Australian Expats: 13 Months Away From Home

Hi June, bye June. The official beginning of summer in Vancouver not only lightened my life with some well-missed sun but included a lot of fun adventures. Between work and the outings I haven’t had too much time left for my blog, but here is a recap of a great month. Keep reading for news on my next holiday too!

June: The Highlights

Well, May ended with the staff party and June began with a sunny afternoon outing to Granville Island and Kits Beach. Granville Island is a great place to visit in the city, as a lot of locals will attest to. We sat in the sun and ate fish and chips and gelato while the sea breeze whipped our hair. We then walked along the water and stopped at Vanier Park before stumbling in the sand and being greeted by Kits Beach. What a beautiful part of Vancouver to spend your afternoon.

The next weekend we went to the Richmond Night Markets, which run all summer and have a wicked Magical Candyland theme this year: think giant ice creams, candy galore, theme park games and more. Besides the fantasy land, you have the choice of a hundred different food stalls. A lot is Asian-influenced but there are a few other surprises. It’s definitely a fun night out with friends.

The following day we celebrated Italian Day on the Drive. There was a crazy amount of people crammed from block to block. I think they were all there to eat cannoli and gelato. Mmm, gelato.

I then celebrated a friend’s birthday in a new way for me – at Toyotomi Hot Pot.  I may just be uncultured, but this was my first hot pot experience. The idea is you choose as much food as you want, from all different kinds of meat, noodles and vegetables, and you cook it yourself. Exhibit A below. Now it not unknown that I can eat. A lot. But after this meal, I felt like I needed to be rolled home. So much food.

The next two weeks passed in a blur of fun outings. Here are some pretty photos as evidence that this introvert has transformed into a social butterfly. It only took moving across the world. First up was State of Origin Game 2, which my team lost – cue Hayley crying in the corner.

Then there was seeing the Vancouver-bred sex god himself, Michael Bublé.  Seriously, this man knows how to put on a show. If he wasn’t a singer, he definitely would have made himself a career in comedy. I was laughing every time he wasn’t serenading me. 

Then it was work, work, work, breaking pie records already, and the summer season of festivals has just started! I spent time just relaxing with friends in the park one afternoon. While the others played frisbee, we did this:

And then it was time to celebrate another friend’s birthday. This time we began the evening at Milestone’s Bar and Grill and ended the night at Celebrities Nightclub. Confession: I love to dance. Not a style, just letting go on the dance floor and having fun moving to the beat with friends.

The month finished with a lucky visit to the amazing Rio Theatre to see Australian musician Pete Murray perform. I scored free tickets through work (woohoo!) and the theatre is such an intimate setting he can interact with the audience easily and all he had was his guitar for quite a few songs. I love stripped-back sets as it is how my dad always performed at home. As soon as I sat inside the theatre, I thought, I am so writing a blog post about this beautiful place, so that will be coming up soon.

And now for my announcement… Hayley is going on holiday! July will definitely be about putting these plans into motion, but at the moment I hope to leave Vancouver at the beginning of September and do what I do best – travel. The plan is to visit Vancouver Island, the Rockie and Calgary before flying to Toronto and meeting up with Australians I met here in Montreal. From there we will hopefully check out Nova Scotia and make our way down America’s East Coast to Washington D.C. I will say goodbye to them then and go on my own through the South. I have my eye on visiting places such as Nashville, Savannah, Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, Phoenix and Las Vegas before heading back to Vancouver.

From there I shall say goodbye to this life and head home to my family for Christmas. The fact I am planning on having only two more months in Vancouver scares and excites me: I am excited to go on holiday but I am going to be sad to leave behind the beautiful people you see above. But at the end of the day, I miss my mum and dad. And my dog. But if things work out maybe I will be back next summer to do another round on the food truck? Only time and the universe will tell.