV and we called it Layla after my nephew Toby's new baby daughter born on Tuesday 15th June (congratulations Toby and Louise) because that's when we got the car. Canadians are outraged at the cost of petrol at the moment - C$.91, that's around 36p per litre. When we tell them how much it costs in the UK they just go apoplectic. We had been travelling by public transport up to then and the public transport system is fantastic.
Our car - a Mazda MPV:
The people are very friendly, very laid back. It is a big city though, so you do get lots of begging in downtown Vancouver, just as you do in London I guess. The main thing we have learned is that we don't speak the same language after all.
The number of times we have ordered something only to queue up for it and find we got the wrong thing and it has to be made all over again. We have to remember things like 'to go' instead of 'take away', 'will call' instead of 'ticket collection window', 'for sure' instead of 'of course', 'perfect' instead of 'thanks', 'you have a nice day now' instead of 'yeah, bye', 'chips' instead of 'crisps', 'fries' instead of 'chips', 'never ending fries' instead of 'can I take your plate please', 'thank you maam' instead of 'bye', 'alrighty' instead of 'you're a bit wierd aren't you'.
Update November:
There are two suspension bridges nearby. One in Capillano which is world famous, very high and very scary and you have to pay to walk over it. The other is in the Lynn Valley canyon, this seems just as high and scary but you don't have to pay to walk over it. The Lynn Valley is absolutely gorgeous, as you can see from the piccys below.
Josh and Rowan relax in the Lynn Valley:
Josh walks over the Lynn Valley Suspension Bridge:
We have booked a trip to the west coast of Vancouver Island, to Ucluelet, near Tofino. We go 9th Sept for 5 nights and will celebrate Simon's birthday whilst we are there. We are going primarily to see bears and whales. One of our wedding presents was a trip to see bears from our brilliant friend Caroline and we are going out there to see our wedding present - good or what?
October Update:
We had a great time on the Island, over on the West Coast is very wild and you definitly have to be at one with nature :-) Unfortunately the bear trip didn't come off as we arrived there just at the end of the tourist season and the end of the bear trips it seems. BUT we did go whale watching, which was a fantastic experience, even if Rowan and I did turn a little green by the end :-)
Beautiful view from west coast over the wild Pacific:
Simon sitting on a log on Wickanish Beach:
The boys on Wickanish Beach:
Whale watching - it's such a tiny boat ;-)