Save the Mermaids

Despite them all driving huge monstrous trucks and being a few hours flight from one another, Juneau is worlds away from Vancouver. The typical perception of America is at first, very apparent here. The sheer magnitude of everything, thus a lot of Americans attitudes towards life in general, cannot be missed. However it does not take long at all to realise there is a lot of diversity just under the surface. It’s actually easier for me here to go to the supermarket and buy a trolley full of vegetarian/vegan/organic food, and even the non-veg/organic food is often a cut above a lot of food we have in Australia. If I were somewhere like California or New York, this would perhaps not be as shocking. But every impression I had of Alaska was that this was an extremely conservative area where the status quo was rarely challenged. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised. 

However that said, it is still easier to go and purchase a load of food that’s all high in cholesterol, fat, sugar, etc etc. The amount of choices available here is astonishing, and makes shopping a long and painful process. Even the ‘local grocer’, this supermarket here called Alaskan & Proud, has a huge choice of food available. Everything here is big, and there is more of it. 

This is a truly beautiful part of the earth, and I would recommend a visit to Juneau even just for the sake of experiencing the view from the plane as you descend into Juneau. Snow-capped mountains poking through the clouds, and glaciers are a mighty fine way to greet new visitors. I’m only a week into my stay here, and I’m more than happy to be calling this place my home for the next little while. 

Yes, the ‘k’ was intentional, as was the ‘fucking’. Thought I should make another post on this travel blog of sorts, seeing as I am traveling….

What’s up kids, I’m in Alaska! Where the mountains are big and the men are sleazy! But honestly, Alaska is pretty damn cool, (no pun intended). I arrived on a beautiful sunny afternoon, and my dreams of spending the next four months under a sun that won’t burn me and a breeze that didn’t chill me to the bone, were quickly diminished when a number of people told me I’d arrived on the only good day Juneau will have all summer. They weren’t entirely correct, I did enjoy about three days of blissful sunshine, at only a few degrees higher than what Melbourne was enduring. Then the heavens opened up and the clouds decided to say hello, and most days have seen grey skies and puddles. But it honestly doesn’t bother me too much. 

So my time in Canada was unbelievable, Salt Spring Island was amazingly beautiful and I thought Vancouver was an incredibly cool city, I could definitely see myself living there some day. They have the obvious Americanisms, such as huge trucks and a multitude of Starbucks, but Canadians are seriously cool people, very relaxed and friendly. A Canadian friend mentioned she thinks Australians and Canadians are very compatible, and I think she’s entirely correct. Staying on a small island was also really nice, definitely had a country, small town feel without the isolation. A highlight was seeing a band from Vancouver Island called Current Swell, who were supported by another band called Jon and Roy. They performed in this cute little hall a ways out of town, and it being an all ages show meant they didn’t sell alcohol. This of course meant there were a hundred 17yr olds drinking beer and playing frisbee on the lawn out the front, and those 100 or so teens then migrated inside as the music started and continued to play frisbee and dance like they’d never danced before. They held a very different attitude to the kind of music that was playing (chill out roots/reggae), an attitude you would not see in Melbourne, but it was refreshing and I had a really fun night. 

Hey guys,

I’M IN CANADA! RIGHT NOW, I’M IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE WHERE IT’S SUMMER, AND IT’S WONDERFUL!

Ok so really, this feels like such a dream. This is the first country I’ve traveled to where the culture hasn’t been ridiculously different, it’s nice to be able to take things in and not feel overwhelmed by it all. It’s strange that everything is sort of the same, yet still very different. The scenery here on Salt Spring is absolutely stunning and the weather is really nice too. 

The flight here was just as any flight to the other side of the world usually is, long and uncomfortable. There were about 4 babies, usually always crying, on the 13 haul from Auckland to Vancouver. However I was lucky enough to sit next to two cool girls who were fun to talk to. Vancouver airport was insanely busy, and the guy that processed my customs form decided he had to ask about a hundred questions about how I knew Britney and why I was flying to Alaska instead of Australia, and also made me spend 15min going through my bag to show him every document possible that proved I wasn’t going to stay there forever. Then FINALLY I got to the arrivals gate of Vancouver airport, to be greeted by a frantically waving Britney. The airport was INSANELY busy, Britney said it’s the busiest she’d ever seen it. 

After we escaped the frenzied airport, Britney’s Nan and cousin picked us up and we drove over to Richmond, where Nan lives (yes, I call her Nan too haha). The houses here are pretty monstrous, but Nan said a lot of them all get torn down now to make town house/apartment blocks. We spent the evening driving around the town and also got some sushi for dinner, before getting on the ferry to Salt Spring Island. I was pretty tired by this stage, don’t know how long I’d been awake for. The ferry ride was nice and calming, spent some time just reading but then fell asleep for about an hour or so and woke up to us arriving at Long Harbour.

Woke up this morning at about 11am, still feeling pretty tired, I think my body was trying to tell me it was still 4am like it was in Melbourne. Britney had to go to work so I’m just lazing around today, admiring the scenery and I’m going to catch a bus into town soon to meet Britney when she finishes work. 

More to come soon! Promise it won’t be so mundane next time.