Hello Vancouver!

Its bed time, we're at CT International and Mum and Dad think its a good time to start our big adventure!

29 hours after leaving Cape Town International Airport, we landed in warm and sunny Vancouver.  We'd been pretty nervous about what to expect from the long flights with Christopher (Cape Town - Jo'burg, Jo'burg - Amsterdam, Amsterdam - Vancouver), but he was a trooper and slept a lot and spent many hours charming anyone and everyone on the plane!

Starting to look like a world traveller at Schipol Airport

Our friends Tim and Rowena Cary collected us (and our mountain of baggage) from the airport and luckily we managed to fit everything into their car!  You definitely don't travel light with a kid and a varied itinerary!  The Cary's have generously loaned us the use of their basement to use as a base while we're out here.

Most of this was for Christopher - seriously!

High on the priority list of 'Things to do while getting over jet-lag' was a swim and some rest and relaxation on the beautiful Kitsilano Beach.  It was lovely to start our holiday enjoying the warm sun next to the sea and at a place so special to Geoff who had spent many sunny hours there in 2004.  It still takes some getting used to seeing massive logs washed up on the beach, neatly arranged as benches!

Kitsilano Beach is a beautiful place to recharge batteries.

 

Looking north towards North Van

After a rest day to try and get our bodies back into a normal rhythm, we took the Tsawwassen Ferry out to Vancouver Island to meet up with Dave and Gill Alford up in Comox. Dave and Gill were some of the Rotarians who had looked after Geoff when he was an exchange student to Chilliwack in 1999 and had retired to the Island where they have more time to pursue other interests, one of which is mucking about in boats........

2 Eskimos - traveling at 25knots it gets pretty chilly on the sun deck!

Welcome to British Columbia!

Stretching legs with Dad on the ferry

The channel between the main land and Vancouver Island is full of islands of all sizes.

Christopher was fascinated by the cars and particularly the motorbikes!) driving off the ferry

Geoff had explored Vancouver Island on foot before in 2004 and we had undertaken a five day sea-kayak expedition to the Broken Islands on the west coast of the island in 2008. This time round we plan to take it much easier now that Christopher is with us and are enjoying short walks, the picturesque and ragged mountain backdrops and the enormous tidal range of 12-18ft which results in all sorts of interesting treasures on the shore!

Relaxing on the Alford's deck - definitely holiday time!

Sunset