Oh! Canada!

Happy birthday, Canada, and thanks for all the fun. For such a big country with so much to offer travellers, it surprises me that Canada has such a low profile compared with other, less obvious places, like Turkey and Vietnam. I'm guilty too of not really rating it myself as a must-go destination, despite having been there a time or two previous to this last visit - and, now I come to think of it, actually being half Canadian myself. I tend to forget about that.

But it's a brilliant place! So easy to get to from Auckland, they speak (and spell) proper English, the people are friendly and nice, it's clean and tidy, and safer than most countries (in Vancouver, when a gun goes off, that means it's 9pm); and the food is wonderful. I can't stop thinking about the perfect, soft/crispy, delicately flavoured honey-glazed doughnut I had at Deep Cove in Vancouver, and the maple-iced one that I didn't; and the incomparable colour, texture and flavour of wild-caught BC salmon vs the soft, pallid farmed version we have here; and that glorious, fabulous meal we had at araxi in Whistler; and the honey lager; and the ice wine.

And then, of course, there's the scenery. We have mountains too, and glaciers, and rock-flour tinted lakes, and waterfalls. But Canada's are so much bigger! And, when you're thinking about degrees of spectacularity, that matters. Then, too, there's the wildlife - you just can't beat a bear for putting a bit of fizz into your day.

So I reckon you should go there and see for yourself. And this is all from having sampled just BC and a bit of Alberta. Wait till next year, when I've been to Quebec and Nova Scotia!