adventure

Last leg…..Canmore, Calgary and Alaska

/ susiecameron / Leave a comment

We LOVED Canmore! What a great little town, only about 25kms from Banff but a world away in charm and authenticity. A town where regular people lived and the sort of town you absolutely love if you like hiking, cycling, water sports and mountains as you are completely immersed within the Rockies and can literally walk from the centre of town in ten different ways and see AMAZING things without having to travel for hours. The weather was perfect with blue skies and sunshine and serendipitously we arrived on Canada Day- July 1st – which meant the town was shut off from traffic, was totally packed with people on every seat and ledge available, on camp chairs, with picnics and beers and everyone was in such good spirits as we waited for the Grand Parade to begin. I certainly didn’t expect it to be anything out of the box, but I was totally wrong! The brass bands alone were fantastic full of banners and twirling batons and wonderful music. I think everyone in town plus the surrounding areas must play a musical instrument as each of the 4 different bands boasted LOADS of people – really impressive. There were also a few floats with First Nations people singing and dancing which we found really stirring – their music is so evocative. The Canadian Mounties proudly rode through town alongside adventure companies, firemen, ski patrols, mountaineering and hiking companies and just about anyone that had a business in the area, and it was such a fun afternoon. We snagged an outside table at one of the pubs and had a birds eye view of the parade whilst enjoying the local fish and a glass of wine – what’s not to love about Canada Day in Canmore!!!!

We had rented a car and a condo in Canmore for three nights and we very quickly felt at home here. It was a 20 minute walk into town or a 2 minute drive and we also had a fabulous Japanese restaurant just around the corner from our place, so it was very relaxing with plenty of places for the MOTH to watch the soccer after a fun morning of walking or rafting. It was so peaceful walking alongside the river, all you could hear was our footsteps and birds and the gentle lapping of the water, all you could see were mountains and trees and it was perfect!

The only reason we weren’t sad about leaving Canmore was because we were heading to Calgary and the home of our Nephew, Adam, and his wife Carla who we hadn’t seen for about 3 years. They had kindly invited us to stay with them for the week of The Stampede and we were looking forward to some family time! Widely known as the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, the stampede is a BIG DEAL in Calgary. I’ve never seen so many people in cowboy hats and boots! It is essentially an annual rodeo, exhibition and festival held every July and it attracts over a million people per year. Organized by thousands of volunteers and supported by civic leaders, the Calgary Stampede has grown into one of the world’s richest rodeos, one of Canada’s largest festivals, and a significant tourist attraction for the city. The Rodeo and chuckwagon racing events are televised across Canada. Calgary’s national and international identity is tied to the event. It is known as the “Stampede City”, carries the informal nickname of “Cowtown”, and the local Canadian Football League team is called the Stampeders. The city takes on a party atmosphere during Stampede: office buildings and storefronts are painted in cowboy themes, residents don Western gear, and events held across the city include hundreds of pancake breakfasts and barbeques and pop up music events (you guessed it – Country!!)

Adam has worked here for 10 years and his company ATCO has been heavily involved with the Stampede for decades. As a result, we were very lucky to snaffle the equivalent of back stage passes for the rodeo. We were accompanied to the Cowboy side of the action and saw them all getting ready and pumping themselves up ahead of tying themselves onto either a bucking horse or a bull. I was pleased to see they do wear protective neck rolls as after years of working for a chiropractor I was deeply concerned for their spines! There were no horrible incidents for either the riders or the animals while we were there, but they do happen and these young men risk a lot for their moment in the sun. Good money can be made on the rodeo circuit but it can all go wrong in an instant…..In between the rodeos there was chuck wagon racing, bareback racing and a myriad of other horse related activities. It was a really hot day for Calgary and the cold beers were in high demand. Despite the heat I had to try Canada’s national dish – poutine. This is a dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with hot gravy and is surprisingly delicious despite looking a bit of a soggy mess! Cam in turn was very keen to try the ribs and brisket that you could smell cooking everywhere! After the obligatory sideshow alley and fairground rides we got out of the heat and ventured indoors to the pavilion where we listened to some country singing and drank rose until it was time for the end of day concert and fireworks. We got home tired but happy after experiencing some real cowboy traditions in a city that reveres it.

The owner of Adam’s company is heavily involved in Equestrian sport and we managed to get a peek into this very all consuming sport when Madison took us to her horse lesson and showed us around the stables. The horses were all gorgeous and hers had SO much personality and was very aware that he was the centre of attention! Adam then took us to Spruce Meadows – another ATCO association and home to a 500 acre equestrian show jumping complex. It also houses a 6000 seat stadium which is home to the Cavalry FC of the Canadian Premier League, The day we were there we watched a very entertaining show jumping Derby and a sheepdog exhibition as well as enjoying delicious oysters at the beautiful Foxtrot restaurant which overlooked the showjumping course – so different and I really loved it. Our last night took the family to Caeser’s restaurant where we had a fabulous farewell meal with the steak chef cooking over a huge cauldron! Such a lovely week catching up with them and reconnecting with the kids. Hope to see them all in Oz at some stage soonish…..

Then we were leaving Canada and were off to Alaska and the last part of our adventure. Things didn’t begin well however. When we were checking in online for our flight we had to provide our address in America where we would be staying so I looked it up online to get the hotel’s address. In big red letters it said “THIS HOTEL IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED” which did not make me feel good. I double checked my booking.com app which still said that my booking was confirmed so Carla and I did a bit of research and found out that it was indeed shut and had been since February! People were turning up with their luggage to find a building site! We tried to phone with no luck so I decided to cancel my booking with booking.com before the money was taken from my credit card. As it was 24 hours before the booking I was told that the entire amount would be taken anyway! I told them the hotel didn’t exist but they merely said they would ask the hotel if they would waive my cancellation fee, I said there is no one there to ask but there was no response! In the meantime we had to find somewhere in Anchorage to stay for 5 nights in peak summer (which only goes for about 6 weeks) when the town is heaving with fishermen and cruise passengers. It ended up being VERY expensive and not downtown where the action was. A nice bland functional suite hotel in mid town was where we landed but I was pleased we had a kitchen at least for my cups of tea (let’s face it you can’t drink coffee in America) and popped next door to Walmart (which was ginormous) to stock up on tea and milk etc. As I returned I asked the girl at reception for a kettle, she looked at me blankly and asked “what is a kettle?” and had to summon her manager. He informed me they had none so I ended up boiling water in a saucepan!!! Crazy at the price they were charging per night! Cammo improved his skillset by learning to make waffles for breakfast so not all was lost!

The one REALLY good thing about where we were staying was the proximity to a fabulous institution – The Moose’s Tooth – a super popular pizza restaurant with its own brewery. It was warm, full of people all chatting and enjoying themselves and when we finally got a seat at the bar we had the BEST pizza I’ve had in a long long time! It was love at first sight for us and they liked our weird accents and friendly nature as we got to know everyone at the bar – commercial pilots, a cruise ship entertainer, a prosthetic salesman and a couple of girls from a town of 60 about a 1.5 hour drive away! If you only had to have ONE restaurant near you this was the one to have! We ended up here 3/5 nights!!!

We landed on a 20 degree day which according to the locals was ‘sweltering’ and we made the most of it by going downtown and catching a trolley tour of Anchorage. Your ticket got you a free drink at the Reindeer Sausage Stand so needless to say my intrepid travel partner had to give it a go! We had a lovely tour of the area in the sunshine which was good because it rained for the next few days! Anchorage is home to the busiest seaplane base – Lake Hood – in the world, handling an average of 190 flights per day! In the winter when the lake freezes over it is still used for ski-equipped planes!

Our main reason for coming to Alaska was to mush the huskies up on the glacier. We had bought our tickets from Australia and booked it for Day 2 in Anchorage to allow time if inclement weather meant postponing it. The day dawned cloudy but fine and we booked a driver to take us the hour to the helicopter base where he would wait while we did our thing and then drop us home. We were all getting into our snowshoes when the staff gathered us around to say unfortunately the wind had come up to a dangerous level and we wouldn’t be able to access the dog camp which was at 5000 feet. The last flight had nearly tipped the helicopter tail rotor in the strong wind and they were closing it for the day. We were gutted as we had been so looking forward to it, but safety has to come first of course. We were offered the choice of a reimbursement, a postponement or an alternative flight over the glacier. As there was no guarantee that the weather would be good on the alternative date and we were already there, we decided to go with the option of The Grand Tour which was made up of three different landings around the glacier and the pilot’s personal favourite as you could pick and choose where to go according to the weather and visibility etc. We were not disappointed! From the minute we took off it was magic, rising up over the landscape below I felt like a bird soaring in the sky. Our pilot Gavin was awesome, he told us a few things but also let us just take it all in. Gentle classical music was piped through our earphones and as we turned the corner and the ice and snow came into view I had to pinch myself. He landed on a flower strewn bank adjacent to free flowing boulders of ice floating in the glacial meltwater. Nature is amazing – the way that land completely encased in ice for 3/4 of the year can give way to a carpet of beautiful flowers given some light and warmth makes me feel that all will be well with the world despite what mankind is managing to screw up.

What looked like a flat surface from above was in reality a very jagged and dangerous terrain. The deep blue crevasses and sharp peaks would be extremely hard to traverse and would take hours to go a very short distance. As the ice travels down the glacier it picks up various minerals and rocks giving it some grey and black tones as well as the blue for which they are famous. Its like a giant abstract painting! Gavin expertly landed on a flattish piece of ice on the glacier as he had spied something from above. It turned out to be a rope bundle that must have dropped from a chopper. After attaching some chains to our shoes, we could get out and walk about without fear of slipping and it was fascinating how diverse the terrain was even within a 50 meter span. Apparently there is a tour where you can kayak here at the right time of year which I think would be totally amazing! We stopped here for about 10 minutes and when we got back in to the chopper and tried to take off the Helicopter landing skids were stuck to the ice! He had to gently wiggle the chopper back and forth until it dislodged and we were off!

He asked if there was anything we would particularly like to see and the MOTH mentioned that we hadn’t seen any moose so far on our trip and Gavin smiled – he had seen a small group that morning and hoped that they were still in the vicinity. We flew over an ice cave which looked like a welcoming shelter until I thought about the weight of the ice shelf on top of it! A few minutes later we dipped over a river bed and there was our very first Moose! Cam was a very happy chappy and I was thrilled to see these animals doing their thing in their natural habitat. Long may it continue….

You feel simultaneously protected and exposed when you are in the front of a helicopter with a glass front. Thanks to Gavins skill as a pilot I felt totally safe but when we landed and watched another helicopter take off, I realised how tiny we were in the scheme ‘of things. This chopper looked like a tiny mosquito within seconds of flying off!!!

Our day had been SO GOOD that in the end we were only mildy sad about not seeing the dogs. We had maximised our options considering the conditions and that was all we could do. The dogs remain on our to do list but most probably in another country now! Back in the car to Anchorage and our day was topped off when we passed a Mummy Moose and her newborn calf right on the side of the road – very special. All in all our day was one of our all time BEST days….

The next day dawned cold and wet and our plans to rent some bikes and cycle the coastal path were cancelled. Luckily Anchorage has a very good Museum which made for a perfect rainy day activity. The most fascinating section was the Arctic Studies Centre which showcased how the first nations people lived and survived on the land here. A mixture of videos where people spoke about how they lived, what they ate and their culture and some exhibitions of the clothes they made and wore and hunting tools etc made for a really good overall look at their life before “civilisation” arrived. Not one part of any animal that they killed went to waste. They ate the meat and the skins/fur were used for clothing along with some particularly creative uses of seal stomach linings and their esophagus!!! The boots seen here were actually made from the throat of a seal and the parka type coat was made from the stomach lining which was weathered outside over winter to go leathery. Then they used grasses to stuff in between the layers they created by stitching panels into the coat – totally ingenious!

There was a substantial modern art exhibition which I enjoyed and they also have The Thomas Planetarium, an immersive space about the wonders of the cosmos which Cam particularly enjoyed. We really are little specs in the scheme of things aren’t we!

All that culture made us hungry and on the recommendation of a local guy we discovered the joys of the Alaskan Burger & Brew. One of the best burgers of the trip despite a few stuffed creatures staring down at us! I must say I love the little baskets of condiments you find in every cafe or restaurant here. Mayo, mustard – at least 2 types – ketchup, chilli sauce, tabasco, salt and pepper. Makes our Aussie offering of a solitary S&P look a bit sad!

Before we knew it our last day arrived and it was time for our mammoth 43 hour journey home. Anchorage – San Francisco – Hong Kong – Sydney with a 5 hour layover in San Fran and 3 hours in HK making up the extra time. In the end it wasn’t too bad, I think we almost ‘out flew’ our time differences as it took so long! In the Anchorage Airport sitting at the bar, eating chowder and watching the last of the World Cup we almost felt like locals as everyone chatted amiably despite our different backgrounds. I must say we met some of the nicest people throughout this trip. It was a pleasant change to be able to speak the same language (almost) and I think both the Canadians and Alaskans have to be some of the friendliest people on the planet! It helps having an obviously different accent as we do not get mistaken for Brits or Yanks and people are always interested to talk to us about Australia. The tipping thing was hard to get used to and we probably underdid it at the beginning as we didn’t really understand what was and wasn’t included but we were fantastic tippers by the end! It was a very different kind of holiday from our usual European sojourn, but we loved every minute of it. Highly recommended.

Back to The Meadow we go……………

Back to Autumn in The Meadow

/ susiecameron / Leave a comment

We flew home, full of bonhomie after our lovely trip – happy to have caught up with so many family and friends and with our cups full! We had 6 weeks to catch up with life in Oz before we packed up again to visit Canada – somewhere neither of us had been. The weeks filled up quickly with some lovely occasions. Our dear friends Dave and Anne threw a “long lunch” for about 100 of their closest friends at The Royal Sydney Golf Club in Rose Bay. It was a magnificent venue to celebrate their wedding on a fabulously sunny Autumn day with delicious food, fab wines and a great band! It was so wonderful to see them both SO happy at this age and stage of life – ain’t love grand!

We are officially in Bird Season. To be more accurate Cockatoo Season. First it was the Corellas – hundreds and hundreds of them. You could hear them from 2 kms away screeching their little hearts out as they flew together in formation looking for their next target! They decided they liked our lane and they descended on every conceivable fence, tree, telegraph pole or electricity wire in sight. They were full of the joys of Spring….in Winter, with 1 in 5 pairs mating at every given chance, rolling around in the middle of the road like a pack of teenagers completely disregarding their safety from oncoming cars and tractors. The result was the odd white body, left in situ in the hope they would learn their lesson………..Now the Sulphur crested Cockies have arrived – less of them but much bigger and noisier than the Corellas and with as much if not more mess from their ravaging of the trees. Our pecan and macadamia trees have been totally stripped – in eleven years we are yet to get one bowl of nuts before the birds arrive. We popped some nets over our mandarin, grapefruit and orange trees to sabotage any attempts they made on our citrus crop and have actually had quite a lot of fruit – a miracle!

There have been a few changes in our High Street in Berry. Some businesses that have been there for 20 years have shut down – people retiring and moving away and some just coming to the end of their popularity. A new ladies clothes shop is a welcome addition and a new small wine bar has become a very popular venue very quickly proving there was a niche in the market for those that don’t always want to go to a pub with their TVs, pokies and snooker tables! There is a venue for everyone and this has become our go to spot for both a larger group (there is a large indoor communal table) and for a cosy drink with the girls outside watching the world go by with braziers and optional blankets for your lap. Nick also owns the locals favourite coffee shop and has an innate knack for knowing what people like. In this instance, choosing the best wines at a reasonable price and providing not meals but frenchified bar snacks, cheese and charcuterie, olives , almonds and soft pretzels – a popular move, My local girls and I made the best of both the newcomers in one evening when the dress shop had its official launch and we followed up with a bottle of red at Le Bar – perfect!


One of my loveliest Sydney friends had a “special” birthday to celebrate and we made it the perfect excuse to get together down in this neck of the woods. My friend Leigh has finally finished her beautiful new house in Kangaroo Valley and was excited to share it with the Sydney gals for an evening of eating, drinking, chatting and giggling! We attempted the worst board game ever and tried silicon face masks that slithered all over the place making us look like melted academy awards! Leigh managed to anchor hers with her specs at least! It was lovely to wake up the next morning with the mist curling around the house, the kangaroos jumping past and the kookaburras singing their hearts out – so very Australian. We drove to Bowral for a spot of shopping and some lunch before bidding the city girls farewell and heading back down the mountain!

To round off our 6 weeks we finally caught up with our little boys who seem to have shot up and got new teeth since we last saw them! They are growing up so fast and we had a lovely time together. We ventured out to watch The Swans play which was fun as we caught public transport – SO much more fun than driving a car! They are finally old enough to sit and actually watch a game (or most of it – lets face it, an AFL game is super long even for an adult!) and we also had a great time at the bowling alley and Timezone. Cooking with Dad at home is always fun – he makes a mean banana cake and licking the beaters is as much fun in 2026 as it was in 1966! They loved their new question and answer book and we had a lovely snuggly start reading it in bed while their Dad made us all pancakes for brekky – heaven!

So here we are 2 sleeps away from getting back on a plane and I am getting quite excited. Our last trip was to places I knew and loved well but this trip is to somewhere NEW, as my sister says – I am going somewhere my feet have never been! It will be an adventure and we’re going to make the most of it. Speak to you soon from The land of maple syrup, grizzly bears, ice hockey and the beautiful Rocky Mountains!

Coolangatta

/ susiecameron / Leave a comment

For those of you that live overseas you probably don’t ever think about Australia being anything other than warm and sunny, but let me assure you we DEFINITELY get a winter here! Not the kind of really low temperatures that the Northern hemisphere gets but it’s all proportionate to what you’re used to right? Also, our houses are not made for the cold weather – they are more about keeping us cool in the long summers – so unless you have reverse cycle air conditioning or preferably a wood burning stove, you are going to feel the chill. I remember when our kids were little and we had a rather cavernous lounge with one tiny gas heater that we would all huddle around, how cold I always felt. We did have a wood fire but it took ages to get going and wood was expensive so it was always more of a treat when we used that. So mostly we tend to heat just one main room and then pop our electric blankets on about half an hour before bedtime so that we can slip into a warm cocoon and fall promptly asleep! The further south people live the harsher the winter and the desire to escape it becomes stronger! Increasingly people in Australia are travelling to escape the cold and whether that is to the northern hemisphere with its promise of European summers languishing on the terraces of Italy amongst potted lemon trees, Aperol spritz in hand, sailing the azure waters of Croatia or heading to Queensland, the perpetually sunny state, to feel the sun on your skin and enjoy an ice cream on the beach, people are attempting to break up the cold weather with a Winter Escape. Nobody feels this more than Tasmanians who endure a decidedly much colder winter than the rest of us (they are the last stop before Antarctica after all) so rather than visiting our Tassie Crew in Hobart we all decided to have a week on the Gold Coast instead!

Its an 11 hour drive from our place to the Gold Coast so we are very lucky that our good friends Wayne and Kathy live in Forster exactly half way up and they very kindly offered to mind Bailey for us while we were up north. They are dog people and miss their lovely old dog Gus, so they were happy to have her and as they live on the beach and walk every day Bailey was also in for a treat – her own little beachside holiday! She was very cosy tucked into her bed on the back seat on the drive up and for once when I waved her off I didn’t feel guilty leaving her behind! We arrived in Coolangatta in time for a beautiful sunset, a glass of wine at the surf club just opposite our apartment and got everything set up for the family just in time for their late evening arrival. There was much excitement when they arrived, exploring all the rooms and checking out our holiday food in the pantry! By the time we woke in the morning watching the little dots of surfers bobbing in the water on the beach opposite we were already feeling relaxed.

Papa is always very sought after when we get together, they just love being with him with his off beat sense of humour (and his many little packets of jelly snakes and smarties!) and it warms my heart when I see them snuggled up with him in bed or on the lounge or hand in hand as they walk along chatting gaily, seemingly without a care in the world. I love seeing the world through the kid’s eyes, their excitement for the simple things and with no idea what sort of world exists outside of their beautiful little bubble. It’s very soothing and we absolutely love being part of their childhood holiday memories.

Loz and Berry have some friends that lived about 15 minutes away rfom our apartment and their little girl was 3 so they quickly became a little girl gang and as her Dad was an avid surfer he lent Loz a surfboard to enjoy for a morning. It was great to see her introducing the girls to the surf and seeing them all hand in hand jumping over the waves. Myla was determined to ride a wave into shore and she gave it a good go! Loz managed to show them how it was done standing up on the waves long enough for the girls to be impressed!!

It wasn’t all about the beach though, we enjoyed some long walks, an afternoon of barefoot bowling and a visit from our Nephew and family who live further up the coast. It was great to see them and for them to reconnect with Loz and the girls and for us to see our great Nephew growing up into such a nice young man. The girls were mesmerised by a bag of Polly Pockets that I had saved of Laurens from when she was a little girl and happily played for ages with them, buying us some nice adult time – win win!!

Part of the fun of holidays is eating out and obviously the surf clubs are the easiest option around here but we did get a bit over their rather humdrum menus and found family friendly restaurants a bit slim on the ground too. The girls however just thought dinner time was the best thing – getting dressed up and walking to dinner, having different food from normal and if they were lucky an icecream to enjoy on the walk home. Once they were in bed, drinks and card games were the order of the day for the adults and of course our favourite – the quiz from The Australian newspaper which we always do when we get together! The boys had their sport to watch, the girls had their books to read and it was a lovely restful week. Nothing beats reconnecting in a neutral place where no one feels they have to be on duty, worrying about menus or laundry or entertaining people – a break is ALWAYS a good idea!

So our last day came around rather too quickly for our liking, we were just getting into the groove when it was time to pack up and go. They had time before their plane to visit the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary which finished off their little holiday perfectly and they took off back to Hobart, reality and WINTER! A few more memories in the bank though and we loved it. Apparently the strongest memories of childhood come from the odd week of holidays taken between the ages of 5 and 12 so I’m hoping we will live on in their memories long after we are gone….

Cam and I were lucky though as we got to prolong our holiday feeling by driving back to Forster for a few nights. Baz swims in the ocean every morning with a group of people and it was so lovely to walk Bailey along the beach watching the pods of dolphins swimming oh so close to them and then enjoying a coffee and bacon and egg roll on the beach once they finished. The beach life is certainly appealing. Daily walks, lovely dinners , a couple of catch ups with local friends at the One Mile Surf Club and reading our books in the afternoon sun made for a relaxing few days before we could no longer delay our return to The Meadow. To be honest I wasn’t sure about returning to reality after such a wonderful 6 weeks of various holidays – what a lucky girl I am!