nature

Hello Canada! 1st leg….Vancouver to Jasper…

/ susiecameron / Leave a comment

We arrived weary at nearly midnight to our not so palatial accommodation. Situated on a 6 lane highway in midtown it was all we could manage to get in a city packed full of tourists here for the FIFA World Cup. Our tour was starting the next day but there was no room at that particular inn, so we found ourselves unlocking door number 255 at the 2400 Motel instead! My travel partner was unimpressed so we set off early the next morning to look for some breakfast. Another setback when it soon became obvious that the only thing open within cooeee was Maccas! Things soon improved though once we took a cab downtown and checked in to the beautiful Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. A beautiful room and in a great location for exploring the waterfront, Granville Island and Stanley Park. We had two full days to ourselves before the start of our adventure through the Rocky Mountains.

The weather was beautiful, the city was pumping with people from all over the world, united in their love for soccer and giving the place a true party atmosphere. Flags and football colours were everywhere, complete strangers bonded over lunch in their matching shirts and it reminded me of Sydney in 2000 when we hosted The Olympics. There were pop up venues to watch the games, some ticketed, some free, and all the pubs and restaurants were overflowing and of course showing the games…..the MOTH was for once in the right place at the right time to see a major sporting event! Australians are VERY used to having to get up at an obscene hour to see games live so this was a real treat. For him. Not so much for me. We compromised and found a way he could watch 1-2 games a day (or part thereof) without spoiling our time together exploring – probably the reason we have stayed married for over 40 years!

We caught a little ferry across to Granville Island with its huge public indoor market. It was packed with beautiful colourful fruits and veggies, the freshest fish straight from the ocean and a mouthwatering array of bread warm from the oven. There are boutiques and local artisans and artists showing their wares and plenty of places to sit and eat and watch the world go by. They have their own brewery and it is a vibrant and interesting place to spend a morning. We ventured down to the sea wall and checked out all the seaplanes taking off for their joyrides around the harbour. We went to Gastown and saw the old Steam Clock with it’s charming Victorian design and marking the time with a steam whistle every 15 minutes! It was a lovely afternoon for a walk and an ice-cream soaking up the atmosphere.

The next day we rented some bikes and spent a great few hours cycling through Stanley Park which is a fabulous urban park spanning over 400 hectares featuring old-growth forest and a Pacific coast waterfront view. Nestled in the heart of Vancouver’s most iconic park, the Stanley Park totem poles stand tall, narrating tales of Indigenous heritage and artistry. These vibrant wooden sentinels, each carved with intricate designs, offer a window into the rich tapestry of First Nations stories and traditions. Totem poles are the British Columbia Indigenous peoples’ coat of arms. Each carving on these poles represents a given tribe or clan, or commemorates historical events or people.

We continued along The Stanley Park seawall which is 9km long and takes you past several lovely sandy beaches and also a huge outdoor heated pool at Second Beach which was full of families on this glorious day. We stopped for another ice-cream and watched the world go by before heading back into town on our bikes. It had been such a fun few hours and we felt we had really got to know this little corner of Vancouver and liked it very much. Time to pack up and get ready for the early start the next day before heading out for the evening. Free cocktails ahead of a lovely meal at a nearby Italian (where I somehow managed to set the bill on fire while holding it a bit too close to the candle to read it!!) on a balmy evening left me definitely feeling in holiday mode and before we knew it we were boarding the coach to the train station to meet The Rocky Mountaineer.

The coach pulled up into the station amidst a lot of pomp and ceremony and we could see the train gleaming in the morning sunshine. A pianist was playing in the terminal while we helped ourselves to coffee and perused the merchandise on sale. Then a piper arrived in full kit and in the way only bagpipes can – stole the show! He played as we walked outside and found our carriages, the red carpet rolled out for us and a lovely welcome from all the staff lined up on either side. It felt very special.

And we were off……!!! The train grumbled out of the station, laden with 14 carriages – some of which would detach in Kamloops that night and pulling A LOT OF WEIGHT, it gently wound its way out of Vancouver eventually passing through beautiful farmlands in The Fraser Valley before following the winding path of the Fraser River. As you can imagine it was just lovely sitting back in our comfy seats watching the passing scenery through the glass roof. The fabled service of the Rocky Mountaineer began very quickly after leaving the station with our first breakfast. The food is good without being brilliant and we had a choice of meals which is pretty good when you think of what they have to cook in – the tiniest galley – which popped out a large selection of food to keep everyone happy. Needless to say our request for some “proper” coffee was denied – no espresso machine sadly….but we met a lovely English couple – Peter and Elaine – who we got along with like a house on fire. All meals served two sittings and once breakfast was cleared it was 9.30am and time to open the bar!!!! My travelling companion thought this was a splendid state of affairs and proceeded to get acquainted with the Canadian version of a bloody Mary – The Ceaser! As it had tomato and celery in it he viewed it akin to a health drink and the famous addition of clam juice gave it that certain je ne sais quoi! The day proceeded in this fashion, with meals, more drinks (Chardy became the favoured drink) and many snacks along the way. Literally an hour would not pass without being offered something to eat or drink! We were also getting a lovely commentary on the places we were passing and the history of the railroad and of this part of the world.

One of the most surprising pieces of information we received was that the wheels of the train are all changed weekly! I would never have thought this was a viable thing to do but in Kamloops there are huge sunken pits that the train moves over and that is exactly what happens – WEEKLY!!!! I suppose they do drag a lot of weight in a very isolated part of the world so they have to make sure everything is shipshape! We passed Osprey nests, some huge and visible for miles and we spotted some long horned sheep but no bears. Bald eagles soared high in the sky before landing on dead trees overlooking the valley floor. We crossed the Fraser River and began our passage through the narrow valley. The green was replaced by dusty shades of brown and gold, with perilously steep cliffs hugging the river. The Fraser went from wide and mild to narrow and wild, with raging torrents of water slashing past the open rock as our train hugged the side of the canyon. We rolled past wonderfully named landmarks such as Skuzzy Creek and Jackass Mountain and made our way to Lytton, where the Thompson and Fraser Rivers meet. 

The scenery between Lytton and Kamloops is mesmerizing: dry rocky canyons with copper cliffs and slashes of red rock, deep forests of pine and old-time bridges. Our route takes us past Rainbow Canyon, but also Avalanche Alley and the Jaws of Death Gorge. I get the feeling the names in this part of the world were not dreamed up by the local tourist board!! We enter Kamloops at about 7.30pm but it is still light – the sun doesn’t go down until around 10pm – and as we came into the town people all stopped and waved at the train – it was so lovely! People waved from their gardens, in the streets and finally all the railway workers lined up as we came into the station in Kamloops and waved, The train makes us all feel like 5 year olds! Kamloops owes it’s existence to the railway. The Canadian Pacific Railway was completed here in 1886, and the Canadian National arrived in 1912, making Kamloops an important transportation hub. 

Kamloops was hot, sweaty even, and a weird little town after Vancouver but we went for a walk and ended up having a wonderful Indian meal – the most amazing pancake dosa “thing” and utterly delicious! This holiday is certainly becoming one of contrasts! Next we head to Jasper and the end of our train journey but the beginning of the Rockies……..

Jasper was a lovely little town. Home to just 5000 full time residents it’s population swells in the summer months as visitors come from all over the world to enjoy the beautiful Jasper National Park, the largest park in the Canadian Rocky Mountain System. Jasper has a small town feel but with plenty of restaurants and bars to make things fun. In winter of course there is skiing and in summer you can hike and paddle or canoe on some of the beautiful local lakes or for the more adventurous there is white water rafting at Athabasca Falls. We stayed in town which made for easy exploration and eating etc but our new English friends were staying out of town at The Fairmont. This made it harder to pop into town but to make up for it they did experience a pair of black bears sauntering across the golf course right in front of them! There is plenty of wildlife all around but you have to be lucky to be in the right place at the right time to witness it!

We caught the Skytram up to the top of the mountain which gave us an amazing view of the surrounding mountain ranges and despite being mid summer there was still some snow up there. The air was so fresh and clean and I felt at one with nature. This is the highest and longest tram in Canada and takes you up to 7500 feet. We could also see from here the devastation that occurred after the wildfires swept through in 2024. Two different fire fronts merged just outside Jasper and destroyed 358 buildings, one-third of the town’s structures, causing an estimated $1.23 billion in damages. The high cost was partly due to Jasper’s geographical isolation, which made transporting materials into the town and moving debris out more difficult. The Alberta and federal governments supplied $170 million in funding to the town; $30 million went towards construction of temporary and permanent housing, and the rest went to Parks Canada for recovery work in Jasper National Park. By May 2025, insurance companies had finished clearing debris, and Parks Canada had issued 100 permits to start rebuilding houses destroyed in the fire and now the town is in full building mode restoring and improving their buildings just in case it happens again. No more log cabins, metal roofing is the new big thing! Interestingly however the authorities decided to leave the park itself to burn as long as it didn’t threaten the town. This is because the forest NEEDS to burn every 125 years to regenerate, to burn off the dense parts thereby creating new open areas that attracts the sun, new plants and therefore animals back into the park. If there hadn’t been a natural fire they would have had to initiate a controlled burn anyway! It still looks very dead and will do so for some time to come – but the new trees are already starting to grow and the next phase of forest life is well on its way.

Next we head to Lake Louise via the Icefields Parkway…..

Back to Autumn in The Meadow

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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!

Christmas 2025

/ susiecameron / 4 Comments

What a couple of months we’ve had! It’s been a hugely busy time full of family, friends and fun and lots of comings and goings and making up of beds and it’s been wonderful. We are so grateful that they all still want to come and stay with us and enjoy our Crazy Cameron Christmas!

Tom arrived from London on the evening of 12th December and went straight to Bondi Beach where he had previously lived for many years, to stay with his friend. He woke up to a beautiful sunny weekend and enjoyed breakfast overlooking the beach at North Bondi before having a swim in the ocean (which was the thing he has missed the most living in London) and all seemed well with the world. All that changed 24 hours later on December 14th when a deranged Father and Son opened fire on a family friendly Jewish gathering killing 15 people in the very same spot that he had enjoyed a swim. It all seemed so unreal, so un-Australian and so very sad and was a sharp reminder that anything can happen anywhere in these times of distorted religious doctrines and unstemmed hatred. It all unfolded a mere 10 days before Christmas and suddenly all the gifts and decorations and merriment seemed so very shallow and meaningless. Over the next week we saw a huge outpouring of support for the Jewish community who lost so much and an equal outpouring of love for Bondi Beach, a place where so many come to relax and enjoy our Australian way of life. In the only way we knew how, various communities came to express their sorrow and to refuse to be scared by terrorists. Running clubs came and ran the beach, surfers gathered and paddled out in their hundreds to honour the dead and our surf lifesavers who were so very present and involved during the attack that took place right outside their surf club, linked arms and silently looked out to sea remembering the people that had lost their lives in a 3 minute silent chain that stretched the entire beach. Simple heartfelt gestures of grief and resilience as the community unites after an attack on our way of life. Australia’s most iconic stretch of sand refused to surrender its spirit to tragedy and you can almost hear it saying “you can’t stop us, you can’t beat us”. Life has to continue though and having the children around us would make sure we kept things fun and magical for them…

Loz and the girls arrived from Tassie on the 17th which was lovely as we could enjoy the build up to the big day with them, decorating the tree, wrapping gifts and baking Xmas cookies. The nice weather meant the pool was getting a big workout and the choice of which ice-cream to eat was the biggest decision of the day! Home Alone and Die Hard were compulsory viewing for the adults and The Christmas Postman and The Night Before Christmas compulsory reading for the kids. Tom arrived to be reunited with Bailey and the family (in that order) followed by Berry from Hobart and on Christmas Eve Sam and the boys arrived to fill the last bedroom! Carols and Christmas songs around the tree, carrots on the lawn for the reindeer, a cookie and some milk for Santa followed by the putting out of their stockings and trying to sleep despite the excitement of the man in red’s imminent arrival and finally the adults could enjoy our Big Xmas Dinner in the dining room – decorated and with candles glowing it is always a lovely pre cursor to the BIG DAY which basically belongs to the kids!

Christmas day dawned amid much excitement at the full stockings at the end of their beds and lots of squealing as packages were opened. A champagne breakfast for the adults and then the annual ritual of glazing the ham (thanks Tommy) and prepping the lunch. Berry rounded us all up for our two yearly photo shoot with all the cousins – thank goodness he organises this as we would have NO pics of all of us together otherwise!

The MOTH prepared the cricket pitch, the stumps were in place and the cooler weather was perfect for some rather competitive play, It’s a miracle there were no injuries to be honest as Bailey is by far the best fielder and the others were performing way above their ability with some rather gymnastic attempts at catches and overly showy bowling! Lots of fun though and after lunch the kids set up their disco inside for an impromptu dance off (Loz and Tom couldn’t resist joining in of course!) A relaxing afternoon around the firepit with music and drinks rounded out the day

As part of their Christmas presents I had arranged for them to have a pony ride at a local riding school. None of them had ever even sat on a horse so it was with a mix of trepidation and excitement that we set off for what I was hoping would be a positive experience. I couldn’t have been any happier as the riding school was terrific with the kids and encouraged them to try different things as they walked them around the menage. They taught them how to move the horses with their legs and reins and they wove in and out of witches hats, had a go at jogging and the litle girls got to groom the horses at the end. No meltdowns by any of them and hopefully a good memory for them….

Our last night together as a family for another two years was for me The Meadow at it’s best. A simple bbq under the trees around the fire pit with the kids playing on the swing and some good tunes ringing out. Chatting around the fire as the stars came out, family together, a brilliant memory to see us through to the next time…..

Mother Nature – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

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November is the most beautiful month in our garden. In a good Spring we can enjoy the wisteria, followed by the roses, the gardenias, agapanthus and then the hydrangeas – all interspersed with salvias and lavender, gaura and lupins. The grass is green and a perfect backdrop to the flower beds. We always say that all the hard work is worth it in November and if we’re lucky it will all still look great at Christmas. But we live in Australia so of course there is always SOMETHING that is going to come along and spoil it. We had our first bushfire of the season last weekend, a timely reminder that things can and do get out of hand pretty quickly especially if there hasn’t been much rain. Of course, we only got 5 inches of rain a month ago but it was all in one day and then the westerly winds came and dried it all out again! The sprinkler is doing its thing most days now and I have to hand water the flowers about 3 times a week to try and keep them happy. Probably not the best time for me to have planted a new baby hedge but hey ho that’s exactly what I did!

Just as things were all starting to bud and look gorgeous we awoke to a back yard that was a seething mass of caterpillars. Hundreds of thousands of them. The army worms had invaded us. An innocuous moth that only lives for 2 weeks yet somehow manages to lay up to 2000 eggs had inundated the dairy farm surrounding us and when the farmers noticed the first of the worms they immediately sprayed all the back paddocks as the army worm can eat a paddock clean in 24 hours if left to their own devices. A natural phenomena that can bankrupt a farmer, golf course, wedding venue, turf farm or anyone else dependent on their grass for an income. Spraying made the worms advance quick smart onto our property and onto our immediate neighbours and soon there wasn’t a square inch that wasn’t full of squirming caterpillars. Indiana Jones vibes in The Meadow. Soon they invaded the pool area and kamikazied into the pool, oozing bright green as they died, creating more stains to be dealt with. I was like a woman possessed stalking them with my spray bottle of soapy detergent water if they so much as dared veer off the lawn into the garden beds. Overnight they nestled in my soft velvety lambs ears and climbed up blades of grass looking for all the world like the teeny tiny stilt fisherman of Sri Lanka, swaying in the breeze as they efficiently gobbled up every blade of grass in a methodical manner. Army indeed.

Social media revealed that people were experiencing them in all the surrounding towns too but how much easier is it to “treat” them in a small garden. 2 acres all of a sudden seemed huge and unmanageable in view of the numbers invading us but as with all things in the natural world, they come and they go and after a week we were relatively free of them. Our back garden is a dry straw rather than grass but the rest of the property fared better and we still have our plants thank goodness. I had a tiny inkling what it must be like for farmers when they are just ready to harvest and a plague of locusts arrives and decimates the crop, that feeling of having no control and just hoping for the best. Hats off to them – between fires, floods, droughts and vermin it is a miracle that they manage to produce anything!

Mother Nature also delivered beauty in spades this week when the stars were aligned for a magnificent showing of the Southern Aurora. Two nights in a row we were treated to a spectacle of beautiful swirling colours in our night sky. Getting the timing right is hard…people were saying 2 or 3am was the time to expect the best results so on night one when I set my alarm and got up at 2am I was informed that the show had been and gone at around 11pm! Second night I ventured outside before bedtime around 10.30 and got a bit of green and purple – enough to make me feel awed but nothing like these (mostly pinky purple) pictures witnessed locally….the proper camera no doubt helps!

In more earthly pursuits we had a quick trip up to Sydney for Grandparents Day. This has become an annual affair everywhere with Grandparents whizzing all around the country to be there for their little Grandies, not a parent in sight and a very sweet afternoon. They ‘performed’ a few songs, we ate yummy sandwiches and fairy bread, visited their classrooms where Ollie proudly showed us all his favourite things to play with and where he puts his bag etc. It was lovely as we obviously don’t see him there on a day to day basis and now we feel a bit more connected. He had the most grandparents there on the day I think, with all 5 of us turning up for the event! How cute is his little face grinning out of the group like a meerkat….!

We also enjoyed an outdoor concert at the Berry Showground in October when the Red Hot Summer Tour came to town headlining Crowded House who we have loved for years and have never seen live. Luckily it was neither 35 degrees or pouring rain (both of which it has been in the past for these events!) and we enjoyed an eight hour concert with some great bands, culminating in Neil Finn and the boys putting on a terrific finale with all our old favourites plus a couple of new songs. The whole showground was packed out and I think we are very lucky that such well known artists are happy to come to small rural communities like ours to perform and spread the love. Great to not always have to drive to Sydney for everything….

So here we are, roughly a month until Christmas and this year will be special with the whole gang being together (even our London boy is making the trip home) for the festivities in The Meadow. Apart from the gifts and the decorations we have to upgrade our sleeping arrangements this year as all our littlies are growing fast and all need their own beds! The days of plonking a mobile cot in a corner somewhere are over so I’m off this week to buy an extra few mattresses and bedding so they can all be comfy! Christmas this year will be a week of noise and chaos but also of love and family memories made. Bing Crosby or Michael Bublé, Champagne or eggnog, Xmas pudding or pavlova, however you celebrate it I hope you enjoy every moment. Bring. It. On.