First week on the Farm

After a few weeks of leisurely enjoying Alberta, we decided it was time to get back to the real world. We packed up our belongings (somehow a lot more than what we arrived with), said good bye to our fantastic Canadian parents Janice and Jim and made the long trip, ok the super short hour long trip, down the road to Mesabi Ranches.
Mesabi Ranches/Feedlot is owned by Mike & Jo Sears and managed by their son Tyrell, who lives at the feedlot with his wife Danielle. We were shown our new home for the next few months, a nice old house on the feedlot which we share with 3 others, Bryher, a kiwi girl from the South Island who has been living here for a few years and is going for her Canadian residency, Adam (or otherwise known as Pecker, Piglet or Straya), an Aussie builder from Aubury/Wodonga and Chris, otherwise known as Jonesy, a kiwi bloke from the South Island. Also I should mention the 30 odd resident barn cats that live in the barn next door, Spike the Border Collie and Duke the huge Pyrenees cross Border Collie who keeps the coyotes at bay at night by howling his lungs out!
We settled in and were put to work the next day and so started my farming career! Here are some pics of our first week of work, I'll try and get organised and take some more pictures of our house and the farm over the coming weeks...enjoy!

James fixing up some fencing

Mike & Jonesy fencing on the Ranch

The house at the Ranch where Mike & Jo live

Jonesy & Ty moving some cattle on the Ranch

James and I cutting some tyres for the silage pit

 

 

Last winter strong winds blew woodchips all through the tyre pile so James got the tractor out to shake out a few of tyres that were completed covered at the bottom of the pile. Turns out a skunk family had decided to make the tyre pile their home and when James lifted up a load of tyres a skunk got his tail stuck between two tyres and was scrambling to get free. Bryher and I jumped up and down to get James attention so he wouldn't dump them right by where we were cutting, I've been told the smell is not a pleasant one! Luckily this time the skunk was a baby one and must have been so scared it took off, next time we might not be so lucky!

James putting his newly acquired welding skills to work

The Feedlot

Spike on the lookout for Mice

Lake Moraine

If you think Lake Louise is beautiful then you HAVE to see Lake Moraine! It's only 14km out of Lake Louise and it's in the Valley of the Ten Peaks. It's also the picture on the Canadian $20 bill. We went for a walk along the shoreline to the end of the lake, the place is seriously so incredible that the pictures speak for themselves :)

Lake Moraine

Walking along the edge of the lake

View from the walk at the end of the Lake

Glacier at the edge of the mountain by Lake Moraine

If you look hard you can see James on the right shore line :)

Lake Louise

From Banff we made the beautiful drive up to Lake Louise, James happy as Larry in our new truck and me happy to see some beautiful sights along the way. We arrived at Lake Louise along with the hundreds of others tourists eager to see the well talked up Lake Louise, and it certainly didn't disappoint. The day was a little bit cloudy but the pics still manage to capture the natural beauty that is Lake Louise.

About to explore the infamous Fairmont

We decided to be ambitious, so set off on a short hike to one of the tea houses that are renown for their ability to serve a tasty beverage after a well earned walk. After a forested 3.5km walk and an elevation gain of about 400m we were treated to these pretty amazing sites. Also just a quick note that there are no roads up to the Tea House so everything that is served on the menu has to be either hiked or brought up by horse back!

Enjoying the walk up the hill (and posing for the camera...ok so the walk wasn't that hard!)

One of the beehives you can walk to.

Lake Agnes

View from Lake Agnes Tea House

Lake Agnes Tea House

DC in Lake Louise

After our hike we headed back to our camp ground which we had set up nicely earlier in the day and enjoyed a toasty Marshmallow (or ten!).

Our camp ground set up

Toasting Marshmallows

Beautiful Banff

After purchasing our new ride (Ford F-150) we got organised to make the mission to see the much anticipated Banff. Making plans to live there for the winter, we were more than eager to explore Banff and the surrounds and find out whether we wanted to call the place home for a few short months. On our arrival (slightly delayed after I forgot to tell James to make the turnoff!) we were greeted by breathtaking mountain ranges which encapsulated the small and quaint town.

Our arrival into Banff

Once arrived we organised accommodation at the Banff HI Alpine Centre. Not too bad perhaps on the slightly expensive side for a hostel but after what I've been told about Banff that didn't actually surprise me too much! We set out to explore the shops and the sights and ended up in a beautiful rooftop pub the 'Elk and Oarsman' for dinner (recommended by one of the locals) which much to our pleasant surprise only set us back about $30 for dinner and drinks. 

My view from the dinner table....what a lucky lady I am :)

The next morning we set out to explore Johnston Canyon, just a short drive from Banff. Over the years rushing water has carved a path through the limestone and potholes have been formed by the ever present waterfalls. It was such a beautiful walk, we managed to get out there quite early so we didn't have to contend with the overwhelming crowds of tourists (pretty much unavoidable around Banff, but if you can get up early then you will be rewarded!) The walk was incredible and as always there were our ever present friends the squirrels and chipmunks - love them! Here are some the pictures we captured during our walk.

Taken at the entrance to Johnston Canyon

One of my wee little friends

Feeling the waterfall spray!

 

A cave right next to one of the waterfalls

Feeling good after our beautiful walk

Kananaskis

After Stampede week Janice and Jim took us for a wee tiki-tour of the Kananaskis. The Kananaskis are over 4,000 square kilometres of mountain parks and foothills found southwest of Calgary.  Jim is an avid hunter/fisherman so his knowledge of the mountain area is amazing. The area is open to the public and you can even get permission to run your stock through the area (so long as you realise there are plenty of bears and cougars about!) We kept our eyes peeled for any sign of a bear (ideal viewing point is from a car...as opposed to in person I've been told). Unfortunately we didn't see any bears or elks but we did see about a million squirrels and chipmunks - love them! - a few mountain sheep and some beautiful landscape. Oh and I almost forgot...Jim introduced us to Tim Hortons and to 'Tim Bits'...all I can say is YUM and I will try my best to keep them to a special treat. Here are some of the pics we took :)

YUM!

Big Horn Sheep/Ewes (losing their winter hair...not so attractive!)

With Janice and Jim

Spot the Squirrel...or is it a chipmunk?? I can never tell!

Licking the salt off the road

Upper Kananaskis Lake

Calgary Stampede

We arrived in Calgary Sunday the 8th to the open arms of our Canadian 'parents' Jim and Janice. We instantly felt at home and we couldn't have asked for a better start to our arrival in Canada. Jim took James and I for a drive around Calgary to get a feel for the place and Janice cooked us the best home made meal which beat everything our San Fran trip had produced! Monday we were straight into the formalities and we managed to open a bank account, get a phone number (403 401 0139) and this was all without visa's. Unfortunately James visa still hasn't arrived so it looks like we will be making a trip to the border as soon as they manage to get their A into G!!! A couple of James mates from back in the day were here in Calgary to check out the stampede so we ended up meeting up for a couple of beers and watched the evening show... and the Chuck wagon races...pretty crazy stuff if you ask me, in fact on the Wednesday there was a crash and three of the horses died...that's how dangerous it is!! The show was pretty epic, they had a group of Chinese girls...similar to circ de soleil style biking around on stage with three girl doing spins on top of each bike!! This was all followed by some pretty sweet fireworks.good times.

Wednesday we spent the day at the stampede with Janice. Here are some pics of some of the cool stuff we saw.

Cutting Horse Competition

Riding a Bison

At the Rodeo

Charge!

Bucking Bronco

Barrel Racing

Bull Riding

Kids trying to ride the wild ponies

Janice and I checking out the Native tents