Rocky Mountaineer - and Jasper

Apologies for the radio silence - we have spent the last two days on the Rocky Mountaineer train from Vancouver to Jasper (blissfully with no Wifi on board).

It was all kinds of gorgeous and I will share the Animator's photos once we have sorted them. In the meantime, here are some stupidly gorgeous pics from our accommodation tonight, the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge.

Could this place be any more Instragrammable if it tried?

Gosh it's pretty

In a corner of the world not given to bland landscapes and small gestures, Vancouver still has the power to stun with its scenic wonders.

Today we drove around half an hour from downtown to one of Van's most popular attractions, Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, where the main feature is a wooden structure that flings itself 137m across the Capilano River.

We walked among 800 year old Douglas Fir, Red Cedar and Hemlock trees with massive trunks, through verdant rainforest and tried not to feel as though we'd landed in a scene of Jurassic Park (minus the dinosaurs).

And then we spent our last afternoon wandering in the sunshine, exploring this beguiling city.

Here's some visuals from this morning.

Vancouver the Beautiful

Note: post contains the words 'stunning', 'civilised' and 'outrageously attractive' far too many times.

But we are here and it is stunning and civilised and, frankly, a big fat show-off. But Vancouver is such an over-achiever in the visual stakes, it is perfectly entitled to be a little bit too far up its own bottom.

We have eaten and drunk and walked and caught buses and ferries. And we had an upgrade at the excellent Fairmont Waterfront Hotel.

Bonus: for a city reported to have around 175 days of rain a year, it has been gloriously sunny and warm (25 degrees today). We are in heaven.

Some quick pics from our full first day. It doesn't get much more sublime, civilised and outrageously attractive than this.

Currently girding my loins

For the one hour flight to Auckland, and then the 13 hour slog to Vancouver.

Will miss this little chap so much but looking forward to a fun time and our amazeballs Adventure World Western Explorer Rocky Mountaineer trip (and lots of great things I can write about for the many, many stories I need to file on my return).

See you on the other side....

  

A new kitchen in six weeks

My story on an Auckland kitchen reno is published on the Refresh Renovations website (click here to read).

Mother for a weekend

My story of moving completely outside my comfort zone and looking after two people smaller than myself is published in the May issue of NEXT Magazine (click here to read).

Our new apartment

Today around 11, the lawyers finished doing whatever mysterious and expensive things it is lawyers do and we became the proud owners of this Wellington apartment. Doing the happy dance right now. And bloody thankful I can stop scouring websites and visiting open homes.

Apologies for the rubbish pics - I took them on a quick pre-purchase property inspection and, as usual, was running behind schedule.