Oh what fun it is to ride....

Our prize! Imagine turning up to the airport with this! 

It may have been blowing a little snow and a tad cool but riding a sleigh with a team of Percheron (we think!) horses is terrific. We had the opportunity to be driven around the local countryside as part of the cutter rally for cancer. Not only were we driven around the way it used to be but we had the opportunity to win a cutter to take back to Australia with us. On five stops around the course participants shake 5 dice and the entrant with the highest total score wins the prize. As the saying goes "Unlucky in dice, lucky in love" so naturally we did not win. However that did not stop us having a great time. Congratulations to the organisers and hopefully plenty of money was raised for a worthy cause.

I hope the windshield washers work.

What a two horse power engine looks like.

Another throw of the dice.

The Mercedes Benz of cutters.

 

Whilst on the subject of travelling we have seen and experienced a variety of modes of transport as witnessed above. Below are some that we are unlikely to see or use when we return to the southern hemisphere.............

It's all down hill from here

How do you steer this thing?

Good job we followed the rules.

Guess who was on bus duty!!!

 

 

Skiing on table mountain with the grade 9's. And I was paid for the day!!!!!

You do not argue with the Canadian trucks (Utes).

I only went in the shop for five minutes?

And yes we have had our first "bump" of the campaign. Two young lads slid into the back of the Jeep whilst Hanneke was waiting at the lights. Thankfully she is fine. The car will be in for repairs this week, hopefully ready for the Spring Break. 

When you see these driving conditions it is amazing how Canadians get around on the roads at all.

And for those of you in Australian tired of the hot weather, just be careful what you wish for......

The temperature in Lloyd reached  -44 with the wind chill on Friday morning.

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/caab0196

Chilling Out in Saskatoon

These 4 day long weekends are great.  I will be recommending a "Family Day" for Harvey at least once a month.
We decided to use this generous time to check out Saskatoon. The largest city in Saskatchewan (although not the capital for all you quiz night buffs). A visit to the city  was highly recommended and after a terrific four days we can see why.
We left Friday 18th February for the leisurely 270 km drive. We went through the Battlefords where we encountered an impressive statute of Canada's finest - a Royal Mounty.
Interestingly enough we had to call upon the real  RCMP the following day.

The Full Mounty

 We have noticed the Canadians are always well prepared for the weather: clothing for every degree of coldness; a Tim Horton's within snow shoe walking distance of every one's house and trucks that look like they could drive to the North Pole. A further example was a local who passed us on the road to Saskatoon, with not one but two skidoos. (We assume in case the snow become impassable by conventional vehicle and one skidoo broke down.)

Skidoo for two

 Saskatoon is a beautiful city. Numerous bridges over the wide river. Plenty of open natural space to enjoy and a friendly ambiance that belies its size. The pictures do not do it justice.

City of Bridges

City of Lights.

  Thanks to Dawn who suggested a range of eating establishments  we made our way to Broadway - a popular shopping and cultural district. Well if you are ever in Saskatoon do not leave without trying out Calories restaurant. We had a delicious meal and desserts worth braving  -32 c  for.
Check out the link below - they do "Take Out" so maybe you can have some home delivered?
http://www.caloriesrestaurants.com/index.html

Saturday was adventure day. We tried one of the many cross country skiing trails in Meewasin park around the river.

Making sure we only went on the track when upright, moving and going in the right direction......

We also encountered a cross country skiers best friend:

 Whilst on the trail we heard a distant cry for help. Someone was evidently in trouble. After calling to them several times we determined they did not need an ambulance. They called something about being on a bank. We assumed they had fallen in the river and pulled themselves out. Hanneke went to the closest house and called the police, Michael went to find the person in distress.The police arrived very quickly but after searching and calling we could not find anyone. We assumed they had been helped. Thankfully we have not heard about any incidents so hopefully this adventure has had a positive ending.

The University of Saskatchewan is a real eclectic mix of buildings and courses. It is close to the centre of the city and covers a huge area. We had a stroll round and really enjoyed the mixture of study from  Synchrotron research to a working farm. 

Where Saskatchewan teachers are made!

Looks like Metropolis!

True practical research 

 

For some cultural relief we visit the Mendel Art Gallery and Conservatory.

  http://www.mendel.ca/category/exhibitions/present 

We were fortunate to view the "Koshashin" exhibition; a collection of 19th century Japanese photographs. Having visit Japan briefly last year it was amazing to view the images of pre-modern Japan. A spell in the Zen garden in the conservatory grounded us for another interesting day. 




On Sunday we had the pleasure of visiting the Western Development Museum.  The main recreation  is a fictitious place called "Boom town". A street full of 1910 buildings, shops and services. We were going to spend the morning in the museum but ended up being kicked out. Definitely have to go back and finish our tour.

Don't make shops like this any more.

The museum was so big I needed a car to get around.

Do you recognise any of these products?

And I thought going to the dentist was bad enough these days.

Looks suspiciously like my first classroom.

Hanneke now wants a harvester to cut our grass.

And Michael wants this bike to take the students on an excursion.

.

Another wonderful feature of Saskatoon is everything is so close. Can you believe it "Canada's Best Ice Skating Rink" (according to Readers Digest 2006) in the heart of the city. Naturally Hanneke showed everyone up with her smart moves

 We had a wonderful time over the four days but we have to say it was COLD, well in Australian it was "Bloody Freezing".

So it was with some relieve that on the way home we stopped at  Finlayson Island (between Battleford and North Battleford)  for some more cross country skiing. As it was only -10 c and a beautiful sunny day we were blessed with a wonderful conclusion to our extra long weekend.

Look no toque (beanie)

I may just be getting the hang of this!

Some real nature - Secret squirrel

Thank you for the tremendous response to the quiz in the last post. 

Yes you all picked up the trick questions - the deer was in fact a buck and the black things on the ground could have been  liquorice bullets!  

A Weekend of Firsts.

Can you believe it?
We have been in Canada over a month and we hadn't even been to a hockey game.
Thanks to Debbie and Geoff that situation was rectified Friday night.

What a game this Hockey (Australian translation = Ice Hockey) is!
Plenty of "Biffo", fast, exciting, non-stop end to end speed skating, hitting each other with sticks, smashing the plexi-glass of the  'sin bin' and plenty of  sledging of the referee -  and these guys were the 'Juniors!!"
Our team, the Bobcats,  won 2:1 and looks like they will make the play-offs.
We can now say we have seen 'Aussie Rules" on ice.

The life of a Hockey  goalie can be a lonely one.

Last, one up the other end is a wimp.

Saturday was another first. The first time we have been Cross Country skiing without either of us falling over. It was a glorious sunny day and I can now see why many Canadians are happy to see the snow.

Are the trees straight or am I leaning?

Saturday night we hosted our first neighbourhood curry night. Elaine, Eugene, Michelle, Brad, Jaycee and Amy were very brave to try out Hanneke's authentic Beef, Chicken and Vegetable curries.
In fact it was a really enjoyable evening with very good company, good food and copious amounts of wine supplied by our friendly, and thankfully still alive, neighbours.
This was also our first attempt at meeting the local fire brigade - the dessert took a turn for the worst in the microwave - no harm done except for an emergency trip to the co-op for fruit and ice cream.
We now know Canadians do not have huge appetites, at least for curry. We had plenty left over for Dawn to come round for our second curry night on Sunday.
At least there is not much snow left around the house after all the hot air that was expelled after our two spicy evenings.

Sunday we experienced our first venture east. We explored the historic town of St Walburg. Plenty of historical links to the agricultural pioneers.  It is also a  celebration town for Baron Imhoff (1865 - 1939) whom we encountered at the Bar Colony cultural centre. The Baron (the one sitting on the horse) was a renowned local artist whose prolific work is found throughout the area. 

Now where did I drop my paint brush?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our final first was encountering wildlife. Well at least some deer that looked they had free roam of the ranges and some Bison that looked like they were definitely headed for the hot plate.

We have started to notice the 'Icons' of the prairie. The  grain elevators are impressive buildings and are a definite landmark for some of the local farming towns.
(Click on the pictures to enlarge)

Other landmarks we have encountered are from the local oil industry. Not sure what a row of Derricks is called : A pump class?

We have decided to make this blog interactive.
So here are your activities for the day:

1) Spot the deer....................

2) What are these?
       a) Chocolate covered peanuts left over from Christmas.
       b) Tim Horton coffee beans.
       c) Calling card from activity one.

Answers in next week's blog.