And the winner is...

...Vince, who correctly guessed 'professional dog walker'! The vehicle part comes in because what they need is someone to drive round and pick up 8 dogs, then take them out in the mountains for a 4 hour hike on Saturdays, sole charge! Just me and the doggies! There are a few trails around where dogs are allowed off-leash. So the picture in my last post was from part way through our hike on Saturday, when we stopped at a spot where an avalanche must have come through during the winter - notice the uprooted trees? I went along with Niki and Josh who own the dog walking business. They are a really nice young couple and I liked them right away when I met them.

I find it funny to think of myself as a professional dog walker, because I've never owned a dog in my life! I could just picture dogs out of control and me running along after them, ha ha! However in the interview, Niki and Josh said that attitude and willingness to learn were most important. The training is 2 weeks full-time before I would go out on my own for a doggy hike. And I really enjoyed Saturday's hike. The dogs were all regulars so they knew the drill and were amazingly well-behaved! I quickly learnt their names and picked up on their personalities. So, as long as the training goes well, I'll get to drive a truck around to pick them all up and drop them off! Will be a good way to see some more of the city.

One interesting aspect is that we discussed what to do if I come across a bear while out hiking with the dogs! We saw fresh bear droppings (is droppings the right term??) and they told me they'd both seen bears on the trails I'll be using. One good thing is that the dogs will almost certainly alert me to the bear before I notice it, however it might be difficult to control some of the dogs that are bred for hunting, if they choose to go after it!! Coming across a bear doesn't scare me, I know that most animals will leave you alone if you don't bother them. But I'll need to learn a few tricks about keeping the dogs under control while they're off-leash.

I'm also starting two private walks after work (I'm still at the temp placement) this week. Usually Niki does these herself because the on-leash walks are usually just for dogs with health or behavioural problems, so Niki works with them while walking them - she's a professional dog trainer. Two new clients have come up with dogs who are healthy and well-behaved, so I get to do those ones!

Unfortunately it's only minimum wage, but I figured if I get paid a little bit to do something I enjoy already (hiking and walking), and spend time with animals, while also getting to see more of the city, then that's not a bad deal.

I think I have to wear a company shirt... will see if I can get a photo if that's the case! :-)

What else is news? Thought I'd share this pic (not my own) of my local pool... what a beautiful setting, eh? I've only been there once so far but plan to make good use of it over the summer. It's inside Stanley Park - I walk along the seawall around the trees to get to the pool, only about 15 mins from my place (which is tucked in somewhere between the trees and the highrises).



I'm off to Vancouver Island next weekend to spend a few days in Victoria with a friend who is visiting from Toronto. Looking forward to that!

Another clue!

Ok here's a BIG clue! It's something to do with these guys. This pic is from my "try-out" on Saturday....

Guesses so far

Hee hee, this is fun! Here are the guesses so far - none of them correct!

Pizza delivery driver
A scuba dive instructor
Selling something outdoors somewhere
A chauffeur to V.I.P.s
The Canadian equivalent of Wellington's Walkwise City Safety Officers (Good guess! I used to work with them. Not correct though!)
Weekend tour guide
Lifeguard
Paper/flyer delivery girl
Driving a cart round a zoo giving guided tours
One of those fellas in an armoured golf cart picking up balls from a driving range

One more clue: I will need good footwear. Keep sending your guesses!

In other news, it is super hot here today! I left work at 5:00 and it was 30C!!!! That's hot stuff for a Kiwi!

A Second Job?

Okay, time to make this "blogthing" (as Mum calls it) more interactive! I can never tell who is reading my posts, or how many people have visited. Is there anyone out there?? So I thought it might be fun to see who can guess what the job was that I interviewed for today. I'll give you a few clues, and you can email me your guesses. You can guess as many times as you like, and there'll be prizes for the most unlikely guesses as well as anyone who correctly guesses! I'll post the guesses on here in a few days' time.

So, this job is part-time, to earn a bit of extra cash. It's outdoors, but it's not just a summer job. It's legal! It's something I have never done before, and wouldn't have thought of doing, had I not stumbled across the advertisement online. Today in the interview, when The Visa Question came up and I was asked how long my visa was for, I answered honestly, and the two interviewers looked at each other and said, "Oh, that's great!", which was a refreshing turn up for the books!

They haven't officially offered me the job, but as long as my driver's licence is valid here (which I found out tonight it is), then they said they were keen to start training me.

Any guesses? Need more clues?

In other news, I'm feeling much better about staying here and won't be hurrying home early. I've passed the 2-month mark and I think the combination of making some new friends here, enjoying some sunshine (at last!), and seeing some more of the cool things Vancouver has to offer (while showing Katrina around), has all helped change my outlook for the better.

I'm still in the same temp job and they haven't said anything about a finish date yet. They've been keeping me busy with lots of fairly mundane tasks, but ones that require a certain level of alertness at least! They're a publicly listed company and many of their "warrant holders" are "exercising their warrants" (these were all new terms to me) because their share price is rather good right now, and people in the office are pretty happy with this! I just get to handle all the boring, but important, paperwork that goes with it...

Katrina's Visit!

Tuesday night I went out to the airport to meet my friend Katrina who had just arrived from San Diego. She's originally from Boston and we met when she was living in NZ for a while. She decided to make the most of the American 4th of July holiday by flying up to visit me! It was great to see her. I took Wednesday off work to show her around. I put in an order for some nice sunny weather and it came through - 3 beautiful days of sunshine!


Arriving at the airport!


We started Wednesday with coffee on Denman St...


...then hired bicycles and rode around Stanley Park. This is Third Beach, in Stanley Park, where we stopped for a picnic lunch. That's North Vancouver in the background.


That's my rented cruiser bike to the left.


After we returned our cycles we walked along the beach...


...to catch a wee ferry across to Granville Island (that's the ferry just arriving, in the middle of the photo). It was my first time on the Island and I loved it! Very easy to part with a lot of money there! Lots of yummy things to eat and cute little shops. We found this amazing stationery store and spent probably an hour in there looking at all the cute journals, notebooks, cards etc.


Katrina trying out a nylon hammock in the hammock shop!


Enjoying a slice of pizza in the sunshine.


We encountered some pirates but managed to fend them off.


Next we walked from Granville Island (which is actually connected by road) along the water's edge to Vanier Park, where we were scheduled to take in a performance of 'Taming of the Shrew' as part of the annual Bard on the Beach summer Shakespeare program. These are some apartments along the walk.




We had some time to kill before the play so we relaxed in the sun for a while at Vanier Park - that's the central city across the water.


Then we got thirsty so we kept walking around the water to...


...Kits beach where we sampled the Red Truck Lager at the newish Watermark bar overlooking the beach.


Kitsilano (Kits) Beach.

Then it was back round to Vanier Park for some shrew-taming. Unfortunately neither of us were overly impressed with the play. They added a Western theme which we weren't sure about. But we had spent all day outdoors in the sun and then had a beer, so maybe sitting still for a couple of hours wasn't quite what we were in the mood for. It did feel good to have a little bit of culture though!

Thursday I was back at work and left Katrina to her own devices for the day. After work it was a beautiful evening so we had a beer in the sun at English Bay beach before dining at a Malaysian restaurant I'd been wanting to try. The food was delicious!

Katrina flew out Friday afternoon. I was sad to see her go but it was great to have spent a couple of days with her, exploring some of the highlights of Vancouver. And with such nice weather too!

West End Girl

I finally got around to taking some more pictures of my neighbourhood! I think it is such a pretty area, and a great location too. I'm surprised it doesn't cost more to live here. It's not cheap but it's about the same as living in central Wellington, even taking into account the exchange rate.

This is my apartment building - it's pink! It's not much to look at from the outside but inside it's pretty cool. The hallways are old and dark and smell funny, but our apartment (I'm sharing with a girl from Toronto) is nice.

These pics are from my walk to work:

You can just see the sea and the mountains at this point.

Now we're changing from quiet suburbia to busy central city. I turn right at this intersection onto the famous shopping street Robson and continue another 10 mins through downtown to get to the office where I'm temping.

Some more images from the 'hood:

There are no garages opening onto the streets because they're all tucked away out of sight in these mid-block alleys. They seem safe enough - there's no reason to use them unless you're accessing your vehicle. The "bottlers" a.k.a. "trash divers" also push their shopping trolleys along them at all hours while looking out for bottles and cans to return for a few cents.

Two blocks north from my place is busy Denman St, with lots of little restaurants (Japanese, Greek, Malaysian, Thai, Indian, plus lots of places to get pizza and burgers) and neighbourhood stores, as well as the ever-present coffee chains.

Continuing along Denman you eventually get to the beach! English Bay Beach, only 5 mins walk from my place. Did I mention I love my location??

I took these photos earlier in the week on a nice sunny day. The rain has eased off and we've had 3 beautiful days of sunshine in a row! Seems like summer is finally here.

This week I had a visit from my friend Katrina, who lives in San Diego. More on that in my next post!