White Water, Green River

Green River
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On our second day in Whistler we went white water rafting. It was fantastic. The safety talk was a little scary, but it meant that we were a very very obedient crew. Our raft leader was called Renee and was Australian. We were about 90 minutes on the water with the first 20 minutes doing some basic training. We got pretty wet but nobody fell out.

White Water, Squamish
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Can we go again?
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Cold Drinks?

Cold Drinks?
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Ice Cold in Whistler
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This is one way to keep your drink cool when you are above 6,000 feet.

Whistler Mountain

Near the top of the world
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Up the Gondola
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On Monday we headed up to Whistler in the Rockies. It is about a 2 hour drive from Vancouver. It is where some of the Vancouver Winter Olympics events will be held. The drive up is spectacular. It was a beautiful day when we arrived - over 25 degress and bright sunshine. We got the Gondola from the village to the Roundhouse, which is just over 6,000 ft. It was a little cooler up top but still warm. We hiked the last 900 feet to Little Whistler summit. At the top there was a tea room which did not sell coffee! The views all around were breat-taking. It was such a clear day you could see for miles and miles in every direction. There was even a little snow.

Whistler Summit
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Spectalcular Views
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Tea at the Top
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Canadian Flag
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Daffodil Lane

After Lynn Valley we went back to Colm and Babs for lunch. They have a lovely house on the side of a mountain but only 5 minutes walk from a beautiful will harbour called Eagle Harbour. They sometimes see bears in the back garden - BEARS!

Lunch
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Chez Caldwell
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Time for a Swim
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After lunch we walked down to the harbour. It really is in an idyllic setting. Vancouver Island is in the distance. Senan and I had a swim - it was lovely, came water almost warm - we even saw a seal in the water.

Seal Head
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Eagle Harbour
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Lynn Valley Bridge

Dog Tired
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ON Sunday morning we were collected by the Caldwells. Of course we had to show off the float home first.
Then we headed across Lions Gate Bridge to Lynn Valley in North Vancouver.

Having Fun
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Forest Walk
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Twin Falls Bridge
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Flowers
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It is a beautiful spot with a suspension bridge and forest walks. We walked to Twin Falls bridge - which was about 20 minutes from the car park. It was a beautiful spot. The forest is not the conifers that we are used to in Ireland but there are giant Douglas Fir, and its all on the side of a pretty serious looking mountain. You don't stray off the path becaause there are bears - yes, BEARS really! It's also a place where almost every year some young male dies or is badly injured jumping into the river. We were watch the river from the Twin Falls foorbridge when we heard a loud noise. "It's jumpers", we were told and sure enough there was a group of about six teenagers. Most of them jumped - I got just one on camera. See More Lynn Valley Photos

Jumper
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Climbing back up
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Boating at False Creek

Getting in and out of the boat can be tricky
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Today we had visitors from Ireland. We arranged to meet up with Margaret and family on Granville Island. After lunch at the market and some wandering around the island we went back to the house boat for tea. Michael and Natalie had kindly lent us the Kayaks and so Colm, Katy, Senan and Lisa ventured down False Creek. I took Ruth and Aoife out in the boat.

I can do this Mum
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Aoife and Ruth also tried some kayaking around the dock. It all went well until Aoife tried to step out of the kayak and ended up in the water. However the life jackets worked and help was soon at hand.

Here's my Hand
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Grab Hold
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Hold on Tight
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Rescued
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Vancouver Aquarium

Dolphins showing off! Uploaded by M+MD

Today we took the bikes and cycled to Stanley Park again. This time we went to the aquarium. It is a great place. There are lots of different exhibits of different underwater animals. The Beluga Whales; the Sea Otters and the Dolphns are the stars of the show. But the exibits from the Amazon and from the British Columbia coastlines are also spectacular. The dolphins were not of the Flipper / Fungie bred (I think they're called bottle-nosed dolphins) but looked bigger and are more starkly coloured black and white. They put on a great show - big jumps and even landing up on the deck of the dock. The theme of the show was educational rather than the circus that you see in Sea World.

Beluga Whale underwater Uploaded by M+MD

Beluga Whales and trainer Uploaded by M+MD

The Belugas look like very overweight white dolphins. The Belugas has a 3 to 4 inch layer of blubber alll around their body. On the oldest Beluga this was pretty jelly like. They don't move as fast or jump as high, but they look like they are smiling all the time. They like in the Artic and can hold their breath for 20 minutes under the ice!

Sea Otter Uploaded by M+MD

Sea Otter Uploaded by M+MD

But the real stars of the show were the sea otters. These are the same guys who made in big on YouTube a few weeks ago - apparently they made the greatest number of views in a day or ever on YouTube. See Kevin's comment for confirmation. We didn't get them holding hands - but they were cute enough! YouTube Stars Uploaded by M+MD Watch YouTube Video Here

Jelly Fish from British Columbia Uploaded by M+MD

See more Vancouver photos

Granville Island Market

Granville Island Market
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Granville Island market is just on our doorstep. Its not just fruit and vegetables, but its fresh bread from one of several bakeries; at least 4 different butchers, plus hot food, cheeses and much much more.

Granville Island Market
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Fireworks

Fireworks
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Last night we played host to Sea Village because with a little help in setting it up we had the best viewing spot in the village. The show to-night was from China. While Canada had better music on last Saturday night, the concensus was that China probably had the better show. We will know the final result and winner from Spain (whose show took place a few days before we arrived) Canada and China.

Sea Villagers
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Fireworks
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Preparing for Firework Display

Rowing the Dock
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Before the fireworks display we had paddle around the extra dock to attach in front of our dock. Senan and Katy helped the more expert Michael and Natasha.

Nearly there
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House Boat

House Boat Originally uploaded by M+MD

This is a picture of sea Village in Granville Island which you can see is right in the middle of Vancouver. This is a small community of 14 float homes. Each home is different. The yellow building in the middle is where we are staying. Living is a float home means that you are very much part of a community. We havn't quite meet everyone yet as some are away on vacation, but almost everyone has been introduced to us and all have made us feel very welcome. See more Vancouver photos

Walkway

House To-night there will be another fireworks display. the best way to see the fireworks from Sea Village is to tie a working dock to the dock in front of our house and arrange benched facing the bridge. So we will be entertaining to-night!

House Boat When the tide is low the roofs of the house boats are almost level with the main dock. The boat is moving all the time - no so much that you would notice - I guess we have our harbour legs by now.

View from the Dock

Harry the Heron

Harry the Heron
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We have a daily visitor to the dock at the back of our house boat in Vancouver. He just sits there and lets you get as close as you dare. We are told his name is Harry, but he doesn't seem to react when we call him. Although we havn't seen him do it yet - apparently the reason he is there is not to visit old friends, but to fish. He sits looking in the water and suddenly with a quick movement he will duck in his head and come out with a fish in his beak - then one gulp and its gone. Harry didn't your mother tell you that you really must chew your food.

Shoes?

There are just some things that even Jet Lag can't explain. Mags was wandering around Granville Island on Sunday morning - she came home and said she say a dog wearing shoes. Surely not? It looks like it might be true.

Shoes?
Originally uploaded by M+MD

Shoes, originally uploaded by M+MD

Early Morning Vancouver

Early Morning Vancouver, originally uploaded by M+MD.

We stayed up late on Saturday night, to force out the jet-lag. It nearly worked - but for some reason our body clocks are still about 3 hours off. So we collapse tired at about 10 in the evening and wake up between 5 and 6 am. With the great weather and the bright sun on the water just outside our front door, there are some compensations for the jet lag.
This morning we headed down to Granville Market for breakfast. What a variety on offer, I had a "boring" scrambled eggs on waffles, Senan had a crepe with lemon and sugar; Mags had an indian special of curried sausage and curried scrambled eggs with Chai while Katy just went mad and had noodles and sweet and sour chicken!