Squamish

A final sign off from Canada....We are homeward bound after a wonderful 6 weeks away together. After a great weekend in Whistler, we spent the final 4 days of our trip in Squamish with our Bay of Plenty friends Alice and Shane (with Evie and Cooper) and Amy and Dave (with Rosie, Conor and Tessa).

Unfortunately our period of golden weather finally broke and we had our first days of rain. This didn't stop the tamariki from having an amazing time - riding, exploring in the forest and lake, pancake breakfasts, roasting marshmallows and playing endless Polly Pocket. We also had such a lovely time, with lots of catching up and group rides.

Kate and I loved riding together ...... but had to work for it, caring for 7 kids in return! The Squamish trails were superb and we rode each day. In honour of our newly born nephew Rupert we rode a trail of the same name - it was one of our favourite rides of the trip! Beautiful forest, lots of roots and rock slabs.

In other exciting news, we managed to pull off a house purchase while out of the country!  We are the proud owners of 6 Fairley Rd, Rotorua - previously owned by our good friends Simon and Lucy. A two minute bike ride from the Redwoods (NZ's mountain biking Mecca) it is a very exciting prospect given the current bike riding buzz we are all on! This purchase completes our trifecta of long distance/attending no open home house purchases!  We have both secured consultant jobs for the end of next year. Kate in Rotorua hospital ED and me as a Rural Hospital specialist in Taupo Hospital (half time, I will commute the one hour drive).

offer accepted!

No, we didn't find the Purple skunk, we didn't even see a black and white one! But the search has been amazing...and its a good excuse to have to come back again!
But for now, back to winter in Christchurch....

Banff and Jasper

I am writing tonight from Whistler. Babes asleep, drinking a local brew and eating chips. Kate tired but happy after a marathon drive and four hours riding....more about that later.

The drive through the Rockies was breathtaking and awesome.  We have not really been able to capture their magnificence with photos as everything is so huge! Our geologist family members would be in heaven.

We drove firstly through to beautiful Banff and spent the afternoon walking and soaking in yet more hot pools. Banff is pretty touristy and a quick stop was enough for us.

Frida ran most of the way! 

We found a secluded spot near the river for dinner

From there we went through to infamous Lake Louise. We visited at 8pm to avoid the squillions of camera wielding, RV driving sight seers....not willing to admit we are one of them!

We camped nearby and enjoyed a family bike ride along the Bow river the following morning. Crazy to think this water flows all the way to Hudson bay!

We then set out to drive the 260km long Icefields Parkway. This incredible road runs between Lake Louise and Jasper beneath towering mountains and 27 glaciers - the vistas were stunning!

We spotted many big horn sheep teetering on sheer cliffs. We also spotted seven black bears, quietly grazing, oblivious to the hordes surrounding and photographing them.  Kate and I really can't work out whether to be afraid of these dandelion munching creatures??

 Frida was not quite so captured by the other-worldly scenery....at one stage, fed up with the driving, we encouraged her to look out the window and enjoy her surrounds. She replied dramatically "All I can see is rocks and trees and road!" Fair enough!  She did enjoy the walks though, and seeing the waterfalls.

The highlight of the day for me was walking up to the toe to of the Athabasca Glacier with fresh falling snow and two very cold but excited kids. It was also the highlight of Frida's day.....because we all shared a block of chocolate!

Running races in the snowfall

The glacier trip ended in a smashing finale with me not closing a cupboard properly.  This amateur RV mistake combined with a rough road resulted in lots of crockery flying though the vehicle and shattering into a million pieces!

"Break and chip resistant!" Yeah right 

We spent the following day in Jasper riding, swimming and library visiting before we starting out on our 740km journey from Jasper to Whistler. The kids were AMAZING and we managed to knock off 600km in one go, only punctuated by Juliet filling her car seat with poo and nearly running out of petrol.....
We then pushed on through to Whistler. Another stunning series of mountains and vistas and here we are.....enjoying some gravity assisted riding.  Chair lift up and then down,down,down.  We have been lusting after this type of riding lately.

The kids have also had a dreamy day of water play, sandpits, imaginary games and drawing. As a result of mostly only having each other as playmates over the past 5 weeks, their friendship has blossomed.  We are very excited about meeting up with our Kiwi friends in Squamish in a few days.