Hello Canada!

Its been a stressfull first week on our 2nd Year Trip. The flight was okay not much entertainment on the tv channels so it dragged a bit - however i chewed the ears off the elderly woman next to me most of the way so wasnt too bad also it was half the price of all the other airlines so shouldnt really complain. We arrived at the airport and the immigration officers were not happy with Mikes Drink Driving conviction - They made us get our bags and took us into another office where they asked some more questions and said they would have to look into it further - Luckily they came back and said it was okay to go to Canada and issued us with our work permitts. Phewww! My mind was running into overdrive at that point thinking of our options - USA, Europe for the year? Anyway all good - we collected our boardbags and grabbed a taxi to the UBC Vancouver University Campus. After we checked in we went for a walk and down some very long steps to Wreck Beach. Mike pointed to this guy who was stark naked lying legs open on his back. No-one was takiing any notice of this - strange we thought. Next we saw a few other people naked and everyone just acting as normal. This was a nudest beach but the majority of people were fully clothed hippy like.... It was just like being at a festival hundreds of people at the beach listening to music etc - We thought how lucky people were to have grown up here....

The week ahead we just got spanked with money. Bloody tax on everything you buy of 12%!, accommodation is £50 a night, eating out 3 meals day, cost of transport from the UBC to downtown Vancouver which was about 30 minutes away. We had no idea where to look for a campervan at first. We then started checking hostel notice boards, Craigs List (online free classified site), Buy and Sell papers etc. No-one had one for sale - I assume because the weather is gorgeous and no-one wants to sell! They did have some for sale but not in our price range and the ones we did see were old old old 1970's! Mike managed to persuade me to buy a normal van which we did off a Persian Car Dealer called Shawn - Classic the first friend we get is a Persion who looked stoned all the time. We got a good deal approx £2K for a 1994 Chrysler Town and Country Van with wood down the side very oldschool! There was so many to choose from we just had to trust our gut instinct. We have named the van "Woody" and he is now our home until October 1st. We went to the equivelant of B&Q over here called Home Depot and Mike made us a frame for the bed - We bought 2 sleeping bags and a blow up matress and spent our first night in a dodgy gypsy area on the side of the road. Excellent £50 saved in accommodation already!

I forgot to mention the car insurnace - Here they give you new plates when you buy a car - so you cant tell how old a car is by the plates. The insurance guy comes to the garage when you have bought the car and gives you your insurance. You need a letter from your previous insurance to tell them how many years you have been driving and had no claims to get discount. We did not have this so it works out £100 a month! We are in the process of getting a letter done - Gaz B nudge wink! We then get a refund of 70%!

We bought some pots, pans, cuttlery, crockery, camping stove, whistling kettle etc for the van and headed to Whistler to sort out our winter accommodation early as it is fierce out there in the winter for rooms and jobs. We got a deal for $1200 a month which is great - cute little apartment which I love! It may seem expensive but this is the cheapest you can get in the winter season as they hike their prices up 50%! In summer it is alot cheaper. Whistler has gorgeous scenery surrounded by mountains, lakes and rivers. The villiage is like the villiage in centre parks cute, small, clean and friendly. There is dirt tracks, skate parks, rivers, again a great place to grow up the kids are really looked after here in Canada.

I thought I would do a list of all the things different in Canada to the UK so here it is...

They....
Drive on the right hand side of the road
Indicaters are red and difficult to see
Bus pass lasts for 2 hours and is $2.50 where ever you go - you can hop on and hop off as many times as you like
You can turn right even if the lights are on red (we think!)
All shops open at 10am!
They get charged for receiving calls and text as well as making them.
If you dont have credit you phone does not work - people can not text or call you
Everything is plus Hst tax - 12%
They have drive through ba
nk machines
They pay for petrol before filling up
They call petrol - gas
It is full of Chinese!!!
You get registration plates for any car bought
A guy comes in to insure your car at the garage
Chips are crisps
Tap water is very clean
Lots of homeless people
It is the larges Country in the world now that Russia has split
Population of roughtly 33K
Most Canadians are super enthusiastic and "high on life"
They are all very patriotic and there are Canadian flags everywhere
They have huge litre engines on even small cars 3.3L being small 10L engines are the norm!
Cyclist can ride on the motorways
Cars have lights on constantly - it is a legal requirement

Thats all folks - just in a queue now for Vancouver Island 3 hour traffic jam waiting for the ferry in peak season.....