Day 2 (July 31st) - Wind, Water, Earth, Fire and Blackberries.

Today, started with a trip to a local patisserie - Thomas Has, which is a cross between Max Brenner and Adriano Zumbo. We had a nice Coffee and a Croissant for breakfast. Last blog I regrettably forgot to introduce an important member of the family - Bailey, the wonder dog.

Next we headed to Grouse Mountain. Grouse Mountain is to the North of Vancouver. It has many 'touristy' (is that a word?) attractions including two orphaned Grizzly Bears, Wolves,  zip line rides, lumberjack shows etc. etc (if you want more information - Get the app!). It also has spectacular views of all of Vancouver from atop a wind turbine know as 'Eye of the wind'. We rode a gondola up the mountain to a chalet style headquarter and decided we would try and wake the Grizzly Bears, lucky for them they were already awake.

Being an out of season ski field there were a few chair lifts on the mountain that we rode to get to the 'Eye of the Wind'. We had uninterrupted 360 degree views from atop the wind turbine which was a great photo opportunity.

Getting a little peckish we grabbed some Sushi and then headed home to regroup.

Next, we went for a hike to swimming hole. We hiked approx. 2kms through bear infested woodlands (well one bear was seen there once) and ended up at the very secluded Whyte Lake, where we had a swim.

On returning to the car we found a Blackberry bush (Blackberry bushes are growing wild everywhere in Vancouver) that was full of ripe fruit. So we stuffed our faces full of delicious blackberries!!

Tonight we went Downtown (Canadian for into the city) to see the annual 'Celebration of Light' firework show. We had the best seats in town. We were perched up in a 9th floor apartment directly facing the barge where the fireworks were. We were looking down on 80000 + people who were crammed on the beach like sardines. We waited until 2200, as that is when it gets dark enough to see the Fireworks and they were amazing, comparable to the New Year's Fireworks in Sydney.

Yours in Vancouver

Mitch and Jo.