Soooo excited to finally be in Canada - i've been wanting to visit for many years and it's great to finally be here. (Uncle Richard I can hear your voice complaining that I haven't been to visit sooner - but I'm finally here!!)

It was so great to step off the plane in Vancouver and feel the cold fresh air hitting our faces after months of heat and humidity! (I'm not complaining - I loved the heat but nothing beats clean fresh air!)

So first stop in Canada was Vancouver - a city I have heard a lot about from friends and family - it's my Auntie's favourite place so I was excited to visit. We were staying at a wonderful Hostelling International hostel in the centre of Vancouver and spent the next few days exploring. We loved it so much that after our first day we booked another night at the hostel so we could stay for 4 nights!

Our first day was spent getting to grips with the city and exploring many of the different neighbourhoods. As i've mentioned before Ben loves markets - especially flea markets so our first stop was Vancouver flea market to search for some bargins - Ben was in heaven! He stocked up on old tins and old glass bottles, while I searched for a particular gift - which I can't mention on here as it's for someones birthday!

Anyway...after a successful market trip we headed to see the Jimi Hendrix shrine - Jimi's Auntie's old cafe which has been turned in to a shrine! Unfortunately it was closed for winter but it was brightly painted on the outside with a few photos and articles so it was worth a look. We then stumbled across another market that i'd seen advertised and wanted to visit - it was the most trendy hipster place I have ever been - I felt completely out of place - it was way too cool and trendy! It was dark in the market, with a dj and lots of little independant stalls with vintage clothes and hand made things - it was fun to check out the local craft makers of Vancouver and I accidently invested in a gorgeous green shirt!

After wandering the various markets we headed to Chinatown (the biggest in Canada apparently!) and then to Gastown - the oldest neighbourhood in Vancouver. We had a delicious lunch of pulled pork and bbq sauce before heading out in the rain to have a walk by the waterfront and watch the sea planes land. Me and my brother have always had a facination with sea planes (he got a Playmobil one when we were younger and I got a Playmobil log cabin with a jetty where the plane could land ne xt to on the water!) so it was so cool to see them flying in to land on the water and taking off - I'd never seen them before so it was exciting! Great first day in Canada!

The next day was spent walking to Granville Island to check out the market and then walking along the sea wall around Stanley Park -we did a lot of walking! It was so beautiful - pretty overcast so we couldn't see much of the mountains surrounding the city but it was pretty nonetheless!

Our last day in Vancouver was very rainy so I spent the day in Vancouver Art Gallery checking out an exhibition about Art Spiegelman - an amazing cartoonist and writer - incredible stuff. There was also a photography exhibition and watercolour paintings. I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around an exploring the city. I really liked Vancouver and really want to come back to visit Vancouver Island one d

The next stop on our Canada adventures was Whistler - 2 hours by coach from Vancouver. I was so excited to see so much snow! Our first day was very rainy so we explored the village and felt like the only people in the village without skis or a snowboard! It was a very cool trendy place. We obviously visited a fudge shop and a chocolate shop and tasted the local delicacies! We spent the afternoon in Whistler Museum to escape the rain as the other activities we wanted to do were closed due to bad weather. We learnt about the history of the village and the many bids for the Olympics. We took photos with the Olympic rings! That evening we went to the cinema to see the new film Oz - it was pretty good but a bit cheesy for my liking!

The next day was still a bit rainy but it brighten up for a while so Ben and I took the chance to go up in a gondola to the Tube Park and spent an hour racing down the snowy mountains on rubber rings - it was really fun and great spinning around and going really fast down the slopes! I loved it! There was even a special moving walkway thing to take you and your tube back to the top of the slopes!

After taking the gondola back down I signed up for a zip-lining tour for the afternoon as many friends had told me to do it! I did the Eagle tour with 5 zip lines varying in length - the longest one is twice as long as the Eiffel Tower is high! Sooo fun zooming through the trees at about 55mph! It was fun exploring the forest in the snow and whizzing around between Blackcomb and Whistler Mountains. Really fun afternoon and great way to spend my last afternoon in Whistler.

Off to Lake Louise today after a 17 hour bus journey! Internet time is quickly running out so i'll sign off now but loving Canada! Write soon xxx