The 5 hour flight to Vancouver was pretty cool - had personal TV's and everything. The only weird thing was that there was no meal served (even though it was lunch time) and all food was really expensive. Luckily we had snacks :-) We landed in Vancouver at sunset on Monday 23 April, and soon got to experience how great a good, efficient public transport system is - we were able to get a train from the airport arrivals to the ferry terminal, a ferry accross to the North shore main bus terminal where you can catch a bus to anywhere - the whole time you are indoors! We were fortunate that Barret was able to pick us up from the bus terminal, saving us a bus trip. Barret and his wife Jess are South African friends of Clint (a friend back in Cape Town) and they kindly offered to host us for a few days. We were warmly welcomed into their home and promptly offered a cup of rooibos! (coffee for Kevin.) We chatted a bit before heading to bed.

Tuesday morning we woke after a great nights sleep. We had some coffee and delicious home-made bread for breakfast, while making a list of things that we wanted to see in Vancouver. Jess came home with Julia and Mathew, their 2 year old twins, and we all went for a walk. They stay in a great area quite close to the mountains - and it was only about five minutes before we were all in this awesome big forest. We got to cross a decent sized suspension bridge (at the same time as a school trip :-/ so all the kids were bouncing.) We stopped in at the nature center, and then headed home for some lunch. Later that afternoon we picked up Sam, their seven year old, from a friend's house. Jess dropped the two of us at Lonsdale Quey on they way to Sam's karate class. We had a nice chilled time looking around the stalls and shops - Monique even managed to find some cheap extra warm clothes. We drove home in the rain and had Jess's amazing Poh Soup for dinner - delicious! Barret and Jess taught us this cool new board game which we played while enjoying some left-over easter treats :-)

Wednesday morning we woke up to rain, so not a good day to see the snow :-/ So instead we took a bus-ferry-bus to downtown Vancouver and did some exploring. We visited Stanley Park, which is this huge public park on the coast new the downtown/waterfront area. Even though it was raining there were still people running - I guess its true what the people say there - "There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing." After the park, had lunch in a nearby Safeway (like Pick n Pay) to get out of the cold. We then caught a bus to Granville Island, which is quite an artsy, hipster hangout. We did a beer tasting at a local micro-brewery and then explored the nearby gallery, market and shops - boat-houses that we saw were pretty cool. We then headed back home to make lasagne for dinner, which unfortunately took longer than expected so we ended up eating quite late (sorry Jess!) Their home-group was meeting at their house which we got to join in with, which was cool.

Thursday was snow day! Barret and Jess had so kindly offered for us to use their skiing/snowboarding gear, as well as two free ski passes - a huge blessing as we probably wouldn't have managed to go otherwise. They stay pretty close to Grouse Mountain, the tallest peak in Vancouver. Jess dropped us a little before lunch time, but we soon learnt that the slopes would only open at 13:00. We were happy to just hang around the lodge for a few hours - there is plenty to keep you busy. Soon we were able to hit the slopes - Monique on ski's and Kevin on a snowboard. It is so much fun!! We had an absolute blast, even though we spent the majority of the first hour on our bums :-/ It wasn't too embarassing though as it was right at the end of the season so all the "cool kids" weren't there :-) After a while we became bored with the kiddies training slope and progressed to the first green slope called The Cut...

(Monique butting in) : Hi, Monique here. I feel the need to be the one to explain that exactly went down on The Cut. Kevin took to snowbording like a duck to water so he just wizzed down the giagantic slope. I on the other hand had a few problems (to say the least.) Firstly, as I am fairly coordinated I managed to ski down the kiddies slope without too many issues and stopping at the bottom of the hill was relatively easy as it gradually leveled out...oh so different to The Cut. The Cut is designed in such a way that it has a blind hill. This makes for an absolute gorgeous view of the water and the city... that`s if you actually have your eyes open and aren`t screaming from fear! Once you get going down The Cut there seems like just no stopping so there I found myself wizzing down SO SO SO fast and realised that I had to idea how to really stop in a hurry. The que they give you is to position the front of your skiis towards each other but this didn`t help me going what felf like 100 miles/hour. I have never been so scared in my whole life, like really really! It looked as if I was about to fly off into the sea but once I went over the hump the rest of The Cut was revealed... hill after hill after hill. I just lifted my poles and prayed and tried to keep my skis paralel to each other. Finally the inevitable happened: I wiped out. My poles went flying (which was quite a common occurance that day) and I found my legs in opposite directions with snow down my pants, up my shirt, in my gloves. I sat gasping for breathe when I heard a voice from above "You ok? Can I call anyone for you?" Oh yes, to add to my shame I managed to wipe out UNDER the ski lift... :( "No thanks" I managed to say in a cheerly voice. After a great deal of self talk I got up and continued down. I don`t know why I thought the next bit would be any different...soon I was wizzing down the hill again, poles lifted and prayers being prayed through gritted teeth. When I fell the second time (poles dropped a good few metres above) I started to cry. A young child cruised down and returned my poles to me (oh the shame) and more onlookers offered condolences from the ski lift. This time I was just so frightened and over it that I unclipped from my ski`s (unacceptable, I know) and started to walk down the hill. Kevin very kindly started to walk up towards me and met me and took my gear. He then went on to tell me that from the bottom you can see people coming down but because they are so far away you can`t see who they are. He said that when he had first seem me coming over the first hill he thought "Wow, check that pro. They`re skiing so fast!!!" Then he saw "that pro" face plant and realised it was me... and fell down laughing. I couldn`t help but laugh, it must have been one funny site. I found out after watching some other skiers skiing The Cut that you`re actually ment to ski in S`s and not just straight down. Wow, what a dork. It was back to the kiddies slope for me for the rest of the afternoon while Kevin kept on enjoying the adreneline rush, and the view, of The Cut. (Monique over and out)

It was early evening before the snow became too icy for us and we were forced to pack it in for the day. We trundled back to the lodge, just in time to watch the sun set from the deck. We needed to pick up some groceries on the way home so we hopped on the next bus, along with all the snow gear. FYI - that stuff is really heavy and awkward to walk around with :-/ It was quite late when we finally made it back to the warmth of Barret and Jess's, and promptly sat down with a coffee to meet another former South African now also living in Canada. We were exhausted though, so soon headed down to bed.

Friday morning we woke quite early (stoked to find we were not as stiff as we were expecting) to say our final goodbye's to the family. We packed up the last of our things and walked the short distance to the bus station. We would really be testing Canada's public transport system on our way to our next stop - Vancouver Island!

We really enjoyed spending time with Barret, Jess, Sam, Mathew and Julia and being included in their everyday, ordinary activities like driving to the shops, reading stories, all things Pokemon, doing puzzles, Bob the Builder, cooking & eating dinner together, etc. You guys were just so great and hospitable - hope to see you again one day :-)