A wandering we go ...

We awoken Friday morning around 10am which seems to be the norm for us at the moment. I had a number of place in mind that I thought we should visit. We got ourselves ready and was out the door by 11am'ish. The first stop was nothing exciting really as it involved me visiting my bank. Yes I have a Canadian bank account now I'm the newest member of The Royal Bank of Canada or RBC. After that highly exciting visit we headed for Christ Church Cathedral and nope we aren't back in Christchurch its the Anglican Cathedral for the city of Victoria which carries the same name as our Church in CHCH (for those playing at home CHCH is a shorten slang name for Christchurch)

Christ Church Anglican Cathedral

Christ Church Anglican Cathedral

Its a pretty awesome building and inside it was just as stunning. We where greeted by a very nice old lady who got so excited when she learned we were foreign and before long we had a hand full of pamphlets and a quick history lesson of the church. We also got to hear a visiting organist play on the organ that according to the lady was purpose build for the church.

After wondering around the Church for a few minutes and me boring Kim about religious stuff we set  for Beacon Hill Park. It would pretty much be what Hagley Park is to Christchurch.  As we where wondering through the park we got to spot a number of Squirrels including a few black ones. One in particular run right up to us to see if we had food. He looked like this fella ....

This is just a stand in squirrel.

We came across some duck of course and some peacocks which made me promptly sang "I wanna see your Peacock your peacock cock cock". We also saw some more squirrels and lure them closer with some peanuts I found on a park bench. So for all I know they were probably laced with poison and somewhere in the park there is 3 dead squirrels now. While feeding the squirrels I think one fell in love with me and kept following me. He even peed in front of me not sure what that was all about but I told him like I tell all my gentlemen callers buy me dinner first.

Chomping on some nuts

Peeing in front of me

Being stalked by a Squirrel

Anyways so we wandered further on to what was the worlds tallest Totem pole at 38.8m when it was erected back in 1956 and for the first time featured all the Kwakwaka'wakw Nations  spirits on one Totem Pole. Its pretty impressive....

We continued wandering around the bays until we reach Oak Bay Village and had a very yummy lunch. We then tried to find our way back to Victoria hence the random turns on the map near Oak Bay. I was using a building I recognized as a land mark knowing that the street we needed to be on was near it so finally we found it and did a quick stop at Craigdarroch Castle missing closing time by 6min, oh well next time. We got home via a detour route around the harbour and was more then happy to sit down and rest our feet.

Craigdarroch Castle

Kim trying to set the timer on her camera with not much luck.

Floating Houses and Cheeky Seals ...

So on Thursday me and Kimberly went for a wonder around town I thought I should show her the awesomeness that is sleepy Victoria. We decided to go do Fish and chips at Fisherman's Wharf (C) for lunch first and to take the scenic route there. For those playing at home, a handy dandy map is provided however it doesn't do scenic walks. So imagine if you can that we walked between (B) and (C) along the waters edge.

So anyways we went of to Fisherman's Wharf now this marina houses Commercial Boats, Yachts, Business and Floating houses oh and the Business is in floating buildings too. To be honest this is high on my ridiculous list along side planes landing on water. There is probably about 10 - 15 floating houses and as ridiculous as they are I really want to live there, Kimberly on the other hand thinks this is the worst ideas since prohibition. So anyways as we where sitting at the Fish and Chip shop on the jetty these beggars showed up looking for food ...

.... the one on the left kept lying on his back so not sure if he wanted his belly scratched but I valued my hands being attached to my arm so didn't try. The one on the right kept swimming up and kept swimming to get his head as high above the water as he could as to see which idiot will give him food first. We didn't needless to say he lost interest in us and swam away to the other side where there was Asian tourist the one on the left however just laid there waiting for his belly to be scratched. The man at the Fish and Chips Shop told us that there is mostly divorced woman with small dogs living in the Floating Houses and they get together and go walk their dogs in the near by park ... do I see a TV Series in this 'Divorcees of Fisherman's Wharf'?

After a semi average lunch we headed for Holland Point Park (E) so I could show Kim America. All the way down Dallas Road on a semi clear day you can see the Olympic Mountains in Washington State in the USA.

That dark line on the horizon is the Olympic Mountains in Washington State , USA

After looking and waving at America we started making our way back to town with a stop over at the Parliament Buildings (F). This is one impressive building and is just as impressive inside. We wondered around the few rooms your allowed to see inside for about 20min before heading home.  

Inside Parliament Building: Looking up at Dome from Ground Floor

Inside Parliament Building: Mosaic Floor

British Columbia's Coat of Arms (Notice the Flag is above the Sun)

Window given made as a gift to the Queen's last Jubilee

Controversial Coat of Arms notice how the sun is setting on the British Flag .... big no no

Window given as present to Queen Victoria's Jubilee

Roof of debating Chambers

Debating Chambers

Inside of the Dome

She is here ....

This is just a quick post to let everyone in New Zealand know that Kim made it here and it is now safe to wonder the streets again without fear of bumping into her. She landed about 30min early at 11:40am but didn't appear until like 1pm. She insists that its was busy at customs me thinks she tried to get stripped search by the cute security guard and got a fat lesbian instead and now is to ashamed to admit it.

I flew over from Victoria to Vancouver on the most ridiculous thing ever a plane that lands on the water. As ridiculous as they are they are freaking awesome especially when they nose dive towards the water to come land. We caught one back to Vic again which was abit rougher thanks to the weather, while I was shitting my pants Kim was under the illusion she was on a ride at a theme park.

Well we are here now and share a very cosy room, I'm the top bunk. :)

There goes the neighbourhood

So its like 2:30am here in Canadia (yes I know its spelt wrong) and I'm still awake. The problem with this is that I have to be in Vancouver in a few hours. You see Canada is acquiring something new today yes they get this ....

Yes one Kimberly Garrick. I hear New Zealand declared tomorrow a National Holiday in honour of her leaving and Canada is declaring it a National day of mourning. None the less I will be at the airport welcoming her with as much excitement as I can .... I might need some rum for this. 

Oh yes and this asshole will be there too ...

Look what arrived in the mail today ...

So if you follow my blog on a regular bases you will know about my saga with my expired license. Long story short when I arrived in Africa I sadly realized that my Drivers license had expired. So when I arrived in Canada I set of to get my NZ license renewed, what a fucking mission. So one day I went to the Canadian Drivers License place and just by chance asked what I would have to do to get a Canadian one. The lady looked at a piece of paper and went ...."Ahh New Zealand ... just give me your license and I'll give you a Canadian one" I was like your fucking kidding me right, well I didn't swear at her she was a nice little Asian looking lady. However after explaining to her my situation and the fact that I had to return my NZ license to the NZ Authorities she was like "no problem just get them to fax us with a letter giving your details and how long you have held your license." I actually felt like crying at that point to be honest.

So it turns out where I thought my license actually expired its just the card not the license itself. So after some hassle I finally got NZ to Fax them the papers. The next day I went to them to see if they got the fax which they did. She asked me 3 question out of which I got 2 wrong and she gave me this ....

... I had to do eye test and so on to and get a hideous photo taken but meh I had a license. The whole process taking about a week including the time dealing with NZ would take it to 3 weeks. But to my excitement I got the following in the mail today.

Its good because I could not drive in USA on my paper license being America they get anally retentive about everything if its legal. Pretty sure I could have just made a fake license from the 'Peoples Republic of Roestan' and they would have gone 'yup that clip art looks legit'. But yayness I'm all legal like now I just need the van to go with the license. 

Snow, Snow and more Snow

So coming to Canada during the winter meant that the possibility of snow on Xmas was very very high. The idea of this excited me beyond believe, for those playing at home I'm a southern hemisphere boi and we have summer over the Xmas period. So I have never experienced a white Xmas and I was hoping to do so here in Canada and not just sing about it in some stupid Xmas songs. However the fat ass in the red suit didn't deliver, so as you might guess I was very disappointed. My new bestie and drinking buddy Steven however broke the news to me with a massive smile and and much glee in his voice that I would be lucky to get snow in Victoria. You see Mr Glover is a hater, a hater of snow. Personally I think Santa never brought him the snow he asked for when he was a child and ever since then he has been Mr Grinch the Snow Hater. This is a true story I should know I made it up.

However the big man in the sky must have heard me crying myself to sleep at night due to the no snow situation and a week or so ago it started snowing. Much to my delight and much to the horror of Mr Glover, he is such a hater. Well I thought I would cheer him up each morning by filming out my window to show him how it was snowing and emailing it to him. If you wish to see these videos go to my Youtube channel here.

So naturally when it started snowing in the middle of the night I went wondering around town for like 2 hours and the next day I set of to take pictures. The photos below was taken over a few days.  But sadly all the snow is gone now ...... :(

Ok so above is where the original posted ended however as I was getting ready to load the images my computer screamed at me "low battery low battery". I thought the cable must have just come undone again like it does a million times a night but nope it was broken.  So I personally I think Mr Glover worked his voodoo-snow-hating magic on it and one of these days I will prove it. Also I found a video on Mr Glover's facialbook that shows Victoria covered in snow so pretty strange video to be shared on the Facebook of a snow hater.

The is some photos below video ....enjoy.

 View out of my window at the Backpackers 

 View out of my window at the Backpackers 

 Victoria inner harbour on the right Government Buildings in the background

 Garden outside the Empress

 View across inner harbour looking at the Government Buildings

Naw silly flowers

 The Empress Hotel

 Captain Cook getting his chill on

The Empress Hotel

 Government Buildings 

frozen ice sheets on the inner horbour

 

 Everyday I'm shuffling

 Frozen fountain in front of Government Building

  Frozen fountain in front of Government Building

  Frozen fountain in front of Government Building

 Government Buildings

 Thats a silly place to sleep birdie.