VanAussie Daily

Victory!! (Ceremony that is…)

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Tonight we had the honour of going to a Victory Ceremony. This is one of those sessions where they gather all the medalists for the day in one place and hang the gongs around their necks. Easier than organizing to do it out in the freezing cold on Cypress or up in Whistler. They also take the opportunity to put on a bunch of musical pieces before and after the show, focusing on a province or territory of Canada for the musical pieces before, and a well known Canadian band afterwards.

We lucked out today and got… wait for it… Saskatchewan! Yup, the big flat province somewhere in the middle of Canada that most people tend to skip through as quick as possible. Still, we learned from the Saskatchewanian (Saskatchenite?) comedian MC’ing the session that over 50% of Canada’s wheat is produced in the province, and that it also is more than 50% covered in forest. Interesting stuff.

Watching the Medal Ceremony itself was great. Canada won gold in the Woman’s Ski Cross today, so the crowd was on their feet cheering when she was awarded her medal.

It’s interesting during the ceremony, as they’re simulcasting with a ceremony up at Whistler at the same time, and cross back and forth for the awarding of medals. Those won in the Whistler area are awarded up there, then most of the ones won in the Vancouver area are awarded down here.

Following the ceremony we were treated to a concert by Billy Talent, a Canadian band, and it was a really good show – their frontman is a character.

I’m still a firm believer that every good concert should have pyrotechnics

(Pics courtesy of Aidan Ward)

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Madness… Madness I tell you!

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

The atmosphere in Vancouver on Friday night was ELECTRIC! From our apartment in Yaletown, pretty close to the main drag, we could hear cheers and yells coming from all over the city. We were out on the balcony at one stage watching a small crowd of people milling around on the street corner opposite (we’re on the 16th floor), when I leaned over and noticed quite a large crowd of people on our corner, and then they ALL broke out into a very loud rendition of “Oh Canada”, the national anthem. I tell you what, these Canadians can put most groups of Aussies to shame when it comes to anthems… for one thing, most of them know the words to their anthem!

There’s been fireworks going off at 10.45 each night from the park just down the street from us, so we were eager to head out and get a different view of them. We headed to Granville Island, as there is a grassy hill there and it’s within a football field or so of the fireworks.

We actually expected Granville Island to be going nuts, same as downtown was at the time, so we walked down and took the Seabus from Yaletown to the Island rather than getting in the car. Made sense anyhoo, till they charged us $7 each for a return trip… still, can’t begrudge them being out at all hours of the night on the water.

Rocking up to the dock, the vibe was way different. Lots of folks were lined up to get into Atlantic House (a restaurant that the maritime provinces had gotten together to rebrand and kit out with their stuff for promotional means), and there were some randoms wandering around, but it seemed like the party was over. We headed over to the French quarter to see what was happening there, but there was only a smattering of crowd left and a couple of fights waiting to happen. Apparently a French heavy metal band had finished playing a little while beforehand…

Sauntering out of there before my Team Canada jersey got us into trouble, we found a bar and annoyed friends till Fireworks time, headed up the hill and took in the sights. It’s funny, the fireworks have been pretty much exactly the same each night, so you know when the good bits are coming up.

Following the fireworks we headed back into town on the Seabus, and if possible, town had gotten even more nuts. They finish up at Livecity Yaletown after the fireworks, so thousands of folks from there had headed into the centre of the city… we decided to head into the center of town to check it out too, just for shits ‘n’ giggles…

The downtown streets of Granville and Robson were PACKED with people for about 10 city blocks. There was nothing actually happening, no center of attention, folks just felt like they needed to celebrate, particularly seeing as Canada had won some medals that day.

It was pretty funny cruising around town listening to all the different chants by people from all over the world, who have all come to Vancouver for the Olympics. “Olay olay olay” was a popular one, but by far the most wide spread ones were “Oh Canada” and the more intelligent version “Can-Uh-Duh! Can-Uh-Duh! Can-Uh-Duh!”, which almost gives Aussie Aussie Aussie a run for its money.

We left the area well past 12 and there was no sign of it abating… might as well celebrate while you can!

(Good pics courtesy of Aidan Ward, average pics courtesy of my iPhone)

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Hockey: Belarus vs Sweden

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

It’s always best to make sure that when you’re off to an event, you make sure beforehand that you know which venue it’s at. In Vancouver during the Winter Olympics, they’re playing hockey at Canada Hockey Place downtown, which is about 10 blocks from where I live, and they’re also playing it at Thunderbird Stadium, which is out at UBC and about 20 minutes drive from here.

I had tickets to go see Belarus vs Sweden on Friday, checked the schedule online, and saw that it was out at Thunderbird Stadium. Made arrangements to meet Aidan at the Skytrain, got out of work a little late, and shoot up to UBC. Park up right on 12pm, and have a short walk to the Stadium. When we get there, everything is suspiciously quiet… maybe everyone is inside already? Nope. I check my Vancouver 2010 iPhone app (it’s free, so a great deal!) and yep, it’s on downtown. Crap!

Walk back to the car, drive downtown as fast as we can (legally) travel, park up, walk to the security check point, which is actually the same one they’ve been using for BC place, so about 5 blocks from here and still a good walk from the stadium. It’s the end of the first period by this point, and it’s 2-0 Sweden at this stage.

Rock into the security lineup, and there is no lineup. Strange feelings of deja vu… Still, we mosey in, then there are a bunch of blue jacketed volunteers all ushering us through the empty security stalls, we breeze through there, then get to the other side. What now?

“Just wait there and we’ll call the shuttle for you.”

What? Sure!

So we hang out, and sure enough, the “shuttle” comes along… it’s a golf cart!

Short blast down the road later, we’re inside the stadium, in our seats and watching the hockey with the second period just starting. Not too bad considering where we were at the start of the first period!

The atmosphere in the stadium was great. LOTS of Team Canada jerseys (I had my new one on!), so there must have been a majority Canadians there, but everyone got on the bandwagon, particularly when it came to cheering for the underdog – Belarus in this case. Considering that the Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik, who are the current darlings of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team, were playing for Sweden I found this a bit surprising, but hell, everyone goes for the underdogs!

You would never get this in an NHL game!

On the way back, we found out that Vancouver has renamed the Athletes Village in honour of the Boxing Kangaroo flag hung up there. That’s the Athletes Village in the far background, and if the camera was better you’d be able to see the BK flag

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Torah Bright, she’s alright!

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Congrats to Torah Bright for bringing home a gold medal for Australia! Great effort in the half pipe, particularly as it all came down to the final run for her after a stack on her first run.

Good on ya Aussie!

I thought I’d celebrate Torah’s win with a review of the free “cowbell” applications on the Apple app store. I’ve downloaded as many as I could and given them a good shake, and I was going to give them a one by one review… But the majority of them suck.

From one called Greenbell (environmentally friendly iPhone app?) to one sponsored by Bell, a phone provider over here, which is really only slightly funny for the pun, they are all pretty average and you’d feel a right burke waving your phone around on the edge of an Olympic half pipe with one of these apps. So I won’t bother with a review.

The only one that is even vaguely worth it is called “Cowbell!” (imaginative!) which works well enough and would probably get you out of trouble if you should happen to leave your cowbell at home, shock horror!

Congrats again Torah

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Ladies Curling

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Not some sort of match where the local hair salons go up against each other to see who can perm a ladies hair into the best 80′s hairstyle the quickest, Curling is a big winter sport over here and is a sport pursued by many Canadians.

Notice I didn’t say “Played by many Canadians”, as apparently you don’t say that you’re “going to play Curling”, you Curl… or something like that.

We managed to get some tickets to see women’s Curling the other day, which included the Canadian, USA, Japan and other teams, all playing on four separate fields at once. It’s actually quite a good sport to watch, and Nat and I likened it to being somewhere between snooker/pool and lawn bowls. And probably channeling a little “Sadie the Cleaning Lady” while they’re sweeping before the rock.

The aim of the game is to have as many “rocks” (the things you Curl) close to the middle of the “house”. the more you have in the middle, the more points you get. If you have one near the center of the house, then there is an opposing team one next closest, you only get one point. If there’s a couple of yours closest to the house, then the opposing teams, you get two points.

In the Olympic matches they play 10 “ends” or rounds, with each of the 4 person team team pushing two rocks per end, and it’s the one with the most points at the end that wins.

Well, that’s my take on it anyway… feel free to correct me!

As an Olympic event we were expecting a bit of a lineup before getting in. We weren’t too wrong, but it moved reasonably quickly so no harm done:

Once in there it was only a short wait before the games were on! A parade of bagpipers led the teams out. Of you have bagpipers at a Curling match, you’d be mad not to, right?

So basically they scope out the shots, try and get as close to the middle of the house as possible. There’s a spotter down the end with a broom who marks what they think is the best way to go, and there’s usually a degree of backing and forthing if its a more interesting shot.

The person who’s turn it is to chuck the rock then gives it a good old push

Then a couple of the team keep an eye on it on the way down. If they don’t sweep, the rock will turn, or curl. They can apparently curl up to 10 feet in one direction, which is pretty huge. If they sweep the crap away from it in front, smoothing down the ice, it’ll go straighter and further. So if you see them sweeping like mad, they’re probably trying to get more distance/speed out of it.

Here’s a stitched up panorama view of the curling gym from our seats, which were in a really good spot (just click the thumbnail below)

Of course, the day was made much better by two wise cracking, slightly drunk Canadians sitting behind us who knew next to nothing about Curling… “look at the Curl on that one, eh?!”

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Silver!

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

Went up to The Junction pub on Davie st tonight to watch Dale Begg-Smith in the Moguls final with a bunch of other Aussies… What a great atmosphere!

Big crowd cheering on the Aussie as well as all the Canadians, and I managed to get a short video of the reactions of the crows during Dales run and then when he was put in the top spot. Good stuff!

Fireworks went off again tonight down at Livecity Yaletown too. Will have to get down there in the next few nights and check it out up close!

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Fireworks!!

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

We were just hanging out in the apartment, taking things in, writing blog posts, the usual stuff when we heard some shouts and yells and a bunch of bangs outside. Go to the window. Nothing. Back to the couch.

More bangs! Go to the window. Nothing.

Then they start in earnest, and they’re going off just down the street! There’s a thing called Live City in David Lam Park, which is just down on the seawall. It’s great being treated to a 10 minute fireworks show from your own balcony!

Of course, leave it to bloody Aidan to get his elbow in the way…

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Vancouver on the day of the Opening Ceremony

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Man, this city is BUZZING! On the day of the Opening Ceremony (yesterday), the streets were alive… and they still are!

Lots of folks wandering around town in team colours, thousands of tourists, and everyone is in a great mood! Well, almost everyone, but we’ll come to that later…

Aidan and I decided to go for a bit of a walk round town, and downtown was packed! There were lines half way down the block to get into The Bay where they’ve got an Olympic Superstore – all the Olympic branded gear you could ever need. Half the ground floor is taken up with it, but of course the Aussie stuff is up on the 5th floor in a corner and they’ve only got t-shirts because they ordered too late… bastards.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… those Canadians are patriotic. It’s great!

Heading towards BC Place where the Opening Ceremony was due to happen in about  hours, we came across a protest that was Anti-Olympics, and pretty much anything else you can think of that people would be against, there was a sign for. It’s like they were looking for an excuse to pull any old sign out and take it for a walk. We had to move on before my Anti-Anti-Olympics-Tanty took too much hold.

Heading towards home we were stopped by a cop from crossing the road… we hadn’t even jaywalked yet! We then realized that something must be going on as there was a line of bike cops stopping people all the way up Nelson st. We hung out and got the treat to see a bunch of black SUV’s and cops drive past. We think it must have been VP USA, whoever that is…

There was even a sniper hanging out the back of one of the SUV’s…

The Olympic Opening Ceremony was great! Here’s where it was, taken from our apartment balcony

People have been wandering around the streets all day hooping and hollering. It’s so good living downtown at the moment, we can hear everything that’s going on, without even leaving the comfort of our couch!

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2010 Winter Olympics: Ski Jumping

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

One of the first tickets we got for the Olympics was to Ski Jumping yesterday, and it was great!

They were supposed to start at 10am, so to get there we had to catch the Olympic network of buses as there is no public parking at any of the events and you need a permit to drive from Vancouver to Whistler from 6am to 6pm. So to get there at 10am, the 6am bus was in order. 6am?! That meant getting up at 4am. 4AM?!! Ridiculous. The bus hub we were scheduled to head out from is on the North Shore at Lonsdale Quay, and our original intention was to catch the seabus across there. That was quashed a couple of days ago when we checked out the Seabus’ “fantastic extended Olympic hours” and they started at 6.15 am. We actually owe a debt of thanks to a friend of ours, Amy, who agreed to be woken at 4.30am to drive us to the bus station – legend! She even got her first lesson of driving a manual vehicle on the “wrong” side of the road, and had to navigate back by herself in the dark… good work!

Anyhoo, we got there with plenty of time to spare, and the bus trip up was pretty uneventful and dark. Most people caught up on sleep…

Rocking up to the event, there was a bunch of security booths, so we cleared them pretty easily, then it was a 900m walk through the snow up to the course itself, with lots of helpful volunteers in blue jackets to help us on the way.

Rocking in was pretty cool – massive grand stand, and two very big ski jumping courses, a couple of tents for food and amenities, and not much else… just the side of a mountain!

Here’s the view from our seats after the crowds started gathering.We were watching guy on the smaller track.

It’s pretty amazing stuff to watch. Nat likened them to flying squirrels, which is pretty close. They shimmy out on a narrow bar at the top, which is set at a height up the hill by the judges depending on what safe area they think they’ll land on the slope at the bottom, then it’s a combination of distance and style points for their total score.

Then, when ready, they launch themselves off, their skis in two channels, then off the lip and into squirrel formation till they set up for the landing in a telemark formation… something about being a better landing or something…

Once the ski jumping was done, we were back on our bus and back down to Vancouver (about 1.5 hours) in time to prep up for watching the Opening Ceremony!

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