Granville Markets & Shopping

Sunday 14th January

Today I fell in love with Vancouver that little bit more.
When I walked outside, there was sunshine! I couldn’t believe it. This whole time I’ve been here the sky has been grey and gloomy with low cloud hanging around and a continuous drizzle.

On Sunday I had signed up for one of the organised Day Trips that the hostel organised and today it was a visit to Granville Island!
To get there, we could take either a short boat ride over or walk along the bridge for half an hour or so onto the island.
As it was a nice day, we opted to walk across, however the blue sky quickly turned to grey when we got to the bridge – there was so much fog!! I felt sorry for all the people living in high-rise apartments buildings as you literally couldn’t see anything outside your window.

When we got to Granville Island, our Hostel Tour Guide told us a little bit about the island.
Apparently Vancouver was called Granville until it was renamed in 1886, but the former name was kept and given to Granville Street (which is on a small inlet called False Creek). The Island was once an industrial manufacturing area, but now it’s a great tourism hotspot full of entertainment, shopping and food.
The thing I loved most about Granville was definitely the food. And my god was there a lot of it. We had about 45 minutes to explore the markets and it’s by far one of (if not the best) markets I have ever been to.

As soon as you walk in, on your right there’s a market selling fresh flowers, up ahead you’ve got a guy selling like 10 different flavours of popcorn, there’s fresh juice, pizza slices, freshly baked muffins, hot-dogs, free-range meat and even freshly made pasta that you can choose along with home-made sauces to accompany.
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I ended up deciding on the Lemon muffin and popped it in my bag to take home for later.
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I was walking with Bella (the German girl) as we stopped at another bakery-type market stall where she got a pie and I bought one of those cheese twist things to snack on.

Then I had to get myself a freshly squeezed juice of course and a slice of Pizza as I saw too many people with them so had to get one as well!
I was tempted to get one of those classic German Sausages but I’m not really a fan of pork so decided to pass this time. Maybe next time! (as there will definitely be a next time)

After 45 minutes, we all met outside at our agreed meeting spot and listened to one of the buskers sing while we finished eating our delicious findings!

Our tour leader took us around Granville Island to have a look at what else it had to offer. We had a look at the House Boats on Sea Village and also took some pictures from the top of a small Hill haha!
I can’t imagine you’d have too much privacy living in the houseboats on Granville, but it’s pretty cool that most of them are two-storeys high which is quite unusual for house boats.
Looking out towards the Vancouver city skyline, you couldn’t see too much because of the fog but I did my best in taking a few pictures 🙂

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Once everyone had taken a few pictures, we had the option of either staying to explore on our own or to head back to the hostel with the guide.
Me and the girls decided to stay a bit longer and had a walk around the big Kids Store they had.
I would have loved this if I was younger!
The store is literally made for kids (they even have a smaller door for kids to enter through). There’s a playground inside (kind of like a mini Chipmunks with the foam rolly things) and there’s even a hairdresser for kids! So cute.

 

When we’d all had enough looking around, we headed back to the hostel for the afternoon.
I was in desperate need of a sit down as my feet were killing me – too small shoes 😦
However, I really needed to buy a Winter hat as I was off to Whistler the next day.
I went to a cheap clothing store a a couple of stores down from the hostel but none of the hats suited me so I branched out a bit further (yes my feet were still crazy sore and blistering) and went to The Bay a couple of more blocks down.
This is the same place I went for my $40 umbrella haha so I knew a hat wasn’t going to be cheap.
I found one with the softest ball on top and tried it on. It’s from a Canadian brand called Pajar who make like Winter Boots and clothes. It did cost a pretty penny but it’s worth it for my cold little ears!

The rest of the night was spent down at the Beaver Bar again for drinks and nibbles with the girls.
I was sooo tired though, so I didn’t last long down there before going back to my dorm room for a read of my book before going to sleep.

I’m currently writing this post a couple of days later and I’m off to dinner now so I’ll leave you all with some more pretty wee pictures I took at the Markets 🙂

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Castaway Resort – Rarotonga

Stayed: February 2017, 5 Nights
Room: 2 Bedroom Deluxe Suite
Overall Rating: 8/10

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Although it’s not right on Muri Beach where all the more popular resorts are located, Castaway is a hidden little gem located on the western side of Rarotonga.
This resort is known for it’s helpful staff and friendly owners. Whatever you want to do or wherever you want to go, they’ll point you in the right direction with a smile on their face.

The resort is home to a decent sized pool, a bar located next to the water on beautiful white sand and a yummy little restaurant.
I’ll be honest, there is no spa and it’s not super glamorous in terms of beach bureaus located on top of glistening clear waters but it’s defiantly somewhere I would stay again if I just want a holiday to Rarotonga with my family or a nice little break away.

As there were four of us staying in Rarotonga, we where looking at either two rooms next to each other or a nice two bedroom place which we could all enjoy.
When I was booking my accommodation, I was e-mailing the owner of Castaway Resort, Michelle, and she suggested that we get one of their two bedroom suites for our stay.

I was pleasantly surprised with how big the suite was when we arrived!
Two big bedrooms right next door to each other with two bathrooms as well so we never had to share.
One bedroom was the ‘master bedroom’ and had an en-suite, small closet and a chest of drawers with a mirror.
The second bedroom was a bit smaller and had a queen bed along with a single bed (I’m assuming for families with kids) and their bathroom was just across the hall way.

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My boyfriend and I got the Master Bedroom while our friends shared the smaller one.
We all found them to be very comfortable, the only problem our friends had was they didn’t have an air-con unit in their room like we did so they had to leave their door open at night to cool down from the one in the lounge.

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As we’d never been to Rarotonga before, we found the staff to be very helpful in providing us with information and advice on things to do and places to eat. I feel weird even calling them ‘staff’ because the ladies in reception where the most chilled-out, friendly bunch that it just felt like you where staying with friends.

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As we went in the low-season, the resort was pretty quiet (as in we were sometimes the only people in the pool) so it was never over-crowded or very noisy.
The only noise we had was from the room next door to ours on the first night – a group of lads had flown in and drunk lots on their flight so where having a bit of a party. The owners had no problem sorting them out the next day however to ensure that everyone else at the resort had a pleasant and relaxed stay without being kept up all night.

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In the peak season from April – October, I can imagine the themed dinner nights that Castaway provides have lots of people attending. Every night they have something different for their meals, Monday night may be Pasta, Wednesdays may be Mexican and Sundays may be a BBQ night.
We attended the BBQ night on the beach and there was a really great turn-out from people at the resort and other holiday makers from the area (as you can eat at the restaurant even if you’re not a guest)
The food was a buffet of meats, salads and rolls along with some yummy ice-cream and banana cake for dessert after wards.
And if you get hungry during the day, the Beach Bar also have a range of little nibbles you can order such as spring rolls, calamari rings, chicken nuggets and french fries for an afternoon snack in the peak season.

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Pro’s

  • Decent sized rooms
  • Adults only
  • Lovely people who work there, always kind enough to book us activities or recommend things to do
  • Great price
  • Very clean
  • Free local phone calls from your room – great to book dinners etc.
  • BBQ’s available for personal use down near the pool so you can save money on eating out
  • If you don’t feel like the free continental breakfast – you can order pancakes, eggs or french toast off the menu for something a bit different
  • Always felt safe, eg; the rooms had a fire extinguisher, torch and a safe to put your valuables
  • Beach Bar
  • Private Beach
  • Amazing sunset right on the beach
  • Snorkeling gear available for free
  • Easy free parking across the road for guests
  • Themed dinner nights right on the beach
  • A Happy Hour
  • Bus stop literally right outside the resort
  • Bonfires on selected nights on the beach
  • Towels available for swimming
  • Large decks for the Deluxe Suites
  • Proper hair driers in the bathroom – not those small ‘hotel’ ones you always get
  • All rooms have a little kitchen with fridge, sink,  microwave etc…
  • Can book massages & nail services through Reception for an ‘in-room treatment’
  • Little Library at the reception where you can trade in your book for one of the ones available
  • Pool with sun-loungers
  • 10 minute drive from the airport

Con’s

  • No unlimited Wi-Fi (however you can buy a Bluesky SIM card for around $50 for more data)
  • The beach is swim-able but not the nicest in Rarotonga
  • Steps going up to the two bed-room suites. Not really a Con, but wouldn’t be suitable for wheelchairs
  • TV’s only have 1 channel
  • About a 20 minute drive to Muri Beach but if you have a car/scooter it’s not too big of a deal.
  • In the low-season, the bar/restaurant isn’t open until a bit later

If you’re planning on going to Rarotonga on a budget and want to stay somewhere friendly, clean and spacious I’d defiantly recommend Castaway Beach Villas.
Overall, I really enjoyed my stay here (even if it did rain like crazy for the last couple of days haha!)

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Rarotonga Day 2 (Feb 2017)

We made it in time for breakfast this morning!
It was the usual fruit, cereal and toast ( 2 pieces of Vegemite toast for me please) before the three of us went to the reception to inquire about activities in Rarotonga.

We liked the look of this Village tour and Water Dancing Dinner so booked that through the resort for Tuesday night before trying on some snorkeling gear the resort provided to take with us to Muri Beach.
It had rained the night before and it was still a little bit cloudy in the morning but that soon passed before the sun was out and shining at a lovely 27°

While Kerri and Glen where getting ready, Nathan quickly taught me how to ride the scooter as I’d never done so before. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be but I defiantly wouldn’t be prepared for the streets of Thailand.
I can go in a straight line and speed up all good but I’m pretty bad when it comes to taking off smoothly. I ended up leaving the scooter duties up to Nathan on the way to Muri beach as I didn’t think I would do very well with him on the back of me.
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We had asked at reception before we left and was told the best place nearby for snorkeling was at Muri Beach across from a shop called ‘Fruits of Rarotonga’. On the way we stopped off at the supermarket for some more water and I came across the biggest piece of Kumara I’d ever seen! (It’s also called a Sweet Potato for you overseas readers) I’m the biggest Kumara lover so this was amazing for me haha.
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Once I’d made Nathan take a photo of me with a vegetable, we found the snorkeling location about 15 minutes drive up the road. We parked up our scooters, grabbed our towels and all our snorkeling gear then found a nice spot under some palm tree’s to set up for the day.

I was pretty keen to get under the water so I was in there straight away. Annoyingly though, my goggles kept fogging up (even after doing the whole spit your saliva into them trick) so I wasn’t under the water for very long before having to come back up again. The water however was wonderful, Rarotonga is surrounded by a nice lagoon so it’s really easy to snorkel and swim in without being pounded by waves or murky water.

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Nathan joined me in the water soon after I’d gone in and we swum around the coral reefs for a bit and took picture and videos on the GoPro. Not without injuring ourselves though, Nathan scratched his hand and I got a graze on my knee from the reef. Thankfully I had some prescription cream I brought with me to put on them that afternoon to keep them from getting infected.

We where in the water for around an hour before getting out and laying our towels out on the sand.
The clouds had formed a bit and it wasn’t as sunny as it was before so I didn’t put any sunscreen on. We where under a palm tree anyways so I assumed I would be protected from getting burnt. Turns out I was wrong and I went to bed that night with the worst sunburn! – but more on that later.
Being the typical tourists that we are, we took some more pictures on the beach and also being typical girls we then complained about how gross we looked while the boys rolled their eyes at us.
Now that I’m uploading them however, we brushed up quite well!
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As it was Sunday, many places where shut in Rarotonga so we went back to the resort for lunch. If you read my previous post, you’d remember we ordered about 3 massive pizza’s the night before that we couldn’t get through, so we re-heated them up for lunch instead and ate them while sitting next to the pool.
The bar at the resort wasn’t open, so Nathan collected our bottles of Vodka & Bourbon from our room and we took them downstairs so we could drink them while we swum. He was our own personal bartender for the afternoon!

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The next few hours where spent drinking, swimming, lying down with a book and more drinking.
Around 5pm, it begun to get close to dinner time so Kerri & I headed upstairs to make ourselves presentable for the BBQ dinner the resort was providing.
This was when I realized how bloody sunburnt I was! The whole back of my legs where turning bright red and it hurt to touch. It’s crazy how it takes a little while for a sunburn to actually show instead of right away 😦

Thankfully Glen had some aloe vera from when he got sunburnt the previous day, so I put that on my legs to cool them down a bit.
Just before we headed downstairs for dinner, we all took some Vodka shots and as I had been drinking for most of the afternoon, I started to feel a little giggly when we got to dinner.
We where told in the morning from the restaurant staff that the BBQ was on the resort’s beach so Nathan and I walked ahead of Kerri and Glen to the beach where we where then told that we had to go back to the restaurant to get the food.
We turned back and told Kerri and Glen that the food was inside (as they hadn’t made it to the beach yet) so we all went in and loaded up our plates with the BBQ buffet. Suddenly, Kerri and Glen take a seat inside (where no one was by the way) and so I assumed in my fuzzy little state that they wanted to sit inside instead of out on the beach with everyone else.
Finally, after we’d all eaten and had dessert, Kerri said something like “I feel bad, like we’re the only ones who turned up for the BBQ and the chefs like made all this food”
Me and Nathan looked at each other and were like “Oh what – no, everyone else is on the beach having dinner”
Kerri looked at me in shock – “WHAT! We thought you said the BBQ was inside!?”
Me – “Yeah, the food is inside but everyone else is sitting at tables on the beach while they listen to live music”
Kerri and Glen couldn’t believe it. They assumed no one had turned up for the BBQ apart from us and a couple of other people they saw who came into the restaurant – who actually just came in to fill up their plates then head back outside.
They couldn’t believe we didn’t tell them everyone was outside!
Me and Nathan honestly assumed they just wanted to sit inside and eat hahahaha.
We all got up then and headed outside to the beach but by this stage the music had finished, everyone had finished eating and there where just a couple of tables of people left. Woops!

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It’s funny because I was GoPro-ing us going to the buffet dinner and I’ve watched the video back and there’s even footage of me going to head outside with my plate of food and then seeing the others sit down at a table and saying to myself “Oh, guess we’re sitting inside then”

Oh well – just a mis-communication.
Even though we missed the sunset and the music, we still enjoyed our meals and defiantly got our $40 worth of food haha.