We Landed.

We finally made it to Turtle Island!

We touched down in Vancouver on 2 June after 13 hours in the air and 2 hours sleep. Thankfully, the Uber was pre-booked, we had e-sims organised with the first month loaded, and a bank appointment booked for two days after we landed (I needed that sleep in the first day!).

Rain streaked along the windows of the Uber as we traveled towards skyscrapers shrouded in mist. Other than driving on the other side of the road and all the trees, it didn’t seem much different from Auckland or Wellington. Even the temperature was the same. We stayed in downtown Vancouver in the YWCA Hotel for three days while we got our admin done. It continued to be moody and grey for the following two days, which suited me. We didn’t get out much other than to our appointments and exploring the city on small wanders on the way back to the hostel, but I made time for some poutine!

On our final day in Vancouver, the sun emerged and so did we. Vancouver Lookout seemed like a logical first stop with 360 degree views out across the city, the mountains, and Stanley Park. From here, we wandered along cobblestone footpaths lined with old school lamp posts and Victorian-era brick buildings to Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhood, Gastown.

East Vancouver.

Views north towards Stanley Park and Lions Gate Bridge.

Dominion Building, built in 1910, was Vancouver's first steel-framed high-rise and was the tallest building in the British Empire at the time.

Woodward’s Building, Gastown

Gastown was founded by John ‘Gassy Jack’ Deighton back in 1867. He got the nickname because he loved to talk and tell stories - aka he was a huge gasbag. However, he also married a 12 year old Squamish girl, Quahail-ya, after his wife, her aunt, died. According to Squamish oral history, Quahail-ya ran away at age 15. The statue of Gassy Jack was toppled during the Downtown Eastside Women’s Memorial March in 2022.

Gastown is also the site of the Steam Clock, which, unsurprisingly, is powered by steam. It was built in 1977 and whistles a little tune every quarter hour.

Once the steam clock had done its thing we jumped on the Hop On Hop Off bus to get to Stanley Park for our Talking Trees tour run by Talaysay Tours. We wandered through Stanley Park listening to our guide describe plants that have been used for food, medicine, and technology by Sechelt and Squamish people for thousands of years. It was so peaceful to wander through the greenery with a warm breeze on our cheeks and the sun heating our backs, especially after being cooped up inside. It was also refreshing to hear something different from how great this Stanley guy was (he even named the Stanley Cup after himself). The huckleberry and Western Hemlock pines we got to taste were also refreshing. The berry was so juicy and the pines were lemony flavoured.

Juicy little huckleberries.

After the tour we wandered around the park for a while and visited the totem poles. Situated in a small meadow, 9 poles stand tall in honour of the indigenous people of this area; Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh. The pole below was erected in honour of Rose Cole Yelton. Even though Stanley Park was established in 1888, many people continued to live in the park for decades after. This totem pole was erected next to where the village was that Rose and her family lived in until 1935. It contains many common motifs used in totem carvings and, similar to Māori culture, these motifs are used to tell a story or represent ancestors.

Rose Cole Yelton Memorial Pole of the Squamish Nation

By this stage, I was hangry, so we had little time to get across the park back to the bus stop and back into the city before I committed crimes. After, we caught the bus around the city until we got to our last stop - Chinatown, the second largest in the world after San Fransisco. They also have the only authentic Chinese garden outside China - on the list for our next visit. The light was popping off by this time, so it was heaps of fun taking photos as we sauntered through Chinatown to our accommodation.

The next morning we were on our flight to Dawson City via Whitehorse with a four hour layover. The only exciting thing that happened in Whitehorse was when a bottle of rum and bottle of coke appeared in the women’s bathrooms on my second visit and were gone again on my third trip.

Keep an eye out for the next post to see what we’re up to in Dawson.

Thanks for reading - Hei konā.