Vancouver - Fiji - Melbourne November 2025

 

 

Day 1/ 50

Today is Day 1/50 days of travel to other side of the world and back.

My flight to Vancouver wasn’t until 1:30 in the afternoon, but my free Uber could only bring me at 9 AM so I have a few quality hours to spend in the airport.

Whilst to my wife, son and friends, Rick and Michelle attend a Fancey buffet event at the Palliser Hotel, I am resigned to some less than stellar breakfast at the airport lounge lol.

I was extremely fortunate to bump into a former colleague from our Lady of Peace school travelling back to Hamilton after having been in Calgary all weekend for her mom’s birthday. We had a great visit for half an hour before she departed.

3 hours chillin in the Aspire lounge adding info to my itinerary and off on a twin propeller Dash 8 to Abbotsford. No wifi. No chargers. First world problems. lol

Best Uber driver ever - my brudder - picked me up and off to New Westminster for a couple beers and a visit.

Another awesome Uber driver - my sister in law Mia drove us to the Skytrain where we rode 30 minutes downtown and proceeded to sit in the second row from the glass in the corner to watch the Calgary Flames

Crush the Vancouver Canucks 5-2! Outstanding!

Train ride home and in bed by 11 as it was a very long day but a fantastic start to the journey!

Day 2/50

Woke up way too early and after toast and a coffee, I headed south with the dog Django! A beautiful sunrise and no rain but very cool as you could see your breath the entire time.

We stopped to visit many city workers, seniors in senior centres and tried to catch more than 5 squirrels. Down to the waterfront, west for half an hour, then north and after 2 hours and 10 k, Django and I needed a rest. Rain started once we got home so perfect timing.

Bite to eat and into the car for a ride 75 minutes East past Maple Ridge for lunch at a golf course followed by observing hundreds of eagles feasting on dead salmon just off the Fraser River. Fascinating!

30 booster charge at Superstore for our electric car and home for lasagna and depends pizza.

Watched my nephew Lucas play drums to Some Serious Jazz for 20 minutes then we played a few country tunes with Darren on acoustic and vocals, Patrick on lead/bass and Lucas the rhythm section.

Amazing!!!

Off to bed at 1030 after a long fulfilling day of adventures!

Day 3/50

Up even earlier as Patrick went to work at 6. Toast and coffee and out the door with Django for another 10k walk in the opposite direction. We passed hundreds of school kids off to school. Lots of Stopping to let kids and others pet Django. Down to the River Market and around the piers before a ton of elevation to get home.

A few hours of Black

Friday shopping and off to

The airport. 3 hour ATA meeting while checking bags, getting boarding pass and breezing through 200 people in the security line right to the front with my Nexus card. Phew.

Couple hours in the premium lounge having supper and snacks while

Watching the poor Oilers lose badly to the Dallas

Stars.

Boarded the plane with 300+ guests and took off before 9pm. Supper served about 1030pm and lights out at 1130 until 7am.

3 hours to go meant turn on the lights and have breakfast.

We had lost Wednesday November 26th in the air and jumped straight from Nov 25 evening to 530am Thursday November 27.

As we descended through thick cloud banks and still dark night sky, we eventually got to see the sunrise to the East as we landed at Nadi airport in Fiji! Let day 4 begin!!

Day 4/50 - Fiji!

This is the first time I’ve travelled internationally without my wife, family or friends in my entire life.

Not having a really detailed itinerary for the first time ever is a bit freeing, but also frustrating, as I travel to all these magnificent places with incredible culture and people but don’t have the special people In my life to make memories with.

Thankfully, being the highly extroverted person I am, I have met fantastic people and made all sorts of new friends from around the globe even though I’ve only been in the country 12 hours.

Upon landing at the airport at 530am, I grabbed a cabbie to drive me 20 minutes to my hotel on the ocean - Aquarius on the Beach - a ‘quaint’ boutique hotel with a whopping 11 rooms - 3 on the main floor near the front desk and restaurant and 8 upstairs.

A lady ten years my younger was dropping off her bags to be watched as we couldn’t check in to our rooms for another 8 hours.

She was definitely Canadian and the desk clerk said she was from Moorthop. I said - do you mean Mayerthorpe Alberta? Sure enough - she was close to home from me.

I conveniently sat myself down at the table next to her outdoors in the restaurant and struck up a conversation.

I only really know one person from Mayerthorpe - Tammy Gabriel married to my cousin Kevin for 30 years.

Would you believe her husband is first cousins with her and they live on their Grandmothers’ land.

SMALL FREAKIN WORLD OR WHAT!!

And this is why Darren strikes up conversations with strangers all the time (driving his wife/children insane). It’s always a small

world when Darren is involved. Pleasure to meet you Dayna Johnson from Mayerthorpe!

After 4 cups of coffee, I attempted to take my wife’s advice.

‘You got a flight for $500 to go to Fiji/Australia before we meet in NZ, start the first two days off and relax. Sit on the damn beach - read an entire book - watch and listen to the waves - and just slow the F down for the first time in your bloody life…. ‘

Okay dear.

Grabbed a book. Read half of it. Drifted off. Woke up with a partial sunburn as I suck at putting on sunscreen without a ‘helper’.

Ok - I’m bored.

I just spent 16 hours sitting at airports/plane. I need to

move.

5km walk down the beach and ended up at a motorbike rental shop.

$500 for a Harley for the day!! My wife makes lots of money. LETS GO!!

Wait - the speed limit is only 60km around the whole island? Well that’s not going to work. I mean - I don’t want my wife to get my entire pension 6 months after I started getting it - and she does have me insured for a couple million after I bought my Harley.

Nope.

I won’t give her the satisfaction.

I am however - going to rent - the WICKED 150 CC POWERHOUSE OF A SCOOTER!!!

FIRE RED AND BUILT FOR SPEED - I SET A COURSE FOR A 250 KM JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH PART OF THE ISLAND AND OFF WE WENT! And by we - I mean Me, Myself and I - the three of us.

Stay on the left - stay on the left - Stay on the Left!

CRAP!!! ROUNDABOUT!!

THINK! DON’T DIE. THINK. DON’T DIE! SUCCESS!!!

30 minutes of successfully navigating getting out of the city of Nadi, past hundreds of department stores and buildings that looked 50 years old, I hit the open highway and managed to achieve a top speed of 60 km/hr! We were cooking with gas now!

If only there were places to pull over and take some photos but I was on a tight timeline to get to the southern tip of the island and back again before the tropical storm arrived.

Every single blink was a postcard and the hilly /borderline mountainous terrain was absolutely amazing as the highway weaved and wound around as I headed south.

avoiding numerous horses and cows, I managed to make it to Natadola Bay Golf Course and Semi-Private beaches.

Parked the bike. Went for a swim. Tried to relax and let the world slow down a bit.

Met some more folks from around the world.

Storm approaching. Back in the Bike. 2 hour rip back to the city.

Stopped in at McDs. Mostly to check prices and menu items. HAPPY MEAL $8!!’ Nope. 50 cent ice cream. Perfect.

I stayed and just people watched for 30 minutes.

The Fijian people are so beautiful. The most incredible smiles. Just absolutely remarkable. I bet I visited with 25 of them today in all my travels. Ridiculously beautiful children everywhere. Smiling ALL THE TIME! Over a hundred people waved at me on my scooter driving through the countryside. I BEEPED my horn and they smiled even bigger. I can’t even begin to share the amount of joy I was a part of today.

Overwhelming.

15 more minutes home. Grabbed a small bottle of wine and beer for the next two evenings and after a much needed shower, walked the beach with an ice cold beer and watched the sun set.

Huge plate of Garlic Shrimp, veggies and rice for $10 across the street. Just wow.

One more full day in Fiji tomorrow. Eager for more adventures. God is great and I am blessed far more than I deserve. 

Day 5/50

The day started at 6am when the kitchen on the other side of my hotel room, decided to start moving pots and pans around. So up I get. I wander out to the pool and snag a kayak and head out on the ocean while it’s super calm and the wind hasn’t come up. Paddled around a bunch of boats and watch the sunrise.

Brought the kayak back and had a nice big breakfast and 4 cups of coffee because why not.

By 7:45 AM I was down the highway on my scooter headed for the north part of the island.

So was every other commuter headed to work. 

I don’t think they have invented catalytic converters in Fiji because following all the big trucks made me quite ‘exhausted’ if you catch my drift.

Once I got through the first two big city towns, I put some miles behind me.

The number of people hitchhiking down the road or waiting for buses who relying on foot traffic and public transportation was exponential and let me tell you for some strange reason they think anyone on a motorbike or a scooter is royalty. I waved my arm back-and-forth as so many people today. I cannot even lift it. Every time I beat my silly horn, the largest smiles on the planet irrupt off of small children, and their parents taking them to school or wherever. Driving under the huge tree canopies was remarkable.

Urban centres in Fiji are about 20 years behind American culture but the small towns are probably 50 years behind. The number of high school kids driving 70s and 80s vehicles with awesome rims and fins on them took me back in time.

Driving along the ocean absolutely never gets old and it was hard not to look briefly now and again without dieing but driving inland following large Transport trucks gets old fast. I was headed north to a recommended resort called Golden Point.

About 30 minutes beforehand, I was considering turning around and calling it a day, but I’m no quitter so I powered through and it was absolutely worth it.

I climbed some serious elevation, and when I arrived, I had the most incredible views. I toured the property for a while and then stood at a bar table near the pond where the waitress told me I could feed the fish with my leftovers and of course it was amazing!

Back on the bike and headed south as I needed to be back at the rental shop by four.

Stopped for gas and filled up and eventually ran into Friday rush-hour traffic.

Made a snack downtown and stop at Jack’s to buy some shirts and socks on a ridiculous deal at 60% off. Rolled into the rental shop at 3:45 PM., dropped off the bike and walked 15 minutes home to my hotel with a quick stop to pick up a couple cold beer, which I inhaled long before I made it to my lobby.

Into the ocean for a one hour swim and cool down, watch the sunset dip into the ocean with my Alberta friend who found me on the beach. Had a delicious fish supper at the hotel restaurant

So many things would’ve been amazing to try had Krista been here. Day cruise out to the islands where Castaway and Survivor are filmed, snorkelling with purple sea turtles and giant manta rays, half day garden mud bath places, river tubing adventure, horseback riding on the beach , cool cat cafés , waterfall

tours, absolute top-notch resorts wrapping around the island, i’ve got a seven day itinerary for the future already planned (if I live that long but I wouldn’t live long if I did any of these things without her… )

Thank you, Fiji, for 48 hours of awesomeness and I hope God willing I have a chance to get back in this lifetime and bring my girl next time.