Monday, February 18, 2008

Canada - Update 3

Sue: the last few days in Canada .....

As I was having a leisurely day at home on Friday Matt had a stack on his snowboard and hurt his shoulder. Nothing too serious, i.e. it's not broken or dislocated. It's pretty sore though. Given that a man's really only useful for carrying heavy things (like suitcases) his usefulness has rather diminished ... just as well he's so cute. Seriously though, it's getting better by the day (except when I ask him to do things).
So Saturday Matt and I didn't board/ski - my knees were still hurtin'. We did get up to the mountain (mainly to return Matt's stuff) and we also managed to catch a bit of an aerial competition at Apex. Those crazy kids certainly get some air!!

Saturday night we went to Bobby and Brant's for dinner (a family that have adopted Dave and Lisa since they arrived in Kaledan). They must be very lonely ... te, he! They've got a great house on the lake that they've designed themselves. It's like walking into Mexico. Very cool. They made us salmon for dinner which was BBQed on a cedar plank. We had a great night. Some pics below:
  • Brant and Bobby preparing salmon on cedar plank
  • Dave and Lisa
  • Matt and Louise (Dave's daughter)
  • Dale (dude that Dave used to work with) and Kaye
  • Brant (in a cowboy hat that he swapped ... i think he came off worst).
  • Few drinks in their lounge room




Sunday we woke to 5 deer outside our bedroom window (see below). We left after brekkie to head back to Vancouver. Thankfully, the roads were a LOT better this time ... no snow!!

Sitting in the airport lounge at Vancouver now waiting for our flight to London. Do I have to get a job yet?!?!?
Sue and Matt

Friday, February 15, 2008

Canada - Update 2

Sue: We've been to two ice hockey games since we've arrived in Kaledan. Fantastic! Have always wanted to go to a game. We watched the local team, the Penticton Vees. They're an amateur team who are looking to get picked for NHS. I knew it was rough ... but geez. Couldn't believe when the first fight happened and the players stopped playing, the umpires stood by and watched, the substitutes in the box started smacking the top of their hockey sticks on the ground and the crowd was cheering for blood. And the players are on average 17 years old. They only stop the fight when one of the players hits the ice. And here I thought the Canadians were a friendly lot?!?


Matt had his first lesson of snowboarding yesterday ... would have liked to have stayed and watched but I had my own skiing lesson. By the end of the lesson he was doing pretty well. (Check out his bunny tail in pic 2).




And ..... drum roll please .... I can now get off the chairlift without stacking it. Something I was wondering if I was ever going to master. Had another lesson in the afternoon with Pamela (who has permanent frost bite in her toes but still skis ... 'cos it's my life'). Am finalling learning how to take some speed off in those downhills so i'm no longer hurtling down the hill pretending i'm doing it on purpose. The other lady in the class, Rosemary, always wanted me to go first down the hill in case I took her out. Ye of little faith. I couldn't believe how slow she went down the steep bits. Something I wanted to half-master ... otherwise it would take me all day to get down one run.

I've stayed back at the house today with Louise (Dave's daughter). My knees have decided that they don't like skiing anymore and are telling me loudly. Was so nice to sleep in. Only one more skiing opportunity tomorrow before we drive back to Vancouver on Sunday and then head to London on Monday for our new life. Can't say I'm real keen to get a job!! We're currently staying with Lisa and Dave (both retired) and their friends Dale and Kaye (both retired). Both couples spend their time doing 'whatever they bloody want'. Where do I sign up? Unfortunately we might run out of money a bit too soon .... ho hum.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Canada - Update 1

Sue: Hi all,

Well we finally made it to Canada after a little delay leaving Australia. Suffice to say Matt's charming ways on the phone with the lady at the British Consulate sped things up rather nicely and his entry clearance for the UK was approved within hours.

Our flight with Air Canada was pretty good (didn't end up with 'c-ankles' at the other end from sitting for too long). Matt had a good few hours sleep after dinner (and a few french wines), but I didn't sleep much at all. Hmmm ... thought with our fancy business class seats I'd sleep like a baby. We both expected a bit more from business class (like some spunky hosties to rub our feet) but was still heaps better than cattle class.

First stop in Vancouver was to see my friend Bec Coughlin. Went to a bar/cafe for lunch and quick catch up before we set off on our 5 hour drive to Kaledan. Neither of us expected there to be so much snow on the roads on our way. Probably not the smartest thing to do after a 14 hour flight, but we made it in one piece. (Don't worry parents, we're driving back the day before our flight to London next week!!)

We're staying with Matt's friends Lisa and Dave from Australia who are living in this massive house with room to sleep 16 people (pictures below). When we arrived we were promptly provided beers and red wine before a dip in the hot tub. How cool is that? Apparently Kaleden had just entered a warm patch so the whole place wasn't covered in snow. Think it was about zero at night but about 3 or 4 degrees during the day. We both had a great sleep after all our travelling.



No rest for the wicked, the next day we hit the slopes at Apex (I literally hit the slopes a lot more times than Matt). After a lesson for me in the morning - where I was a model student and thought I was pretty good at this skiing caper - Dave took me up onto a green (aka easy run). After stacking it coming off the chairlift (something I've done every time since) I discovered that the green run was not quite so easy. Reckon i fell about 15 times. Boy is it hard getting up!! Just as well Dave is a big guy as he helped me up cos I was so unco. He got his exercise for the day!! Second run was a lot better (still stacked it off the chairlift. The last run to the village was a bit steeper and I was petrified and exhausted. Apparently every time I fell over (supposedly like a bag of sh*t) on this run I didn't move ... I was shattered. Funny in retrospect but definitely not at the time. I ended up taking my skis off about 300m from the end and walking back. Could barely walk up the stairs to bed that night, again quite funny to watch apparently!!!




Day 2 was much better for me. Matt went down a black run called 'wildside'. Apparently he spent most of the time on his butt (ah hah .... at least all the jokes were going to be about him at dinner tonight).




The next day was a rest day as we drove to Revelstoke (apparently the new 'it' mountain in Canada with heaps of powder). Also gave my aching muscles a chance to recover. So after purchasing our sport whistles on the way (just in case we got stuck in powder and couldn't get out and needed help) .... I wondered what in the hell I'd agreed to.



Revelstoke has soooo much snow. Some of the houses have snow up to their roof lines (with a small footpath carved out to the door). Amazing! It's picture perfect.





We've just arrived back from our first day skiing and it was much easier than I expected. I had my lesson with Jean-Phillipe from Quebec (yes he was young and cute .... no point trying to impress when you look like a robot on skis) and Matt had a lesson with Simone. The green run was heaps easier and, even better, no chairlift (someone heard my prayers!!!) We rode a gondala to the top. Jean Phillipe thought I was a lot better than I really was and decided we'd switch to a blue run half way through .... after stacking it about 8 times he wisely decided to switch back to the green run. At least the great thing about stacking it here is that you don't hurt yourself cos the snow is so soft.


We have another day of skiing tomorrow before we head back to Kaledan for, you guessed it, more skiing.

Hope everyone is well and happy. Will provide a new update when we get a chance.