Farewell Australia! Hello Canada!

Sorry it has taken us so long to post! Jiku has been pretty needy in terms of us looking after her (being nocturnal and all.. means time on the net eats into her meal time and she's very into romantic candlelit dinners..)

That and "High Speed Internet" in some locations we have been in has been a moose farting into a tube.. from there the methane gets converted into ancient navaho indian smoke signals which are routed through a series of tribes via anuckshucks and then off to a phone provider somewhere who sends back the magic of the internet to the 1990's dell computer we're sitting in front of with a 16" CRT. BOO!

SO! Without further adieu here's the story so far split into a few posts for you to feast on like an owl consuming a vole!

Laurian kindly drove us to the airport with Ciara's mum & Jiku in tow! Post checking in to our lovely NZ Air flight we hightailed it to the nearest Krispy Kreme!













Then off to New Zealand for a 4 hour stopover! We got ourselves some NZ Hungry Jacks Bro and waiting in massage chairs for our next flight! Anyone even contemplating flying NZ air DO IT! they were really nice! the food was good for plane food and we didn't get beached as bro they flew us where we needed to go safely and in style! yay tacky movies!

Jiku loved the entertainment as well! and looked after Ciara as she slept!


An undetermined number of hours later we set down into SUNNY! that's right FREAK HEATWAVE sunny Vancouver! Alas I told Ciara to pack thermals, and told Jiku not to shave her flight feathers so I was in the kak (or poo) from both women on the trip as we sweltered away!

Our accommodation for our time in Vancouver was the "Happy Day In" the only "Happy" part about it was that they may or may not have rented their rooms by the hour and we may or may not have been in the Vancouver equivalent of kings cross except with way more guns and bigger trucks!





But we had some awesome greek food and locked ourselves down for the night (I was like the T1000 standing in the window with my sawn off making sure the women were safe)

The next day we jumped on the skytrain and headed in to downtown Vancouver! the place to be! LOVE the skytrain! it's a cool unmanned train thingamo that's a mix between a monorail and a train we wandered the shopping streets.. We then headed to the chinese gardens for some chill time and an introduction to some of Vancouver's awesome multicultural-ness! We then caught the ferry over to the other side of Vancouver for smoothies and to see the skyline..

One thing that is so unbelievably awesome about our trip so far is everyone in Canada were made in some overly nice nicey nice person factory! Every single person we have encountered (that is canadian, not german!) is so friendly and willing to help and just wanting to chat the horns off a moose!



















From Vancover it was Road Trip Time! we jumped in our super-economical yaris and got out of Vancover as quickly as we could muster! Driving on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car was certainly an experience! I am yet to have a crash! (woohoo take that overpriced excess!) touch maple wood of course!

So.. where was I.. (sorry Jiku's getting impatient and preening me while I type!) we were heading out of Vancover! from there we went to Capilano Suspension Bridge! The bridge that swings and sways over an amazing valley with and awesome river thingamo! Just awesome!















From there we headed up to Grouse Mountain! up a cable car and into the waiting arms of some "HOT" (according to Ciara and Jiku.. I think the stole my rugged biceps while i was sleeping) Lumberjacks! We saw an awesome birds of prey show, the Lumberjacks and BC's first wind turbine.. they placed it on top of the hill to mark their commitmen to green energy! up to 90% of the cabs in vancouver are going hybrid with most of them already prius's! it really highlighted how behind the ball Australia is with their environmental efforts! Jiku thought so as well she thinks we'd all be better as a parliament of owls living in trees.. aka armish folk!


From there the sea to sky highway.. what can we say! Ciara and I have been floored by the beauty of it all.. rounding a bend and seeing crystal lakes and snowcapped mountains.. just awesome awesome awesome!


We ended up in Whistler for a few days and spent alot of time touring the parks and taking in the falls, the lakes and the trees.. Walking through Whistler did not feel real! Everything is like a mini euro-lego-land-esque town (go hyphens!) Everything there is really overpriced like our thredbo.. with Sushi being 3x what it is here per roll!



That's the other thing we love! Sushi is plentiful and cheap when found in the right spots! WOOHOO!


So! in Whistler we decided to get extreme.. it was between bungee for me and ziplining for the both of us and Jiku! so Ziplining we went! Picture a canyon.. now back to your man.. now back to your canyon.. picture a cable over that canyon.. a stoopid looking helment.. 2 awesome guides and a beautiful wife! that is ziplining!




From Whistler we jumped back in the car and the road trip continued! off to Well's Gray national park! a big driving day but very very beautiful and good road trip mix ipod time! Jiku's favourite songs at the moment are by Dead Letter Circus, Karnivool, Birds of Tokyo and Cat Steven's what an ecclectic owl.. Wait.. she also said how could I forget Paul Simon!


We got to Well's Gray and were driving into smoke country.. unfortunately there have been some crazy crazy forest fires and GOODBYE VIEW! alas.. so our days in Well's Gray were a little dampened as most of the views were gone and the air was smokey! but we stayed in an awesome log cabin with some lovely hosts!
































































































































Post Well's Gray it was time to head off to Jasper! an awesome lego town as well but we've much preferred this to Whistler! As Jasper is a national park you have to pay to get into the area so for about $150 we get our time in the park! pricey but worth it! Staying in a little B&B we mosey'd into town and smack bang into the last night of the Jasper Annual Rodeo! YEEE HHAAA! so our B&B lady gave us the obligatory hats, we got tix last minute and Rodeo we did!! we didn't go to the dance afterwards because we would've ruined it for all the cowboys and others concerned (I dance as gracefully as a gazelle but Jiku is shy.. and Ciara can dance but didn't want to hurt my man-ego)..


Jasper has been awesome we went to maligne lake, wandered the town, saw some Caribou and now! WROTE OUR FIRST BLOG POST!

So! Here we are... a Jasper internet cafe.. a beautiful lady.. a cute owl.. and we're only just beginning.. (please note above is very abridged and if you feel like sitting through about 50 hours of videos and thousands of photos we'll have a homecoming barn dance complete with mechanical bull, canadian maple syrup and moose!)

Feel free to comment.. our photos are raw but ENJOY

Jiku, Ciara & Tom

xx