Scooby is legally Albertan!

The past week has been another learning curve where we discovered the difference between a BC car and a Albertan car – apparently a lot.

Within 90 days of arriving in Alberta a person must change their drivers license to an Alberta license by sacrificing their original one in a not-so-romantic ceremony, apply for a form to arrange a car inspection. Yes, you apply for the form to permit you to get your car checked. Then you get your car checked and if it passes you have 14 days to pay for an Alberta registration and ta-da!! You are now legally driving in Alberta.

Scooby of course passed with flying colours and survived this process while I made friends with the girls working in the Canmore Registry Office with my extensive visits!

You didn’t think I was out playing amongst the mountains the whole time did you?

From the Coast to Canmore

With a week until his job started, we decided to drive back to Victoria in a single day to tell our very nice landlord that we were very sorry but we were not going to be staying like originally thought.

Nine hours later we arrived back at our little apartment in Oak Bay, exhausted and drained from the trip. We informed our landlord of the sudden change and Lewis’ job offer and she wished us well.

The very next day, we packed up what little belongings we had accumulated in our time in Oak Bay - a green whistle kettle that Lewis will never part with and a vintage bike for me – and after a delicious dinner with our North Saanich friends we began our journey back to Canmore.

In a matter of days we had completely flipped our semi-planned life and landed feet first amongst the mountains of Canmore.  Thankfully, upon our return we loved it even more than we remembered and knew we had made the right decision.

Within a week of arriving back and staying in two rather shmeh hotels, we had found an apartment in the Three Sisters area, a lovely little area based at the base of, you guessed it, the Three Sisters! They are three prominent mountain peaks that can be seen from anywhere in Canmore.

On our first night in the unfurnished apartment we camped on yoga mats in front of the fireplace and thought it would be a novelty. That was until Lewis wouldn’t hush about his back and ‘how it was so much more uncomfortable than camping’. This admittance was worth it actually as it means I may be able to postpone camping a little while longer!

And so here we are. In a top floor, west-facing, two-bedroom apartment with an amenities building that includes an indoor and outdoor hot tub, steam room, pool tables, bar and very well equipped gym.  Find an apartment: Tick!

Casper the friendly Cougar?

On our drive to Jasper, I think we just about tested Scooby’s abilities to the limit. The roads were horrific with potholes every few meters and then after about three hours of driving the introduction of snow was thrown into the mix.

I honestly think we lost track of time as I cannot remember how long the drive actually took us, I just remember it was looooong.

By the time we arrived in the village of Jasper it was very quiet and few people were out on the streets. However it was so quaint and peaceful with the mountains surrounding us we absolutely loved it. Lewis in particular was in awe as this was the Canada he had read about and wanted to experience. The wonderful, never-ending, gigantic mountains!

We stayed at the Pocahontas Cabins on the outskirts of Jasper National Park, which were a delightful little cluster of wooden cabins with cozy fireplaces.

The best part about staying at these cabins was the phenomenal karaoke alarm. This ‘alarm’ would go off at about 7am every morning, regardless of whether we wanted it or not, and came in the form of four young girls under the age of ten singing at the top of their lungs a collection of Miley Cyrus and Carly Rae Jepson songs. One morning they even treated us to Jon Bon Jovi – livin on a prayer. Yaowza!

Other than our delightful wake-up call quartet, we loved Jasper and spotted even more wildlife.

When driving along the main road into the village we spotted two wolves on the other side of the road. We pulled over, keeping our distance and began taking photographs, and when one looked directly at Lewis he (very calmly and in no way yelped) “That’s it, we’re off” and proceeded to accelerate away, leaving the rather large wolf wondering what had just happened.

However, the slightly more daunting feeling of “that can eat me” was yet to happen.

It was after dinner one evening we decided to go a walk up behind our cabin and see where the road would take us. It might help to explain that Lewis, in his wisdom, has signed up for a quadrathlon with his bestie and needs to run every day and thought this road would be ideal for a morning jog. Pah!!

Anyway, realizing we better head back before dusk, we proceeded to return to our cabin only after 30 minutes of walking along this road. It was here, retracing our own steps that we came across some rather large and extremely new paw prints in the snow leading across the path. I cannot describe to you the nauseous, pins-and-needles, where-is-the-bloody-big-cat-hiding feeling that encompassed my body.

Lewis on the other hand thought that this was a great photo opportunity to compare hand sizes. Suffice to say I took the photo thanks to my very persuasive other-half.

Very calmly and slowly, so as not to tempt the great cat predator into chasing us, we walked back to the chalet and locked the door and didn’t leave again until the next morning where we practically ran to the car and locked its doors behind us.

And that is the story about how I do not care to see a cougar in the flesh…. ever.

The Adventure Begins

A mere 5 days after moving into the apartment in Oak Bay, we decided that now would be the best time to set off on a road trip to discover more of Canada.

Before jobs, before commitments, before our money runs out. 

With our first destination decided, we caught the 7am ferry to Tsawwassen, Vancouver, and started heading to Hope – a location we believed to be a significant distance away. At 10.30am, we arrived in Hope. Not so far away and not so much to do.

“Hmmm… I think we should just keep driving.”

“Ahm, yes.”

And off we began on our road trip, not knowing where we were actually intending to go.

Always having an affinity to warm weather and summer it came as no surprise to Lewis that I chose to follow signs to Summerland. Just past Peachland. I am not joking, these places actually exist. They are lovely and you expect pixies to live there.

We drove up to a hotel (I honestly think it was the only one we saw) and checked in. We ended up in a Junior Suite at Summerland Waterfront Resort and Spa with stunning views over the lake and a bottle of wine to welcome us. All for a fraction of what we had budgeted for.

During our two-day stint in the land of summer (which was still a tad chilly), we visited SumacRidge Estate Winery, walked up Giant’s Head Mountain and pondered around their little town. It was delightful.

From there we drove to Kelowna, a place my Dad had been swooning about before we left Scotland. It was his location of choice if he moved back to Canada and I can (slightly) see why. It hugs the side of a beautiful lake, with cute cowboy and western style buildings that you feel Clint Eastwood may appear out of at any time. For some reason though we were not entirely taken with it and decided after a couple of days to jump back in our faithful Scooby and begin what seemed like a never ending drive to Jasper.

The countdown has begun...

The countdown is most certainly on!

Four weeks today and Lewis and I are returning to the land of adventure, snow, grizzly bears and cougars! We are so excited!

We cannot help but look ahead at the prospect of all the unknown possibilities in Canada, however everything we have to do from now until then is a little bit more overwhelming.

As mentioned in our little blurb we have begun selling things. My climbing shoes, uni books, guitars, sound systems and anything else we feel may be worth a little buck or two. Turns out there isn't that much, particularly when I feel charities are so much more worthy to donate items towards.

Insurance has mind-boggled me today as we have been told we need Health Insurance for the first 3 months we are in Canada and insurance to cover any travel costs. I had a 48 hour mind-block and believed we needed to buy both Travel and Health Insurance (which was definitely not cheap)...yet  low and behold we do not. Or at least that is what I now think and I have talked myself round in circles. At this point in time it is not difficult.

World Nomads insurance seems to be the best for exactly what we want to do, and to make life easier we can add skiing on if and when we wish to adventure into the snowy wilderness!

Now, what did I do with all that packing enthusiasm I had earlier....

Vrooming Through Vancouver

Holy cow it has been a crazy few months!! I guess the fun and the surprises are just beginning!

Towards the end of November, Lew and I set out on the very first jet-set of our adventures. We flew into Vancouver for a long weekend... from London...
It is safe to say the flight was almost as long as our stay but my goodness it was worth it!

We landed in the chilly land of maple syrup and maple leaves and just about fell in love (as was hoped) from the get go. From the waterfall to the jellyfish floating past us in the airport we were welcomed by all - even the immigration officers who we had been told to fear.

Hop, skip and a sky train later we arrived in Downtown Vancouver. Oooft. Hello big glass buildings and Gucci store! We tottered for ten minutes and arrived on the doorstep of our hotel - The Empire Landmark Hotel and we were in luck, as we got a gorgeous balcony room on the 32nd floor with stunning views over Stanley Park and the west coast.

Over the three short, but glorious sunshine days, we managed to cram a lot in and tried our hardest not to let jetlag set in- although I did attempt to get Lew to have meaningful conversations at 4.30 in the morning with me as I was failing to keep jetlag at bay. Seems his sleep talking is really coming on leaps and bounds as he doesn't remember a thing about it.

Downtown is fantastic and we strolled around Stanley Park while there was a half marathon going on. We were thrilled with how sporty and outgoing everyone was, we cannot wait to get super fit and take to their lifestyle!

Of course we did the tourist thing and did a lovely hop-on hop-off tour with the Vancouver Trolley Company with two of the funniest guys we have heard. Not only did they tell us some fascinating details about the history of Vancouver we also got an insight into the hilarious gossip we may become interested in.

As with all trips they are over too quickly, but we can be very thankful that this was just a little teaser session... we are returning in February for the first 5 month stint.

I am so excited, I know Lew is too, but I am almost bursting with anticipation and cannot wait to just get up and go.

In the meantime we must sort health insurance, pack our belongings, give old stuff to charity, cancel direct debits, set up Canadian bank accounts, buy a car, apply for an international driving permit, sort flights..... and the list goes on.

But my goodness, am I raring to go.