The Final Blog.

I know, I know, it's a sad day for all you blog fans. But I'm going home and I just don't foresee anything interesting happening there so this will be the end for now. Notwithstanding any fantastic events.
Anyway, I can't remember where the last blog ended so I'll just start from being back in Vancouver. It's pretty much been a week of basking in the sun, eating way too much and consuming much beer, wine, vodka and tea, since I've had no job to attend. I'm staying with Ralph for free so I thought I'd earn my keep through cooking and cleaning. This began with 44 shortbread biscuits to placate the masses of non-scots.
The only events of note that have taken place are the Eating of Vancouver (or the less interestingly named attendance of the Eat Vancouver expo) at B.C. Place and a rather fun coffee binge with Jeff, Debbie, Debi and Greg that required a pint of beer and some poutine (finally!) to sober me up from. Oh yeah, and I also got a tattoo. The tattoo took 2 incredibly boring hours, a small amount of pain, and any remaining funds I had. If only Mastercard could be paid off in shortbread...

Lotsa shortbreads

Eat Vancouver at B.C. Place

Debi, Debbie and Ralph

Me looking summery

My new tattoo; it's a Haida moon

So it's my last night and I intend to take it easy with some tea and some food before I head off to the airport tomorrow (flight at 1435) for my first lone flight. I hope it's not the worst thing ever. I kinda would like to sleep and not be horribly jet-lagged, although I fear that's going to be inevitable.

Sorry for the lack of substance to this, the final chapter of my time in Canada. Please don't ask me if I'm ready to come home, that is irrelevant. The fact is I am going home. I fully expect the novelty of Scotland to wear off within 5-7 days.

Thank you for your time and comments. You are hearby released- go forth and read what you wish.

Victoria (again)

I returned to Victoria on Friday and spent the evening cooking some food and chilling out. On Saturday we got up pretty early and headed to Swartz Bay to get the ferry to Salt Spring Island. Bryan used to live on Salt Spring so after looking round a couple of nice wee shops we headed to his friend Fran's house and spoke to her for a while. There's a crafts market on in Ganges (the main town) on Saturdays so we got a ride into town for a coffee then had a look around that. There was lots of nice stuff but it's one of those ones where you don't actually need anything there so we didn't buy anything. We did grab some food from the supermarket then ate it on some rocks by the sea.
After that we played some frisbee golf and had a couple of drinks in Bryan's old work.
There's like one bus on Salt Spring and it's tiny and expensive so a lot of people -those without cars- get around by hitch hiking. So after our drinks we hitched a ride back to Fulford to get the ferry back to Victoria. We caught the last ferry and then took a bus downtown and were going to go to Big Bad Johns for a drink but they were allegedly full so we went to Sopranos for a beer to wait until the last bus.
We got up early on Sunday and I got all packed up and whatnot so we were ready to head out to the 72nd Victoria Highland Games. Yup, they love the British in Victoria! It was a sunny, sunny day so it was nice to hang out in a field, especially as it was probably the only place in Victoria where you could get a drink at 11am. As we were quenching our morning thirst I noticed a guy I recognised an it turned out it was Magy (my friend from Craigmount)'s brother, who I knew was living over there. So I went to say hi to him which was kind of weird but pretty cool.
After that I caught the bus to Swartz Bay again and got the 3pm ferry to Vancouver.
I arrived back in Van about 5pm and hauled my sunburnt self to my temporary home at Ralph's, and he had lasagna and wine waiting for me. Good guy. I feasted until content and had some drinks.
Today we went to Metrotown shopping centre because Ralph needed a summer coat and I'm a girl and good at shopping. Tonight I'm gonna cook up some thai green curry and it's going to be incredible.

Waiting for the ferry to Salt Spring Island

The big ferry that goes to Vancouver

Some scenery

Our lunching spot

Frisbee golf

Bryan on the ferry

More scenery (B.C. has plenty of it)

Turnbull tartan writing paper. For the low, low price of $14.95!

Scotch Pie and mushy peas (I didn't eat it, but Bryan did)

Pipers piping (got a bit patriotic)

Scenery on the way back to Van

Mt. Baker

I forgot to mention; when I was on the ferry back to Vancouver I saw a seal and something I suspect to be a whale. It looked sort of like a dolphin or a porpoise but it was travelling alone and they travel in pods so I think it was a whale. I need to do some research and see what kind of small whales hang about in the water there.

Alrighty I'm starving. Peace out.

Tofino yo

Alrighty this is primarily going to be a picture post because I've just kinda been hanging out at the beach or walking around some coastline and that's all visual.
It was pretty rainy on Wednesday and Gabe didn't feel like surfing so we went for a wander around the Wild Pacific Trail at Ucluelet instead then had some coffee. After that I had a wee wander around Tofino because I hadn't actually been in the town apart from the hostel and the grocery store. There were some nice little gift shops and I bought a tshirt with a whale on it so that was pretty cool.
After that I had some dinner then watched the sunset. As I was watching the sunset I noticed there was a rainbow comin up from the water and then I saw a seal swimming in the water. It was a pretty incredible moment.
Yesterday was a really nice sunny day so I went and hung out at the beach while Gabe surfed. Some other people we had met came down for some surfing too so we spoke to them. One of them was a guy from Edinburgh (there was another guy from Edinburgh staying in my hostel- small world!) so I spoke to him for a bit.
When we were back in town we met a girl who we met earlier and she invited us to a barbeque her and some people were having at their B&B so we bought some wine and headed down there. It was nice to hang out with some people I didn't know but had sort of become friends with in such a short period of time. Everyone was really nice. Kat and a couple of her friends were from Montreal so there was some french going on and I actually managed to kind of understand some of it, even though I didn't attempt to speak it.
We went and watched the sunset again and then headed down to the beach where some people were drinking and having a fire. Good times.
This morning I had to get up early and get packed and check out to catch my bus at 9.45am. I got on that alright and as we were heading down the highway I noticed a creature at the side of the road- it was a black bear! I don't think anyone else noticed it and the bus didn't stop or anything but I definitely saw it and it wasn't that big but I feel my time in Canada has been worth it now. It's no moose but I'll take what I can get eh.
Anyway, I'm back in Victoria now and will be here probably until Sunday. Think me and Bryan are maybe going to go across to Salt Spring Island tomorrow for the day so that could be cool.

Pictures...

The Wild Pacific Trail

Me n my hood at the Wild Pacific Trail

Eerie

Tofino shops

Seaplane in the fading light

Sunset

Rainbow

Scenery

Rainbow on the docks

Cox Bay Beach with some rad surfer waves dude

Surfing dudes

Lookit! I got friends!

A different sunset

In other news I accepted the offer for the MSc course so I'll be going back to school in September... Exciting times!

Victoria & Tofino

On Sunday I got up and headed downtown to do a few little things I had left to do and organise. I think I maybe planned too much time in Victoria because I was finding it hard to keep myself amused there after a few days. I went to a tourist shop on Government Street where I had seen some pretty Haida-designed silver rings and bought a beautiful locally made one for $67. It's pretty expensive but I've been looking for a nice ring for ages and this is one I think I'll wear for a good while. After that I took the bus out to Oak Bay where I had been told there was a nice beach. I found my way to Willows Beach and had a quick walk around there. It was really nice but I knew there'd be plenty of beaches in Tofino that I had lots of (again- maybe too much) time to hang out there. I had been informed by Bryan that we had plans for the evening so I had to get home for that.

His plans involved going to see Joel Plaskett; some 'real Canadian' music, after having some dinner at an Oyster restaurant (I did not eat oysters). I had never heard of Joel Plaskett before but it was good music and he was quite funny, plus the Victoria Conservatory of Music is a beautiful building (although the seats are torture). All in all a good night!

The next day it was packing time. Got all my stuff packed up and -after noticing my bag was fuller but lighter- headed downtown to meet my ride Gabe. Gabe was cool and a nice safe driver, which was appreciated. We even stopped at a couple view points and to watch the hockey (Canucks got beat and are now out the Playoffs :o( shame). We got into Tofino around 11pm and I pretty much went straight to sleep because I was exhausted.

Today is May 12th (Tuesday) and I got up after sleeping like a baby and had some breakfast and a shower. I had a text from Gabe asking if I wanted a ride to the Pacific Rim National Park which is where the best beach and the rainforest etc is so I said yes please and we went for a wander round there all day, stopping off at Long Beach, the Wickaninnish Interpretation Centre and the rainforest. It was pretty sunny and would have been roasting if it wasn't for the wind, which was pretty strong. It was warm enough in the rainforest but the beach was a bit chilly. All in all, though, an awesome day and lots of fresh air and exercise. It's also nice having someone to hang around with (who has a car).

Willows Beach, Oak Bay, Victoria

Mount Baker, on the right, with lots of digital zoom

Oak Bay Marina from Willows Beach

A building in Chinatown in Victoria (Canada's oldest Chinatown)

The gate to Chinatown in Victoria

Joel Plaskett

A view from the highway

A hole in a tree

A lake from the Macmillan forest

Whalers Point Guesthouse, my hostel

The view from my hostel window

Again hostel window view

Long Beach

Long Beach, we clambered all over these rocks

Starfish!

The rainforest

I got home a couple of hours ago and checked my emails and had one from the University of Glasgow giving me an unconditional offer to the MSc Forensic Toxicology. I was kind of thinking that I would be accepted but now I need to decide if I'm motivated enough to do it! Hmmm...

Anyway It's dinner time so I'm gonna go battle the crowds in the kitchen for some cooking space!