Lunch at Lonsdale

This afternoon, I met-up with Elizabeth and Lisa. We went out for lunch at Lonsdale Quay.

Elizabeth met Lisa when she was in Los Angeles earlier this year. Turns out Lisa has been living in Vancouver for awhile, so Elizabeth made sure to plan something with her when they got back. The first mission was to get Lisa to try Pavlova! "That was really good!" she said after finishing her dessert. :) While we were eating, I noticed this warship docked at a pier! I wanted to check it out. The name of the ship is "HMNZS Te Kaha". It sounded Maori to me. The ship is from New Zealand! We got a shot with the SH-2G Seasprite Helicopter! They've got a pretty big flight deck on this frigate. The helicopter is the ship's main offensive weapon. It can carry Maverick Anti-Ship Missiles, Anti-Submarine Torpedoes, Depth Charges, and a .50 Calibre Machine Gun! "All hands, BATTLESTATIONS!!!" Each ANZAC Frigate has one of these helicopters onboard. Ring that bell, Lisa! Looks like they workout in the hanger. Time to check out the lower decks. I went down the ladder like Admiral Kirk in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan". Lisa posing with some of the crew... Seems like Lisa is a sucker for a man in uniform.

I am too! LOL! A shot of the funnels and the communication antennas... Once we got on the bridge, we took our stations. This is when we all transformed into little brats and became shit disturbers! "There, that distortion. See it?" Lisa took the helm. Then she touched one of the throttles and an alarm went off! LOL! "Switch all power to front deflector screens. Switch all power to front deflector screens." What I didn't know was that the microphone was on and the rest of the ship could hear me from downstairs! LOL! There's the crewman making sure it's off now as I took control of the helm. "Turning her 90 degrees starboard to face the enemy... Ready the WAVE MOTION GUN!!!" We all felt sorry for this guy. He had to deal with us acting like a bunch of kids on the bridge! This must have been the third crew member checking-up on him if everything was all right. "No, no... There's no problem here. They're just having a little fun. Everything's under control here," he told the officer. Time to do some deejaying in the Captain's Chair. And now for some "Missile Command" action! Elizabeth shot some video of us fooling around on the ship, but lost all of it when her computer crashed as she was downloading them. We were totally having fun on this ship! "Girls, chart our next course." Apparently, the name means 'fighting prowess' or 'strength' in Maori. This is how Elizabeth goes down. Poor Lisa, she had to go down slowly because she's been nursing a fractured left arm for the past few days. "What?!? You're charging a $1.00 a copy?!?" I performed a haka with this guy! It was my turn to get a photo with the female crew members! The posed shot... "Bring in the anchors, girls!" I don't condone war, but I must admit I totally admire the machinery. It looked like Lisa's head got stuck, but no. "FIRE!!!" I crack myself up. You're looking at the "Te Kaha's" 5 Inch, 54 Calibre, Fully Automatic Gun. It can fire 20 rounds per minute, and can hit targets 25 kilometres away! One last shot before we disembark. What an awesome afternoon! I think I can speak for everyone when I say we had a fun lunch.