Surfing in Canada

One sunny afternoon on the farm we finished up early for the day and set off to the local Lake. The family we are working for has a plot of land by the lake (just under an hours drive) where they have a cabin and they keep their boat there as well as go camping over the summer. All us kiwis and aussies had a crack at surfing behind the boat and we all managed to get up! There were a couple of funny spills and Pecker even had a crack at having a drink while surfing! Here are some pics of the afternoon.

James chilling out on the front deck of the boat

Jonesy experiencing the nice icy lake water

Nice work Jonesy!

Pecker

Bailing

And he's off

Enjoying a nice crisp one

James getting ready for his turn

Trying to figure out how it all works

Nailing it

Kind of scary how close you actually get to the boat!

So much fun!

Total pro!

Whipping through the waves

Getting tossed around

Pretty funny from my point of view!

Harvest Week

One of the coolest things I've found about Canada is how you can see the weather coming for miles. There have been some pretty cool storms since we've been over here, this was one of the first, the clouds started forming just like the movie Twister! The storm wasn't too bad, it got pretty windy but we were snug and cozy inside :)

There are about 7 horses on the farm, their pen is right next to our house so I pop out to see them every now and then. Below is one of the horses and then me helping Ty move them.

Adam & Duke on our front porch

 I think during Harvest week I spent an average of 12 hours per day in the tractor! There was so much crop to be cut, some nights we worked til 10 or 11pm. I can tell you that it's pretty scary when you finish late at night and while you're walking back to the house you can hear coyotes yapping away!!

The truck James was driving during Harvest week

Unloading the silage into the truck as they are driving...pretty cool!

The boys out in the field

Me and my tractor!

Learning to tidy the silage pile

Strathmore Stampede

During Harvest week we took a break over the August long weekend on the 4th and headed to the annual Strathmore Stampede. There is around $300,000 in prize money up for grabs for the competitors and it's one of the major rodeo events held in Canada. They have the chuckwagon races, rodeo and a pretty awesome motorcross show but the highlight is the running of the bulls! This year was the 10th year and 85 competitors ran with the bulls. It was pretty neat to watch and because it's a smaller rodeo than Calgary we were actually right next to the pit where they ran with the bulls.

Pecker and I doing our best cowboy impersonations

The motorcross boys

Waiting for the bulls to come round

DC, Pecker and me

Watch out for that bull!

Jumping onto the stands to get away from the bull

Interesting attire for running with the bulls!

After the rodeo we went to the rodeo dance and tried our hand at two step, which is really popular in country Alberta. Adam and I managed a few twists and turns but when James starting falling asleep it was time to call it a night, definitely worth the trip!

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 :)