As some of you may know, I’m away travelling for a few weeks. I’ve stopped in Canada last week for a few days with my sister on my way to see my family in New Zealand. While I’ve been taking photos on my new mobile I don’t have a means to get them on my mum’s pc, but I wanted to share a few images & thoughts with you.

I was delighted to walk around Stanley Park in Vancouver and see Sitka Spruce in its natural home -along with furry black squirrels and just up from my sister’s apartment, I did a double take when I saw a skunk trying to cross the road! Stanley Park is a large forest on the shore of Vancouver’s harbour – in fact Vancouver is partly a city in a forest. The forest is very large; I was astounded to hear that several hundred people sleep ‘rough’ there every night.

I wished I could have explored Canada further away from the city though; as I was flying out I could see that major rivers are used to float timber out of their forests. By coincidence, I read the teen best-selling book ‘Twilight’ on the plane out, the film of the book is shot in forests in this part of the world, so I’m posting a few images from the movie here. The books/movie are great – wish I knew a vampire who could lift me effortlessly to the tops of trees, imagine the shots one could take!

PS: I’m in New Zealand now, and hoping this weekend to go above the canopy of a native forest a few hours away from home near Taupo, they have a forest tower there. I’m a bit wimpy on heights, but will keep you posted- however may not make the forest as a pacific cyclone is due this weekend so might end up in hot pools instead 😉

PPS – thanks to those who nominated my site for the 09 Irish Blog Awards Arts Category and congrats to those who got shortlisted – delighted to see some ArtLinks Bloggers have made it to the finals! Go Darragh Doyle & Devious Theatre!