Well, I did it! I’m finally sitting here, on the other side of the world in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. This has been a life goal I have been chasing since I finished high school, and if it wasn’t for everything I’ve done up to this point in time I probably might not be here right now!

Nearly two weeks have gone by and I’m still alive and haven’t starved to death yet.. Yes it has been fun trying to cook for myself! and no, I haven’t burned anything yet - touch wood! I have to say I’m still learning from the master chefs at my place; namely Gareth and Arda.

I’ve recently bought myself a mountain bike and have been riding everywhere while theres some sunshine.

This is a shot I took from Stanley Park looking into downtown Vancouver, to the left of the photo is Canada Place (convention center/hotel) as well as where the sea ferry departs to North Vancouver/Lonsdale.

This was taken in uptown Coal harbour looking North through Stanley Park out to the mountain ranges. One of the peaks in the distance is Grouse Mountain..

That evening I had a beer or two with Gareth, good old Molson Canadian. I have to say the beer does suck big time in Canada! Taste a bit like water really..

The next day I headed back out to Stanley Park and rode around the seawall. This was taken on the northside of the Park where the Lion’s Gate Bridge connects North Vancouver with downtown. I was lucky enough to catch one of the Canadian warships pass under.

On the weekend I headed out with my friend Sema and her friends to Grouse Mountain. We decided we would climb the mountain from the base - boy did I under estimate the amount of effort to do this!

Somehow we ended up cutting onto the expert track, which was a steep accent through the tall pines which took about 3 hrs (instead of the average 1 hr). This was due to one of the girls being pretty unfit! I nearly thought she wasn’t going to make it.

However in the end it was quite an adventure and I soon found some remanents of the winter snows at the peak.

Yours truly close to the peak, well nearly. This was on one of the ski slopes and it had a magnificent view of the city of Vancouver. As you can see, the snow has mostly melted away due to the summer months.

Here is downtown Vancouver, a beautiful city. Reminds me much of Perth with its laid back lifestyle except on a much larger scale.

We came back down grouse on the cable car and another shot of the city skyline.

It was a good thing that I had come a week earlier than I originally planned. I soon found out that July 1st was Canada Day, this is the national day in which they celebrate the anniversary of the British North America Act of 1867, which united Canada as a single country of four provinces.

Gareth and I headed into the city and out the front of the Art Gallery there was a big congregation of people who were smoking, selling and giving out free marijuana. The cops were around but they seemed to turn a blind eye and kept it contained to the area. There were hundreds of people handing out free spliffs and selling brownies - I haven’t seen anything quite like this anywhere else in the world. A very trippy experience!

They put bubble bath into the fountain and there were a few people in the fountain haha.

A couple of hours later and we wandered out to Canada Place, as this was the other big area to be. There was a big exhibition/show which was setup. The Canadian army was there and there was dancing, singers and a big playground for the kids.

Gareth and I had to check out the guns they had on show, and I had the chance to handle an M4.

That evening I met up with Sema, and we went down to Coal Harbour with Gareth and his mate Dave to check out the fireworks in Burrad Inlet. I couldn’t take many decent photos as I was without a tripod and my camera sucks for night shots.. This was about the only decent photo!

A couple of days later I rode out to my new workplace which was about a 2 hr ride from where I’m staying currently - I’m the new Marketing & Promotions manager.. I’m definitely going to purchase a car, or I’ll be passed out on the floor each day once I arrive to work!

Anyway, will update again once I pull off the rest of the photos from the camera and I will add extra photos to the gallery soon.

Take it easy eh!

When was the last time you took time out to explore your own backyard? By backyard I’m referring to our beautiful state of Western Australia. You don’t seem to do it unless someone comes over and you need to take them to see the place. Fortunately for me my cousin Yumi came from Japan to visit for a couple of weeks.

We went on a day tour up to Cervantes and Lancelin, where we checked out the beautiful beaches of Cervantes, the famous Pinnacles and sand dunes of Lancelin. The trip reminded me of my Geography field trips in high school; as I was walking through the Pinnacles I was thinking aren’t these great examples of sedimentary rock!

The drive was just over 2 hours from Perth to Cervantes; the town is located about 230 km’s north west of Perth. There isn’t really much industry up there, mainly a fishing town with the local Nambung National park which supports tourism. The beach on the point of Cervantes was beautiful.

Shortly after we took a break for lunch and then headed out to the Pinnacles. So how were they formed? Firstly the material for the limestone came from sea shells which were broken-down into lime-rich sand - the area used to be covered in ocean which subsided 100’s of thousands of years ago.

This sand was then blown inland by natural wind pattens which formed high sand dunes. Rain caused lime to seep to the bottom of the dunes, where it fused together (limestone).

Our guide mentioned that the experts think large trees where once plentiful through this region. This helped create an acidic layer of soil on the top of the dune, which further contributed to the leaching of the lime from the soil. A layer of calcrete formed over the soft limestone under the dunes.

Small cracks in this layer allowed these trees to send deeper root systems, which had the side-effect of allowing water to flow in also, gradually eroding the soft limestone beneath.

This was replaced by the quartz sand from the dune above. This process carried on until columns of limestone where protected from the water remained. The columns were exposed when the tree’s above died (perhaps from a large fire from a lightning strike), which eventually lead to the wind blowing away the sand between them.

OK that’s enough geography for today.. Anyway, soon after we were on our way to Lancelin (after losing one of the tourists in the Pinnacles for 45 minutes..)

We made it to Lancelin an hour later and went for a bit of a spin through the dunes, was quite fun! Though I spotted the big dune monster truck up there with the huge tractor tyres.. That would be an experience! Maybe next time.

We did a bit of sand boarding which was good fun, Yumi eventually had a go after much persuasion.. You pick up quite a bit of speed going down those hills. You can see more pictures from the day in my photo gallery.

All in all, a great day out and experience and Yumi loved the sand dunes as well as the sand boarding at sunset. I would have to say this was the major hi-light of the day.

Till next time.

I think I’ll term this a quarter life crisis; I have finally decided that I would like to see Alaska, America and South America and the best way to do this is to base myself somewhere in that part of the world. After months of careful planning I have finally resigned from my marketing position in Perth and have lined myself up with a job as a brand manager in Canada.

So why Canada of all places? Well through my work connections I have secured a job to continue building upon my marketing career, there are plenty of friends/family in Vancouver, Whistler is not far out of the city, everyone there loves riding/sports and I can finally learn how to snowboard!

Vancouver is a city on the west coast of Canada and a major seaport in south western British Columbia (BC) and some research has shown that it is consistently ranked one of the three most livable cities in the world. Not to mention everyone I’ve spoken to have had nothing to say but good things of this city - I better lower my expectations..

So whats the current situation? Well I have under 3 weeks left of work and I have confirmed my flight which happens on the 23rd of June (next month!). Looks like I fly Perth, Sydney, New Zealand, Los Angeles to Vancouver - long flight!! Which is costing me a grand total of $600 AUD, and I’m absolutely loving frequent flyers..

In the past weeks I have been ticking off all the things that need to be done to make this happen; renting out my property, finishing off the backyard, selling off gear which I don’t use, booking my flight, obtaining my work visa, receiving my international drivers licence, booking travel insurance and tying up loose ends at work.

So here is my finished backyard after weeks/months of procrastination.. It’s now rented out for 12 months, which means I have to commit to Canada for at least 12 months!

Can’t wait to trade this sunny weather for the wet and cold..

You can all now call me Captain Mitch, for I’m a qualified skipper for any recreational boat up to the size of Greg Normans ‘Aussie Rules‘ or larger! From early March Recreational Skipper’s Tickets (RST) have been a requirement for people operating recreational boats in Western Australia. I haven’t been able to drive the boat since then or I would’ve been issued a $200 fine..

I have had the theory/practical tests on the back burner for months, so it’s great to say it is finally done. I can’t wait to take the ski boat down for an over night camping trip at one of the dams down south - which means planning something ahead in the next few upcoming weekends depending on the weather..

Anyway, I went out riding at Jarrahdale XC course last weekend and we took out Josh’s GPS and mapped our trail. These things are awesome - we mapped the route and overlayed it on a Google map which you can see below.

An awesome piece of equipment the GPS! We will probably head to the Dell next weekend and follow a trail only through using GPS coordinates, which should prove interesting/fun. If you don’t hear back from me then we are probably still lost..

I also have some news which I’ll update on in the next few days - it involves me moving to another country for a little while! So stay tuned..

The Presets, Cut Copy, The Smashing Pumpkins, Duran Duran, Hot Hot Heat and a perfect summers day. This is one of the best things about Perth, there aren’t many other places in the world which shares such a beautiful temperate climate!

Craig and myself took the train in, loaded ourselves up with cheap drinks, (courtesy to his sister working behind the bar, cheers Lisa!) and parked ourselves in front of Hot Hot Heat. For those not familiar with these guys, they are a rock band from British Columbia in Canada. I will definitely have to see these guys again when I’m over there.

Lead singer of Hot Hot Heat, Steve Bays above. Until now I hadn’t really heard much of these guys and was a little skeptical at first, needless to say they have grown on me a little and they are a good band to crank if your in a happy mood!

Next up were a personal favorite of mine, Cut Copy. These guys are from Melbourne Australia and have a really unique Electronica/Indie sound..

They played a couple of my favorites - Lights and Sounds and Hearts on Fire. If you haven’t heard of them then get a hold of some of their stuff!

A great setup and venue overall. Two stages next to each other and all finished on time which was good. The only real pain was that The Smashing Pumpkins played at roughly the same time as The Presets! I ended up spending half the time at the SP’s and half at The Presets.

Myself and Jiun chillin..

Jiun and Craig enjoying the vibes/scenery..

Lead act - Duran Duran! Played the famous ‘Hungry like the Wolf’ and ‘Ordinary World’ (a beautiful song) as well as a few others. Can’t say I’m a huge fan, but the songs he did were fantastic.

The other lead act - The Smashing Pumpkins! An old school act which formed when I was 4 years old. I stayed around to hear Tonight Tonight and a few of their newer hits.

Billy Corgan bathed in the yellow light and sounding as distinct as ever. A little bit after this I made my way around to the dance area to see my other favorite of the night.

I don’t know if it was a result of too many Red Bulls & Vodka’s but I just had so much energy and got right into it at the Presets! Above you can see Julian busting it out on the keyboard.

They played Steamworks, Summer of Love, (the popular) Are you the One?, My People and I Go Hard, Go Home. Totally awesome and I can’t wait to see them again live! For those keen I have some other photos in my gallery which you can check out.