Wilderness On The Horizon
A couple of frothy cappuccinos that certainly didn’t leave us frothing yesterday, meant we were on the hunt for a decent coffee this morning. With the help of the Lonely Planet Coffee Guide (thanks Sam) & some local knowledge (thanks Tazia) we landed ourselves a very decent coffee in a super trendy cafe – Revolver – wall-to-wall with hipsters and delivering the goods.
Trawling Trip Advisor, getting some great tips from friends and scouring the internet for what to see and do in this cool city, we had a few ideas for what could occupy us today. Vancouver is a really green city with parks and trees absolutely everywhere. Lots of the streets downtown have maple trees lining both sides of the footpath so it hardly feels like you’re in the centre of a bustling city. It’s beautiful! Walking down around the winding tree-lined path to Yaletown Dock was gorgeous and we were told by many friendly ‘Vancouverites’ that we should count ourselves lucky that the sun was shining. They don’t call it ‘Raincouver’ for nothing.
We hitched a ride across False Creek on the cutest little boat that not only resembled a rainbow painted bathtub, it wasn’t much bigger. Also known as the Aquabus, it took about 2 minutes to chug across the creek to Granville Island, a funky little place with a fantastic Public Market, stocked with all kinds of fresh produce and delicious culinary delights. One little Stall was selling my favourite, Iberian Jamon (YUM) but when I ordered a few slices the vendor looked very sternly my way and asked solemnly if I was aware of the price. At $50 per 100g, it must have travelled by private leer jet from Spain. Suffice to say, I went with the garden variety ham which was still pretty tasty and negated the need to take out a personal loan. Granville Island was full of galleries, theatres and cute little laneways leading to a dock, where wooden ships bounced around on the tide and boating enthusiasts worked on their vessels.
Getting ourselves some amazing, needle-free strawberries (is it too soon?), some huge, juicy cherries and some homemade chocolates that were nothing short of little works of art, we pulled up a chair in the sunshine and listened to some live acoustic guitar, soaking up the views of the harbour and the mountains beyond.
We’d booked ourselves into a tour that would take us via high speed boat, up through the Harbour and out to the Indian Arm and a place called Deep Cove. We donned our bright red suits and hopped aboard the Zodiac with our enthusiastic guide, Dylan. Dylan had a need for speed and took great pleasure in trying to get air. He was also quite partial to some high speed doughnuts and flying over other ship’s wakes to get us bouncing around as much as possible. Apart from the times I was hanging on for dear life, white knuckles included, thinking I was surely going to be flung out like a human frisbee at any given moment and when Ross and Maisy were guffawing at my yelps of terror…apart from that…it really was an awesome experience!
The scenery was seriously breathtaking, the water was glassy, reflecting trees and clouds like a mirror and the tree covered mountains rising up from the water on all sides- their tops shrouded in clouds- were magnificent. Thick, green forests of tall, pointy pine trees allegedly housed raccoons, deer, bears, squirrels and other scurrying furry friends and there were rumours of numerous seal colonies on the shores but alas, we were not blessed with any sightings today. We did spy a pair of bald headed eagles gliding majestically overhead, which was very cool. Apparently over the past couple of weeks, Raincouver has delivered, living up to its name, so Granite Falls was flowing and spectacular!
On a cultural note, it’s funny that prices on menus are written in fractions of dollars, for instance, if a steak costs $20.75, it will say 20 3/4. Strange. Also, its funny being asked if you’d like to use the ‘washroom’. What for? A wash?
Maisy and I decided to check out the ‘hot tub’ tonight but we walked in on a middle-aged couple who were definitely counting on having the place to themselves. They had their country tunes blasting and their beers in hand. it was so awkward! Let’s just say we were in and out in a jiffy and they played us a Keith Urban song as a nod to Australia but mostly as a thank you for leaving them to their romantic interlude!
