Vancouver Island

On Friday November 7, Matt and I jumped in the car and headed out to the ferry bound for Vancouver Island. Our intentions were to catch up with some family friends of mine and then perhaps do some sightseeing/ camping around the island over the long weekend. Unfortunately coming off the ferry our plans changed when we were involved in a four car pile up on the highway (no one was hurt). Not knowing what to do we called Karen and Randy, who came and rescued us from the highway, took us in for the weekend and helped us to see the best in a bad situation. Karen (whom I haven't seen since I was 4!) and her husband Randy were awesome in helping us sort out our mess and in entertaining us for the weekend and we thank them sooo much for their generosity. We have a few photos from the weekend and hope to head back over after Christmas to try again, and maybe go skiing : )

Karen & Randy's lovely house on a big block just out of town in Victoria.

The guest room, complete with huge Australian & Canadian flags! (Karen has quite a few Aussie friends, made on exchange, come and stay)

This is Rosie, one of three kitties.

Surveying the aftermath down at the auto joint.

Dinner that evening with Karen's Mum and Aunty and Uncle who were visiting from Ontario. Salmon...yummy...

Karen, Erin and Randy in front of the wood heater.

Erin and Matt at Goldstream for the salmon spawning.

Salmon watching at Goldstream. Apparently salmon swim back upstream to where they were born to spawn and then they die.

Downtown Victoria.

The huge Empress Hotel.

A mural about Vancouver Island painted on the side of a building downtown.

We got our wish - to see a bear when we came to Canada.

Squamish

Yay! Getting to know some of my tennis team better, I discovered one of the guys, Dave, was a keen climber and hence scored an invite to go bouldering sometime. We decided the following weekend would be good as Matt had already indicated it would be a boring weekend for me as he had a big assignment due Monday. Of course when I came home with the incentive of being able to 'go play with rocks' and that he couldn't come unless his homework was done, procrastination vanished and the assignment was done quick as a flash. The four of us Dave, and a friend of his Pat, Matt and I headed out to meet at the climbing gym in North Van and from there headed out to Dave's favourite spot in Squamish. It was a chilly 3 degrees and our fingers were frozen after two moves, but it was fun anyway. It's amazing how crap you become after 4 months off! (And I was bad to start off with!)

Yay! Rocks and mountains! ...and a whole 3 degrees!

Squamish bouldering area, over shadowed by "the chief".

Matt half way up a nice slab (Friction Slab, V0-). NB: the grin : )

Me having a go (Friction Slab, V0-). Slab good, overhang bad.

Matt tests out his contact strength on some chalked slopers (Easy in an Easy Chair, V4).

Stopping for lunch. Dave on the left, Pat in the foreground and Matty.

Later in the day- its a longer reach than it looks! (Alien Within, V4)

Matt... pretending... on Dave's project (Cutting Edge, V4).

Halloween

Another tradition new to 'the Aussies' was Halloween, and of course this needed to be celebrated with a party. Halloween was spread over two nights, Thursday being the annual Spooktacular Pumpkin Carving Contest with prizes awarded for the best ones (I got third! - Matt missed out because he had to work) by Christy and Dave and on Friday we decorated the house and got all dressed up. Despite Christy and Dave's best efforts over the years to dispel the bad reputation they seemed to have developed with the kids, we only had around 5 trick-or-treaters. Oh well, more candy for us!

The award winning pumpakin carver, two years running - Clayton

Second prize... can you see the resemblance? (Yes, its a watermelon. Mamiko decided to be different!)

My third prize winning pumpkin. I was going for evil... didn't quite work out...

Jay's quite explicit pumpkin carving effort. A close fourth.

Oooooo.... spoookkkkyyyyy!

Now on to party!

Finally allowed to dress as myself... (Do you like my cat-in-a-bag- it squeals and shakes!)

...and Matt as himself.. The horny devil : )

Ricard the Swedish meatball and Jay the castaway.

Steph, a very sexy Charlie's Angel.

Avi the dirty school girl and Clayton the Redneck cross Freddy Krueger.

Tricia the vampire nurse. (Complete with stethoscope and syringe).

Freddy the vampire and Rhiannon the vampire victim.

Matty's ear got floppy. (You don't understand how long it took to get them to stand up)

Matty and Lara the very cute lady bug.

Shake that bootie! Avi's boobs seemed to migrate around the party.

Thanksgiving

Joining in on the Adera House tradition Matt and I made pumpkin soup, lemon delicious and chocolate slice to bring to the pot luck dinner party held at Adera House on the Monday night. Everyone put in for a turkey and Lacey and Tovah spent the best part of the day preparing it.
Here are some of the snaps from the day/ night.

Tovah and Lacey groovin' in the kitchen while preparing our feast!

Or naked turkey having a bath.

Meanwhile... the boys watch the Canucks game (ice hockey)

All finished... Let's eat!

How many 20 somethings does it take to see if the turkey's cooked....?

Friends of Adera House, Jeanette, Danielli, and Klebber (former resident- our room!)

Everyone munching. (Clockwise from left- Lacey, Tricia, Jarret, Avi, Robbie (friend), Freddy, Jay and Matt.)

Charming... and we wonder why they're single...

Anniversary Glacier

Despite the Australian Rules Grand Final the preceding night (which only really effected two of us!) we set out not too far past our scheduled 6am start time on the way to the Duffey Lake Road, shortly beyond Pemberton. Three or so hours and lots of coffee later we made our first stop to examine avalanche paths opposite the road. Several more stops were made for this purpose until shortly after lunch, at which point the day people headed home again and we headed off the bitumen and up to the trail head. Abandoning the vehicles the nine of us marched behind James towards Keith's Hut, stopping only to cough and wheeze. After breaking the new record for the steep, but thankfully short, final section, we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening basking beneath the magnificent scenery and preparing a smorgasbord of curries, stir fries and some beautiful salmon (courtesy of Chris). When it came time for bed, two squeezed into the overfull hut, two into our only tent and the remaining six of us were lulled to sleep under an endless blanket of stars.

Once again the morning dawned fine, and a little damp, and when the last stragglers were finally extracted from their sleeping bags we set off toward the glacier. First we climbed the moraine parallel to the glacier before walking along the knife thin moraine ridge. The trip down to the glacier proved a little intimidating over some loose moraine, but proved well worthwhile, giving us the opportunity to peer into some small crevasses, see the blue ice of the glacier, examine some snow particles, observe debris flow and inspect a selection of other features and processes the names of which I can't currently summon to memory. After a hike back over the moraine, a quick lunch at the hut and a speedy walk back down to the trailhead we were on the road home again.

My thanks (and I'm sure those of my fellow explorers) go to James and Steve for their organisation, chauffeuring, interpretation, teaching and patience. Also a thanks to Mother Nature (in whatever reincarnation) for the finest weekend of weather we could have wished for.

Enough of my drivel now, onto the photos:

Avalanche paths, Mt. Rohr (sp?)

Avalanche hazard above the Duffey Lake Rd.

Last stop for the day trippers, Duffey Lake.

Mt. Joffre and Anniversary Glacier from near Keith's Hut.

Walking the moraine ridge.

What a lecture theatre!

A crevasse!

Wes checking out the snow.

One for the folks back home!

Mandatory group shot.

I thinks it's called sediment flow.

Lunchtime at Keith's Hut.