We’re on our way back to New Zealand for another visit. This time, we decided to break up the trip with a few days in Vancouver. A fourteen hour flight to Auckland is exhausting enough on its own, without having a five flight from Ottawa and a four hour wait in Vancouver tacked on the front. Besides, it’s a nice transition in other ways – the time zone is half way between Ottawa and Auckland and the weather is also somewhere between the two. And it gave us an opportunity to start training for the hills we will find in New Zealand.

When you go for a walk, the best thing to do is check out a local micro brewery. There are so very many in the Vancouver area.

In addition to an impressive and unusual lineup of brews (the Christmas Tree IPA had spruce needles), this pub also had two cask conditioned ales… so of course I had to try both.

My sister generously offered to let us stay with her, and agreed to pause her dry January for our visit. We make such incredible sacrifices for our siblings.

Then we stayed with friends we met on our river cruise in 2023. They live in White Rock, with streets that are a little like San Francisco. Okay, okay, a very small version of San Francisco, but work with me here.

It was lovely walking weather (+5 Celsius and sunny … with no hint of snow) and more views of the mountains.

We walked along the waterfront with our friends.

It was a lovely sunny day, with the sun reflecting off the water.

The water fowl were out in force. These are Surf Scoters.

After a late lunch along the waterfront we took in a movie (A Complete Unknown – I highly recommend it) and then headed to the airport. The bad news is that our flight is delayed almost two hours. The good news is that we have lounge access, so we can have dinner here, and then try to sleep as soon as we get on the plane … at 1:30 AM. Fortunately it’s only 14 hours till Auckland and the start of our NZ visit!