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| Diez Vista (Spanish for 10 vistas) |
Back in the familiar surroundings of Blair's apartment we staggered as we got rid of the sealegs, got washing on and enjoyed not having to line up for a meal. Blair had a mission set for us on Saturday and we went walking in the woods around Lake Buntzen. This was a bit on the tough side for us and by Sunday our leg muscles, well, the meaty parts of our lower limbs were protesting somewhat. A quiet walk in the streets was all that we could cope with. Lake Buntzen was good though and we got up quite high on a ridge and were able to look down onto Indian Arm, a sort of fiord type geographical arrangement that runs up into the mountains. We did spot a black bear moseying through the undergrowth, just 30 metres away and Blair's first bear in Canada. Up until this point he considered the whole bear story was something of a myth, a bit like Tutaeporoporo. (You might need to Google that!)
With Blair back at work for the week we shared his apartment with the most wonderful and accommodating Jan (she has so kindly let us invade her space, fill her fridge and generally be here when she would otherwise have time to herself). Blair has gone to Trail, a small town an hours flight away where he has a new power plant in the process of being built.
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| Cycling in Stanley Park |
We hired bikes and spent a day in Stanley Park, a bit like the Wither Hills south of Blenheim, where people go for walks, or jogs or bike rides. We saw totem poles, big cedar trees, beaver ponds, horse drawn tram car type things, hot dog sellers, a few geocaches and hundreds of people.......nothing like the Wither Hills when I write about it. It was good though and a wonderful asset for the city.
On another day we took a bus to Grouse Mountain which is toward the north of Vancouver and is 1,231 metres the top. There is a walk up the mountain called the "Grind" and you can register your time at the top. This is something of a local ritual, to do the "Grind", in a certain time or so much faster than your previous effort. Locals do the climb numerous times and they log on and their effort is recorded in terms of how high they have climbed, Everest or Kilamanjaro.....spare me. Diana and I spotted a cable car that went up the exact same mountain and it took 4 minutes and most importantly we didn't raise a sweat. Once on top we had heaps of energy and saw some grizzly bears, a bird of prey exhibition where the locals put their impressive raptors through their paces and chuck in an angry looking owl for amusement. We also watched a lumberjack show which was corny but kept us entertained. Grouse Mountain is a big local attraction and well worth the effort, as most of the locals will tell you.
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| View from Grouse Mountain |
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| Capilano Park |
For another day we bussed off to Capilano Park, swing bridge, logging history, big rainforest trees and lake. That wasn't as good as Grouse Mountain but we enjoyed walking in the forest and along the river canyon just on the edge of town. Most of the trees are either Douglas fir or western red cedar and about 75 years old following the cessation of logging around 1934. There are a few trees that missed the lumberjacks axe back in the old days so they are now massive mamas and very impressive indeed. Impossible to get back far enough to get a photo that will do them justice. One tree has reportedly over 50 cubic metres of timber. I understand western red cedar brings about $6000 per cubic metre. Must be a bit better than radiata KI. Just thinking out loud.
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| Museum of Anthologhy, Big House |
Today has been a visit to the Museum of Anthropology. Signs everywhere to say MOA.....could have thought we were back in Enzed. The museum is mostly about the native people here who I thought were Indians however they are now most certainly First Nation people. Cowboys and First Nations doesn't have the same ring to it as my childhood shoot'em ups! There were numerous totem poles on show, not nearly as intricate as some of the Maori work we have seen but it was interesting to see different styles of the various tribes. The MOA is an excellent interactive type education centre but a couple of hours about had us exhausted.
Tomorrow we will fly to Alaska with Blair for a poke round Denali National Park, Moose spotting, and then south to Whittier where we will be looking for otters and glaciers "calving"......yep, that's right.
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