I enjoyed a mini break while on my year long break! I ventured to Vancouver Island for a few days. I was undecided on whether to rent a car or not, so when I got off the boat I got talking to a man named Tom at the bus stop. Tom didn't look like a serial killer, but he didn't not like one either so I approached. After a friendly chat about public transport I walked away with the decision to rent a car, Toms phone number and an invitation from Tom to stay at his house! I declined but thanks Tom! 

My next challenge was to actually drive the car (well a minibus really! Check out the pic!!) on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car. It was an nerve wracking 30km but I enjoyed the last two kilometres when I got the hang out of it! 

The next three days involved 10 hour sleeps at night, hikes each morning, walks on the beach, and pure relaxation.  I treated myself to a spa afternoon in a place aptly named Tigh Na Mara, founded by an Irish man who no longer owns it. The spa was followed by endless tapas for dinner so I was looking forward to a few different dishes. The chef had other ideas and served me up 15, yes 15, different delicious dishes. There was a mixture of meat, fish and salad dishes followed by a beautiful chocolate dessert. I literally rolled out of there! 

I visited Parksville, Qualicum Beach, French Creek Harbour, Schnooer Harbour and Nanaimo. The central part of Vancouver Island has many hidden treasures which I wouldn't have discovered without my mini bus, so the sweating and talking to myself throughout it was all worth it!

Vancouver has a nickname Raincouver and I got to experience exactly why in the last two weeks!! After coming from good weather I didn't mind a day or two of rain but on day three I was like come on!! In between the rainy days Vancouver is full of adventures to have. The usual for a new place, I walked the legs of myself (and my friend, sorry!) for two days getting to know the town and discovering new things. The city is full of high rise glass buildings (I won't be hanging around here when an earthquake hits!) overlooking an activity filled waterfront. There are plenty of tourist activities in Vancouver but a small bit of research and chat discovers plenty of free activities. Lynn canyon is one of them. A park with a suspension bridge, waterfalls, bridges and hikes. The beauty of nature. To get there you venture on the sea bus (no 51b around here!) and I was lucky to see seals playing in front of it on the way over. 

There is a strong Irish Community in Vancouver and I got thrown into it with a weekend away to Whistler with some of the Vancouver ladies GAA team. The girls reminded me of the good reasons to be apart of a team sport, the banter, the slagging, the sharing of stories and the support. But for these girls it's different. Being so far away from home makes girls family. They are each other's family day in day out out here, for whatever someone might need. The thing that connects them is their Irishness, and it was my pleasure to spend a weekend with them. We stayed in yurts, have bbqs, stayed up drinking and laughing until all hours (even ranger rick told us to keep it down...oops!) and on Saturday we did some adventure sports. We did some ATV bikes, and lucky enough my co driver was just as reckless as me! We FLOORED it in the words of Tommy Tiernan. This was followed by ziplines hundreds of feet in the air. The thought of this would normally scare the life outta me, but I had no fear left after the ATVs. A great weekend in the beautiful whistler, surrounded by unbelievable views (and it didn't rain! Yay!).