There's more to Vancouver than Stanley Park...

But you wouldn't know it from these pictures!! Our first few days in Vancouver seemed to involve spending most of our time there... but it is a really fantastic park.

Actually, the word park doesn't really do it justice - it's 1000 acres with play parks, restaurants, beaches, forests, walking and biking trails, an aquarium, heated outdoor pool, formal gardens, totem poles and a free trolley bus to get around. And all only 15 minutes walk from our hotel (would love to pretend this was all part of a masterplan, but just dumb luck - could have ended up anywhere in Vancouver when picking accommodation!).

This picture of the Vancouver skyline is taken from the seawall in Stanley Park and makes Vancouver look very pretty - which it isn't!!! Not to say it's not a great town - we all really loved it and the kids thought it was great too - but I expected it to be more attractive than it was - lots of dated high rises and even the newer ones manage to look a bit messy. But a wonderful place in spite of that...



Even managed to see a bit of wildlife too - our first raccoon - enthusiasm slightly dampened by one local telling us there was a rabies warning in place, but still...



And a bit more wildlife - James announced that we were in a primeval swamp (!) so they all proceeded to be dinosaurs. Nutters.





We went for a walk and found the Lost Lagoon, which then presumably wasn't lost anymore, and saw the snow still on the top of the mountains behind.

We tried to find the children's railway, but failed, so walked back along the seawall and had to content ourselves with the discovery of the best climbing tree ever.

Better than any park, the children reckoned. We spent a LOT of time on this tree... I suspect this tree was one of the ones brought down in a big storm in 2006, and amazingly, in spite of the fact that it's lying on its side, it's still growing!









So that was it for Day 1 in Vancouver. Will fill you in on Granville Island, our return to Stanley Park and meeting up with our Canadian relatives soon...

Hubble bubble - and James entertains the crowds

Our last day in Boston was spent at the children's museum - had read about it online and it lived up to all our expectations. It's not really a museum - more a huge play space where the children experiment and learn as they go, but the kids absolutely loved it and we spent 5 hours there. They climbed a three-storey climbing frame, used 'kid power' to lift themselves off the ground, got wet and bubbly, had golf ball track races, starred in their own Arthur movie, flew a plane, sailed boats, crewed a lifeboat, made music, did Chinese writing, built things in the construction zone, went inside a real Japanese house and made sticky pictures.

We walked home via Faneuil Hall for a spot of shopping (like we had any more room in our cases..) and James helped one of the street entertainers who was really excellent. Every time he got James to hold the spinning ball on his finger, he knocked it off from behind which had all of us hooting with laughter and James trying extra hard to keep his finger straight! There would be a picture of James holding two spinning balls if our camera battery hadn't run out!!

Our flight to Vancouver (via Minneapolis) was at 6am the following morning, so another early start... and charged for two pieces of overweight luggage, but not really surprised and not horrendously expensive either. Wonder if Air Canada will charge us again in Vancouver and Qantas again in Sydney!!

Don't think it has quite sunk in yet that we are not going back to Dunbar - still feels just like being on holiday and I'm not sure when the enormity of emigrating is going to sink in. Probably when we start buying beds in Geelong!!

Quack quack

Our time in Boston was short but enjoyable - we drove down from Maine on Saturday morning and, armed only with a one-sheet Alamo street map, managed to find the hotel. Maybe something to do with the fact that Nick had morphed into a Bostonian driver performing illegal U-turns and horn honking - I think when I read him the section in the guide book about being able to negotiate Boston in a car being like a badge of honour, he took it as a personal challenge...

So anyway, having arrived at the hotel and negotiated ten big bags, six small bags, four children, two adults and two prams, Nick left to go and return the car..... and wasn't seen again for three hours!! Roadworks apparently... and a Gay Pride march which he promises he didn't join. And he walked (!) back from the drop off point. According to Nick he didn't know about the T (subway) and had no recollection of using it when we were last in Boston. I think it's more likely that he'd rather eat his own arms than use public transport, but anyway... Off we all went for a walk down to Boston Common - found all the Gay Priders again - and stopped off at the park so the kids could play for a while. They loved the frog sculptures on the edge of the 'frog pond' which is a huge paddling pool for children.

On Sunday we went on a Duck Tour - http://www.bostonducktours.com/ which is a Boston tour on a WW II amphibious vehicle, an hour on land and 20 minutes on the Charles River. Our driver was Frim "DucKarma" Jolly 'Boston's Good Time Guru,'(totally mad) and the boys got to drive the Duck on the river!!A As you'll see from the pictures, it wasn't a great day weather-wise, but the tour was excellent and the kids loved splashing down into the river. Thought we were going to easily win the 'who's from the furthest away' question, but then two South Africans piped up in the back. Honestly, the bloody Saffers get everywhere!!

Well scud my lugs...

So, remember that in order for our visa to be granted, we needed the nomination form approved in Melbourne, and that two weeks ago Melbourne said that due to a change in regulations, Nick needed to register with the Victoria State Medical Board before the nomination could be approved..

And that we could enter on tourist visas but we would all then need to leave the country for a minimum of a week in order for the work visa to be processed and granted.

Well, yesterday we got an e-mail stating that Nick's application for registration with the VSMB would be considered at a meeting on July 3rd - so definitely not in time for entering Australia. So we e-mailed all concerned to say that we would definitely be entering on tourist visas and that Nick would not be able to start work as planned on July 1st. And I spent most of last evening trying to work out where we could go for a week with four children that wouldn't cost us thousands...

And last night we got an e-mail from Melbourne to say that the nomination had been approved... and SIX hours later our visas were granted.

Eh???

Hey Big Spender...

Well, we have just arrived in Vancouver, but in what I suspect may prove to be an ongoing trend, I will reverse blog all of last week for you...

(But first can I just say 'Ahhhh' to the cup of Tetley tea I am enjoying with a Cadbury Crispy Crunch. WHY WHY WHY do we not get these in the UK? What did Canada do right? And when did I become middle aged and start travelling with my own tea bags????)

Anyway, last week on Wednesday we did in fact drive a couple of hours north up into the White Mountains in New Hamphire, cunningly disguised as a trip on an old train for the kids but really a chance for Nick and I to hit the outlet malls up there - we did our own version of Supermarket Sweep in the Gap outlet and I think James and Will are now clothed for the foreseeable future. There's no gap in Australia so I figure we just condensed a year's shopping into an hour! Then we did go on a train - here's the proof:










And in all the beautiful scenery, we had to take a picture of this - guess what it is... answers at the end.

On Thursday we took the children to the Weathervane for lunch - a Maine institution and unchanged in the almost 20 (!) years since I worked in Maine. Nick had lobster so he could say he did - but reinforced his belief that it's too much hassle for not enough reward! Though the kids liked the entertainment... Ella especially found it hysterical that Nick was wearing a bib.

Thursday night I went out to a bar with my friend Charlene - when I came to the States with a friend in 1990, we headed to Boston to find work but discovered we were about two weeks too late as all the American kids had got out of college and snapped up all the jobs. So with money running low, we decided to call some contacts in the Bunac book to see if they still needed any staff - and on the end of the phone I got Charlene the Personnel Manager at York's Wild Kingdom Zoo and Amusement Park in Maine. Quicker than you could say 'keep your hands inside the cars' we were on a bus North and off for a summer of work all day, drink all night... So anyway, it was fantastic to see Charlene (who now has a wonderful son Alex) and meet some of her friends at the bar. It was karaoke night and Charlene and Darlene (I kid you not...) were belting out some awesome numbers. Simon Cowell missed a great night!

So finally last Friday we went back to the zoo where I worked - there were big animals like lions and tigers, honest, but I seem to have a picture of my children with some baby ducks... and also here is the parrot that says 'ha ha ha' and 'hello'. Nick and I were way more excited by this than the children - obviously the TV generation sees nothing impressive in talking animals as they see it all day long! Plus I'm not sure James and Will actually realised the Push Me Pull Me in Dr Doolittle wasn't real, so a talking parrot was way dull. So as Nick and I were cracking up getting the parrot to talk, James and Will were off to see the alligator...



And on Saturday morning we left Maine for Boston - but that, as they say, is another story...




And it's a sewage treatment plant, by the way. Just like the one at Seafield - NOT!!

Exit, stage left

A few piccies from our farewell bash at Steamy Dreamy. Thanks to all who attended - it was a brilliant way to finish up!!

I'm a donkey on the edge...

Last week was a lesson in the true meaning of stress. I am so glad it's over... But here is a brief rundown so you can mock the afflicted.

Monday
Removal man arrive to pack up the house.
Will 'helping' as not at nursery due to runny bum bug.
Phoebe has third set of baby jabs - three jabs, seven lots of antibodies
Back bedroom still piled high with everything for the week at Pauline and Alistair's, or for Australia.
Nick at work till 4ish
James up till midnight with 'itchy bum'
Phoebe screams all evening...

Tuesday
Nick away to work early
Ella up at 5am with raging temperature.. and runny bum
Refuses all breakfast except blackcurrant Fruit Shoot from Alsabum
Throws up blackcurrant Fruit Shoot on Alsabum's cream carpet
Make doc's appt - James has worms..
Phoebe still screaming... all day
Will still off nursery
Trying to finish house packing with three children in tow
Ella now pooing blood so back to doc's - possibility of e-coli from farm trip mentioned...
Nick gets e-mail about State Medical Board registration for visa approval - think he may have a stroke
Phoebe screams all evening again - only sleeps in the pram downstairs so Nick sleeps on the couch
Think this may be the worst day I have ever had!!

Wednesday
Nick off - spends all day organising forms for State Medical Board and DHL to get them there
Will back to nursery - says he doesn't poo at nursery, so think we are safe!
Ella still sick
Our house empty, but have moved chaos along the road - P and A's house has been childbombed. P looking twitchy... A remaining stoically calm.
Still haven't sold car
At least Phoebe sleeps all night!!


Thursday
Nick back at work
Will's last day at nursery
Ella still sick, Phoebe grumpy again
Try a spot of house cleaning with Alsabum to help. Manage half a fridge in two hours due to Phoebe, Ella and meeting with rental agent.
Phoebe cries all afternoon. Get nothing done.
Choice of drink or cry - do a bit of the latter and a lot of the former.
Great Haggis, Neeps and Tatties for dinner - the last for a while?
House still not clean, packing still not finished.

Friday
On the up, in spite of slight hangover
Have organised a cleaner for the house - why did I not do this earlier?
James' last day at school - Sports Day!
Packing 90% complete
Family dinner at Steamy dreamy with 21 of our closest friends... and 27 children!! It was fab
Home to finish that last 10% of packing about 9pm...
Finished that last 10% at 3am
Up at 5 to start our Big Adventure


So all in all not a week I would like to repeat. Al we can say is thank you so much to Pauline and Alistair who put us up and put up with us - which isn't easy in itself, and then we brought worms, runny bums and screaming baby to the house too. But we could have been in a caravan, so astonishingly, the week actually could have been worse!!

NB Nick did not go to work to escape (honest) but we agreed that he would work all week so that he would then be paid right up to starting work in Australia. Note to self: This was lunacy. Do not repeat!! Share the pain...

Phew what a scorcher...

Well, here we are arriving at Edinburgh Airport on Sat June 7th - you don't really get a feel for how much stuff there is hidden behind the kids here, but we had 10 check-in bags, two prams, six carry on bags and four children. Fortunately we had help - Papa, Nana Suze, Gran Anne and Auntie Kim all came to wave us off (make sure we left) so we had enough trolley pushers...

And every single bag had a 'heavy' tag after we checked it.... Still, no-one seemed to care, so off we flew to Amsterdam, and after a 5(!) hour delay, finally headed off to Boston. The kids were really great on the flight - the delay meant that by the time we got on the flight it was their bedtime and we didn't hear a peep out of them - well, except Phoebe, who had come down with the runny bum lurgy and wasn't too impressed with life!! Some passengers probably weren't too impressed with her, but we're never going to see them again!


So here we are in Maine and it's baking. Really really really hot.... about 35 degrees and very humid, but apparently three days ago it was 10 degrees, so who knows if it will last. We got here at 1.30 am and it was 25 degrees even then. But the kids are loving the beach and we are loving the relaxation - makes a nice change from last weeks near nervous breakdown, but more about that in a mo - I am reverse blogging tonight... These pics are of the unscheduled stop on the beach after breakfast this morning - hence the fully clothed bathing look.

Plans for the rest of the week involve more beach, more shopping and more yummy food! Off to take the kids on a steam train trip on Wednesday too - http://www.conwayscenic.com/ -

More soon!!