14.01.06

Christmas/Alberta/Whistler

Posted in Canada, Sport at 9:54 pm by AB

Hello Everyone… Well it’s been a while since i have written anything. I am sorry to have kept everyone waiting, but the last few weeks since Christmas have been pretty hectic. So this will be a long one to bring you all up to date… This may take a while though as i am sitting here and the Canucks game is about to start on TV so it might be slow going.

Christmas:

Christmas Eve i was invited around to my housemates father’s for drinks and eats. It was a very interesting night. Meagan’s dad is Irish and certainly put on a great spread of drinks and food. The Ham that Meagan’s dad had done was delicious and i think i managed to eat half a pig myself. It was good to have some great Leg Ham on Christmas Eve as is is a tradition in the Broughton household to open the Leg Ham on Christmas Eve. I spent most of the night talking hurling and football to Meagan’s Father and Irish mate. After a few to many beers Meagan and I headed back to the house.

I woke up Christmas Morning to a house by myself. I cooked myself some bacon and eggs and opened my gifts from back home. It was a weird feeling to have a house all to myself on Christmas Day. I had been invited out to my housemate Laura’s family for Christmas Dinner so i had the morning to myself to relax and also to make my contribution to the christmas feast. I had to provide an appertiser. So a few days before Christmas the emergency email went out for the recipe of the famous Stakelum Hot Mushroom and Bacon dip that I have enjoyed every Christmas for several years. It wouldn’t have been Christmas without it. By this time it was time to head out to the Christmas Dinner. I caught the bus out to dinner and had an enjoyable night with Laura’s family. It was the full Christmas dinner with roast turkey stuffing and all the trimmings. The dip i made went down a treat which is always good.

Boxing Day I had to work, it was a busy day compared to the previous week. Just goes to show that boxing day sales are the same all around the world. The day was just crazy but that was ok as the day disappeared quickly and at 7pm Karen was arriving for her holiday. A colleague from the store, Natali, gave me a lift out to the airport to pick up Karen. It was good to see Karen and that night we didn’t do much as Karen had spend 30 hours traveling from Canberra to Vancouver. And on the 28th we were to fly out early for Calgary so we took it easy.

Alberta:

Karen and I had planned a trip through Alberta, the next province over from British Columbia, while she was here. So on the 28th we flew from Vancouver into Calgary. We flew over the top of the Rockies which we were to visit a few days later, and i was amazed just how flat it was on the other side of the rockies. Calgary has the reputation of being a cowboy town, dating from the time in history when it was a bit of a Western town before the discovery of natural resources sped the town’s development. When we got out of the Airport we were surrounded by paddocks and horses and it was certainly looking the part.

On the first day we spend some time shopping in Calgary. I bought myself some Cowboy boots. You can’t go to Calgary and not get some Cowboy boots. Later in the Holidays i added the Hat as well but that was not until we got to Edmonton.

Calgary was a nice city, smaller than Vancouver but I actually liked the city centre of Calgary a lot better than Vancouver. It had a nice mall area which was lined with shops and bars and restaurants. Also the buildings in the city were all linked by overhead walkways which tended to be full of retail areas. It would make getting around the city when it was cold nice and easy. It had reached a high of 3 degrees that day in Calgary. But at least the Sun was up. It was a big change from Vancouver which had been Grey and rainy for quite a while. It was nice to see some sun.

That night we took in a game of Hockey. We were rather fortunate that the Vancouver Giants were in town that night to play the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL. So i had packed my Giants Jersey and we headed off to the Saddledome. The stadium in Calgary as it’s name suggests is shaped like a saddle. We had tickets right down by the ice right behind the Giants Bench. Karen was hoping to see a fight that the game of hockey is famous for. I had only been to one Giants game that didn’t have a fight, the young guys are not quite there mentally yet. Karen did not have to wait long. As soon as the puck had dropped to start the game there was a fight. Must have been a carry over from the previous time the teams played. Part of the fun of being a visiting team fan is when your team is winning. The Giants went on to win 3-0, which was good and there was not to much trouble. Although Karen was worried when the third score was scored and i was stirring up the crowd.

The next day we went to the Calgary Olympic Park where they held the 1988 Winter Olympics, where they had the Ski Jump, Bobsleigh and Luge. It’s also where they filmed the movie Cool Runnings. The Ski jump tower is a long way up. There is also a few small ski runs there which were being used by a lot of people on the day we were there. You can also do Luge or Skeleton and on some days do a Bobsleigh run down the ice track. It was an interesting place to see the other side of Olympic Sports. They also had an interesting olympics museum. Canada of course is also getting excited about the Winter Olympics in February in Turin, Italy.

I really liked Calgary and am keen to get back in July for the Stampede. It’s a huge rodeo type festival that runs for 10 days.

Then we headed to Banff. Banff is a town at the Southern end of the Canadian rockies. Around Banff is three medium (by Nth American standards) skis hills. So Banff is another Canadian town full of young Australians working, living and skiing. While we were in Banff it was New Years. It wasn’t a huge night for Karen and myself as most places in Banff were booked out or wanted a ridiculous cover charge. But at midnight as we rang in the new year in the relatively mild temperature of minus 7 the majority of revelers in the street seemed to have Australian Accents. While we were also in Banff we took a guided tour/walk to a place called Grotto Canyon. During summer the Canyon is dry, but in Winter the canyon transforms to be ice wall to wall and thick. You walk over the top of this river of ice after putting special cleats on the bottom of your shoes.

Karen could have done with them after we finished the walk too as anywhere that was slightly icy around town or whatever seemed to bring Karen undone, and she spent a lot of time picking herself up from the ground during the travels. In the afternoon we caught the Banff Gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain to get some good views of Banff and surround areas of the rockies.

The next day we drove to Jasper along a road called the Icefields Parkway. First we stopped to look at Lake Louise where the Fairmont Lake Louise is. The huge lake freezes over and they have skating on the lake. Then after a quick look it was on to Japer. The road along there is amazing. It is in a valley between two big ranges. The views were amazing and the mountains were huge. Karen was a little disappointed that it hadn’t snowed as the weather remained warm and sunny. However | wasn’t to worried as there was enough ice and snow lying on the road as it was. So Driving was definitely interesting, but not to bad it you took it easy. At the beginning of the road from Lake Louise to Jasper was the road conditions sign. The current conditions were rated poor only one step above Closed.

Jasper is about 260km north of Banff, but the drive took most of the day as we stopped a few times along the way. We stopped at the Columbia Icefield for a look at the Athabasca Glacier and Falls, at the Sunwapta Pass where waters run to the Atlantic from the Southern side and to the Arctic from the Northern side.

Jasper was a lot quieter then Banff, due to only having one nearby ski field. It certainly seemed to be more of a Summer town. A lot of the amenities in the National Parks (Banff and Jasper) were closed in Winter. So one day we spent the afternoon skating on the pond at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and the next day we took the opportunity to do some skiing at Marmot Basin. Karen hadn’t skied much before so she took a private lesson and played on the lower slopes during the day while i skied further up the hill. That was a good way to spend a day although the snow wasn’t great.

From Jasper we headed to Edmonton. We didn’t actually head to downtown Edmonton, instead spending two nights out in West Edmonton by the West Edmonton mall which is (or was) the largest in the world. It has an indoor theme park, ice rink, several mini golf courses, kids zone, seal show area, shops and of course the part that excited me the most was the indoor waterpark. I think Karen was excited as the water park meant i had to have something that resembled a shower. A whole day was spend sliding around the waterpark.

After the two nights in West Edmonton we flew back to Vancouver.

Vancouver/Whistler

Back in Vancouver we went to a Canucks game on the Saturday night, which was a great game with Vancouver coming back to defeat Calgary in Overtime after tying the game with only 30 seconds left to play in one of the best games this season. It was also the first time Vancouver had beaten either of the two teams from Alberta this year in the ninth game against either Calgary or Edmonton.

On the Monday and Tuesday we headed to Whistler for two days of skiing with Karl, Leah, Amy and Molly. We all headed up to do some skiing and also so Karen could check out Whistler Village. As we neared Whistler the rain that had been with us from the time we left Vancouver turned to Snow. Karen was excited as she finally got to see it snowing after Alberta denied us any snow for the 9 days we were there. It was snowing in the Village and word got out that they had had 30cm overnight up the mountains. So everyone was pretty excited. Especially Karl who realised how much there was when he heard the explosives being used in the Alpine Areas to cause avalanches to reduce the risk. As a consequence some of the high areas were closed most of the day as they undertook there work. However there was still plenty of powder around. It was all new for me to ski in powder like that, so it was a fun learning experience and i was amazed how much work it was to ski in snow like that.

Karen had headed off for a full day group lesson, and at the end of the day we all met back up in the village. Karl, Leah and I were all really pumped after the days skiing. When Karen got back down on the Gondola we asked how her day had been to which she replied that it had been boring. It turns out that she had been in a group being taught by Eric, from Taiwan who could hardly speak English, had hardly said anything to her all lesson, and worst of all they had spend 5 hours on the beginners conveyor belt. They hadn’t even ridden a chairlift. Karen wasn’t to fussed by all this but i was pretty annoyed that she learnt more in a one hour private lesson in Jasper than a whole day in the group lesson, and that they had not even got on a chairlift. So despite Karen trying to convince me not to, i went into the ski school and complained. They ended up giving Karen the next day for free and Karen got an English speaking instructor, and they actually rode the chairlift, so she had a much better day the next day. So too did the rest of us after another 11cm of fresh snow fell over night.

The next few days were spend in Vancouver with Karen and i having a look around on the Wednesday, at a few things i hadn’t been to before including the Vancouver Police Museum, which is located in the old Coroners Court, Morgue and Autopsy building. We also went to Storyeum which is the history of British Columbia told in a series of live acted scenes. It was kind of cool in an Artsy way.

The owners of the store are currently in Hawaii having a vacation. So i am house sitting for them. They have quite a nice place in a very beautiful area of Vancouver. They have a great view of the city over the bay and onto the mountains behind North Vancouver. We had stayed the two nights in between Alberta and Whistler. Wednesday night after the store’s weekly run clinic (of which i have graduated from leading the run/walk group to leading the 9:30/mile pace group) we had been to the pub and returned to the house about 11pm. Upon opening the door i could here a weird noise and went down to the basement to explore. I looked in the crawl space which is like a half floor between the basement and main floor to see that a water pipe had burst and there was water going everywhere. I quickly called Todd who lives a few blocks away and told him there was water leaking in the crawl space and he came over and just about shite himself when he saw the water. The pipe that had burst was the main pipe coming in from the city. It was before the household shut off valve, which meant we had to shut it off outside. In Canada (as i found out) the pipes are a fair way below ground to prevent them freezing, so the tap was about a meter and a half below the ground. You of course need a special tool to turn it off. Luckily the next door neighbour was a carpenter or something as he rigged a device to turn it off. Luckily it looked like it had only just ruptured as there was enough water to cover half the crawl space, (about the size of a standard room). There a lot of stuff stored there that Karen was trying to move to drier ground, while we worked out how to turn it off. A few days later the water has been restored so i am back house sitting. That was certainly an adventure.

Last night I took Karen to see one more Hockey game. We saw the Giants play the Medicine Hat Tigers. Karl and Family also took the opportunity to see one more game.

This morning Karen’s time had come to an end and she headed from Canada to her next stop New Zealand to meet some of her girlfriends for just over a week on the South Island to go some hiking. The three weeks went buy way to fast.

Also today Karl Heiden and Family (Leah, Amy and Molly) have headed back to Canberra, through Hawaii, so there time in Canada is also done. Hard to believe that i have almost done 6 months myself.

I have started to put some photos on line from the trip through Alberta. Keep an eye out as they go online…

Cheers All…

AB

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