Calgary

After almost 2 weeks of sorting out crap we can almost call Calgary home (for a year at least). Thankfully the rental market in Calgary is not as crazy as in Sydney and finding an apartment, sorry condominium, was a breeze. I think in the end we got quite lucky and got quite a good deal. The settling in process has been made a lot easier by the fact that the place is fully furnished. Aleisha managed to pick up a sweet job in downtown working at an optometrist. Best of all its Mon-Fri 9-5 (the pay is also pretty good) meaning we have every weekend free for adventures.

Our condo - check out the gas fire, no more slumming it like a poor student.

Our front yard covered in a fresh dump of snow (BBQ included),

The Bow river is just a stone throws away. Of course as it is -20 at the moment the river is kinda frozen over and as Uni is up a hill I cant skate to work.

Some people from Sydney might not know what this is but in Calgary they are called cycle paths. Apparently Calgary has ~700 km of them.

The snow here isnt that wet crud you get back in NZ or Oz its real snow.

Tasmania

I know this blog entry is out of chronological order, deal with it. About a month ago when the temperatures were touching 40 C in Sydney Aleisha and I were in the lovely temperate climate of Tasmania. The trip was a mix of tramping and road tripping through the northern part of the island. We spent 3 easy days tramping in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park. I guess 2 of the days were easy, it was heaving down with rain on the last day and I some how managed to get a leech stuck in my eye (sorry no photos). Apart from my close encounter with a leech it was a nice trip.

The Walls

Camp day 1: No sleeping in puddles tonight.

Artistic attempt

This photo needs a little explaining. Walking into the Walls National park we came across an old trappers hut. Outside was a hollow tree trunk with what I though was a old possums tail nailed to it. It turned out that the possum was very much alive, he just like to sleep there (he was still fast asleep when we came back 2 days later).

One of the truly great features of Tasmania is the wildlife, we manage to see; Wombats, Tiger Snakes, Echidnas, White Lipped Whip Snakes and lots of leeches.

Canada

The blog has been a little neglected of late as we have been preparing for our big move. Thankfully the waiting is now over and we have finally arrived in Calgary. The weather gods were kind as it was snowing and only a mild -10 C. Our Macpac down jackets have finally been tested and seem to prevent frostbite. More updates will follow when we finally get an appartment and internet.