A final 2010 purchase

Steve was up bright and early on Friday the 31st of December as our friend Brendon was taking him to look at a snow mobile - yippee!  We had been umming and ahhing about whether to get a snow mobile as it is not something we can all do together, however after more snow falls we saw just about everyone riding around on their snow machines and it looked like so much fun.  Steve was impressed with the 2008 Yamaha Venture which has two seats and is suited to driving on trails, he came back to talk to me about it and I agreed that we should get it.  We went across to Wabush and paid the deposit and then went straight to Ce La Vie sports store to buy our snow mobile gear!

It seems that every activity here requires a different set of gear and accessories to go with it, however you can't really go without them.  Snow mobile suits are especially designed for the cold, so we felt like snow men trying on our suits, pants and gloves.  Steve, Taylor, Cooper and I all got a two piece Choko snow mobile suit.  Everyone in Lab City seems to have a Choko snow mobile suit so we won't look out of place; they even select the colour suit to match the snow mobile!  We chose modular helmets, Steve got black while Taylor and I chose silver as well as balaclavas to wear underneath, we decided to pass on the heated visors for now as we are not sure yet whether we need this accessory. We did need new gloves though as this can be a real cold spot in the wind, even with our heated grips for the driver and the passenger. We decided to stay with the snow boots we have but you can buy snow boots suited for the extra cold as well.  I was very impressed by the seal fur boots however they didn't have my size )-:

We loaded our bulky bags into the car and took the gear home and packed it away, the New Years weekend started this afternoon so we can't get the snow mobile until Tuesday.  More on the snow mobile once we get it!!

Cross Country Skiing

Having the Boxing Day public holiday on Monday 27th Dec allowed for another day for us to all spend some time together so we decided to all go Cross Country Skiing.  Cooper has been having lessons for a few weeks now but we can't say he is loving it just yet so we hired a Polk (a small covered sled) that I dragged behind me with Cooper and Ryder in.  This was pretty scary having the boys connected to me as this was only my second attempt at skiing in a week so I am far from seasoned.  Alyssa and TJ have never skied either so it was left to Kristy to explain what we had to do.  There is probably a method that could be learnt relatively easily but we all decided to get in the grooves cut in the snow for beginners - it can't be that hard!  Once we got TJ's boots clipped into her skis, she just slid off down the slope - away from the grooves, screaming then falling in a heap.  Cooper and Ryder were both complaining about the cold, Alyssa tells us all her fingers are frozen and... we haven't left yet... oh this is going to be fantastic...  We eventually all got our skis clipped on and into the cut grooves and started to slide off along the trail.  The freshly fallen snow in the trees and on the trail looked amazing against the brilliant blue sky background and the air was so cold and crisp that our nostrils felt like they were sticking together, you forget it's -17 deg C when it is such a beautiful day outside!  We skiied along the trail next to the lake that is frozen over up hills and down hollows.  One slope downhill Alyssa headed first.... Arrghhh!! Crash at the turn at the bottom... then Steve and the boys... Move Alyssa!!... same result... then Kristy... then TJ.... Crash! Crash!  We all gathered ourselves together and skiied on for about half an hour or so then turned back so we could get the boys back and warm next to the fire place.  Alyssa and TJ skiied on a bit further then the grooves ended so they turned round and headed for home also.  A hotdog and hot chocolate for all back at the lodge made for a good end to our first skiing adventure together.  It was so good that we decided to join the club.  Lessons start this week...

Our First White Christmas

We got a sleep in on Christmas morning until 8.30am (this may not happen again for many years to come!).  Cooper was very excited to see that Santa had left lots of presents and the carrot had a bite out of it.  Cooper asked me to leave Santa a coffee and a cookie so we made him a latte and left him a good old Aussie Tim Tam.  Santa even filled the stockings on our mantle peice with chocolates, Cooper was amazed!

Unwrapping presents took us till about 10.30 then we thought we better hurry up and get ready for Christmas lunch.  We spent Christmas day with some other Australian families in our street.  As usual we ate way too much and had our dessert at about 4.30pm.  Kim did an awesome job cooking turkey, lamb and pork roasts and Matt was an excellent bartender, the cocktails just kept coming.  At about 7pm we were all realxing in the loungeroom ready to fall asleep, lucky we only had to walk down the street to get home although it was very cold by that time.  It was a great day, the kids loved their presents and they really had a ball playing with them.  Thanks to everyone who bought us gifts and sent cards and gifts in the mail.

Cooper and Ryder's new kitchen from Nanna and Grandpa

Ryder's wheelie car ramp

Alyssa eating a chocolate 'A' from her Xmas stocking

Cooper has been asking Santa for Hungry Hippos

Steve's new t-shirt

Kristy & Ryder

Smile Taylor!

Nice Rack!

Since moving to Canada I have been really wanting to know more about or even better, see a Moose.  Moose hunting was a free for all at one stage but now you must have a license to hunt for them and you are restricted in the number you can kill.  One of the guys at work, Walter Standing, is a very keen hunter and he tells me that the antlers are made of calcium and they fall off and grow back every year - hard to believe because they are so huge!  Walter had a license this year and he went on vacation to the island of Newfoundland.  After another successful hunt, Walter brought back this nice rack to Lab city and one day he asked me for my car keys so he could put something in there.  I finished work that day, went down to my car and what a surprise - a beautiful 16 point rack.  I am now looking to get it treated and mounted etc so I can hopefully bring it back to Australia.  Some locals apparently cut off the head and tie it to the front of their truck as a trophy then drive round the town - I can't wait to see that!  Other expats here are looking to get the whole head and bring that back but I can't imagine I would feel very comfortable with Bullwinkle looking down at us from the mantle piece.  I still haven't seen a Moose, but I will before long.  In the meantime, I've got a great rack!

Christmas Cheer

Only two days before Christmas and the shops are crazy.  The Christmas aisles in Walmart are looking bare but I managed to pick up a few new decorations on sale at a shop that looks like it only sells Christmas decorations (not sure what they are going to sell after December 25th!).

Last night at 10.30pm our doorbell rang, four carolers were singing at the front door!  I must admit that I had no idea what it was all about and I thought they would be asking for a donation or selling raffle tickets (every day I get asked to buy a raffle ticket).  They told me they were just spreading Christmas cheer.

Putting up our real Christmas tree

Cooper puts on the star

On another note, we had a big snowfall a couple of weeks ago but again the weather warmed up and the snow melting caused lots of damage to the rail tracks coming in to Labrador City.  The queue at the gas bar (petrol station) was huge as everyone lined up to fill up their cars with gas before it ran out.

Washout under the rail tracks

The IOC Christmas Party

The Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) Primary Ore department Christmas party was held last night.  The Christmas party is for staff employees only and it costs $20 per head to attend.  Historically the party is not well attended so Steve's acting GM was determined to make it a party to remember before the new GM takes over the reins next week.  His idea was to have a pre-Christmas party at each of the managers houses with complimentary food and drink.  Steve is one of the three managers and he has the biggest team of staff employees so we invited 45 employees and their partners to our house for the pre-party.

Saturday was already a busy day for us, I had a hair appointment, Cooper had skiing and we had to clean the house before the party.  The food was delivered at 4.30pm and people arrived at 5pm on the dot.  Everyone takes off their shoes and coats in the entry and a few people brought us cards and gifts.  All the guests were very well dressed with most men wore shirts, ties and jackets.  Many of the women had their hair curled and styled. By 5.30 our house was so full that we had to open the windows and the front door to let some cool air in.  It was a really good party and some of the people from the other parties came to our party as well!  At 7pm the bus turned up to take us all to the Christmas party at the Lab City Curling Club.  Luckily one of the guys helped us usher everyone out and the bus waited for Steve and I before taking us to the Curling Club.

At the Christmas party we had a steak supper, this is very popular here, a massive T bone steak that covers your plate, mushrooms, onions, a baked potato and coleslaw.  There was a DJ after supper, everyone danced and the Newfie songs pulled a big crown on the dancefloor. Heave Away is a very popular Newfie song that I have heard played at every party I have been to so far.  The party was still going strong at 1.30am when I caught the bus home.  It was a great night.

Lyrics for Heave Away - Newfoundland, attributed to Pius Power Sr.

Come get your duds in order
  For we're going to leave tomorrow
Heave away, me jollies, heave away
Come get your duds in order
  For we're going to cross the water
Heave away me jolly boys, we're all bound away

Sometimes we're bound for Liverpool
  Sometimes we're bound for Spain
But now we're bound for St. John's town
  To watch the girls a-dancing

Now it's farewell Maggie darling
  For it's now I'm going to leave you
You promised me you'd marry me
  But how you did deceive me

I wrote me love a letter
  And I signed it with a ring
I wrote me love a letter
  I was on the Jenny Lind

Sometimes we're bound for Liverpool
  Sometimes we're bound for Spain
But now we're bound for St. John's town
  To watch the girls a-dancing

Alyssa is finally here

Alyssa is spending Christmas with us here in Labrador City.  We've had her flights booked since we booked our flights to get here and she was flying Brisbane - LA - Dallas - Montreal - Quebec - Sept Iles - Wabush.  The day before she was scheduled to leave Qantas called her to say that the Brisbane - LA flight was delayed by eight hours, this meant she would arrive a day later.  She was told that her flights would connect through to Montreal but she would need to contact her travel agent to arrange the Montreal - Wabush flights.  Steve called American Express who made our booking and they reviewed the scheduled flights and advised that we change the itinerary to fly Brisbane - LA - New York - Montreal - Quebec - Sept Iles - Wabush.  Well this sounded very glamorous indeed and meant less time in airports for Alyssa so we made the booking.

Alyssa departed Brisbane for LA on Sunday instead of Saturday as originally planned however the LA - New York flight was cancelled due to bad weather so she flew LA - Miami - Montreal.  She had a very tight connection in Miami and arrived in Montreal after midnight.  We had changed her hotel booking so that she was staying at the hotel right at the Montreal airport so she could grab her bags and go straight to bed.  Unfortunately her bags were missing so she took her complimentary Qantas PJ's as her only change of clothes.

Now we had the largest snowfall we have seen since being here on Sunday night.  We woke up early and called Alyssa to make sure she was awake and heading back to the domestic terminal to check in nice and early.  Steve scraped the snow off his car, dug the snow from around it and headed off to work.  About 30 minutes later Alyssa called to say that her flight was cancelled due to poor weather!  She could fly to Sept Iles but had no connection to Wabush!  We rebooked her into the airport hotel and told her to sit tight.  We made so many phone calls back and forwards on Monday, maybe she should catch the flight to Sept Iles, maybe she should try Provincial Airlines instead of Air Canada, maybe she should wait in Montreal.  At about 10am the Wabush airport was closed so we decided that Alyssa should remain in Montreal until we could get her a seat all the way to Wabush.

Tuesday's flights were fully booked so the best we could get was to book her on the 6am flight to Wabush on Wednesday morning.  On Monday night Steve's boss, Brian, kindly took Alyssa shopping to buy her a change of clothes.  She waited it out on Wednesday in the hotel.  On Wednesday morning Alyssa checked in for the Air Canada flight to Wabush.  At 830am I got a call at home, Alyssa sounded disappointed, her flight had been cancelled again.  We couldn't believe it!

Fortunately the travel agent had made her a backup booking on Provincial Air Lines for Wednesday afternoon.  The PAL flight departed late at 2:50pm, made a brief stop in Sept Iles then landed at Wabush airport at 7:30pm.  Alyssa said it was the bumpiest landing she had ever had.

Alyssa and Taylor had a very long hug, a few tears, happy to see each other finally.

Happy together!

Wee College Christmas Concert

Today was Cooper's Christmas concert at Wee College.  Steve came home from work to come along with us, it is extremely common for Dad's to attend anything to do with their kids here.  The concert was at the Pentecostal Church, we sat near the front and watched all the four year olds file in.  The kids were all dressed up, girls in Christmas dresses and boys in pants, shirts, vests and ties!  Cooper didn't wear a tie, he does have some short sleeve shirts but that is about as formal as his wardrobe gets.

Cooper's class sang Candlelight and a welcome song.  He wouldn't sing Away in a Manger or do the actions.  At the end of the concert each child received a gift and got to say Merry Christmas into the microphone, Cooper just said "I don't want to talk".  We had morning tea afterwards (we took ANZACs) and Ryder enjoyed the choc chip cookies and cheese and crackers.

Singing the Candlelight song

 

Morning tea after the concert

Settling In

I keep telling people that I must be feeling more settled as I have had time to do some baking this week.  I made a date slice with my Australian recipe and it didn't work out quite the same way with all purpose flour and baking powder instead of SR flour.  The next thing I made was orange muffins from a North American recipe website, the recipe called for baking soda and baking powder, I thought they were the same thing!  Anyway, the muffins turned out great.  Next week Cooper has a Christmas concert and party at Wee College and the boys in the class have to bring cookies.  There are lots of great cookie making moms here so I decided I would make ANZAC biscuits (according to Wiki ANZACS must be referrred to as biscuits, not cookies).  Now last time I made ANZACs (I think I was in high school) I made one big biscuit so I did a test run this week, these turned out great too so I hope the Candians like them next week.

One of the things that prompted me to bake this week was the arrival of our new coffee machine, we now have coffee with milk!  Yippee!  We are making the most of it, cappucinos and lattes at every opportunity.  In fact, one night we were making coffees after dinner in the kitchen so when Cooper told me he was going out to look out our inflatable Santa decoration, I said "ok".  A bit later on we could hear Cooper calling out, we thought he was watching TV in the basement and wanted the channel changed (he calls out from the basement all the time), so we didn't attend to him immediately.  Eventually Steve decided to go downstairs to change the channel and Cooper wasn't there!  As soon as Steve said that I remembered that Cooper said he was going outside.  I ran to the front door and there was Cooper, standing there in his gumboots and PJ's, tears rolling down his cheeks,  "I was locked out" he cried.  The poor little thing, I felt so sorry for him, it was snowing and he was so cold.  He actually did this again the next day and the lady across the road saw him from her front window and came across to let him in!

Our inflatable Santa, a distraction for Cooper.

Arrival of our air freight

Finally our air freight arrived on Thursday morning, we were so excited to have some of our own things!  We were allowed 450 kg of air freight which was about 16 packing boxes full.  Back in Australia we decide to pack all of our clothes, some linen and a few essentials for Cooper and Ryder - the cot, the highchair and a few toys.

I was determined to unpack one box at a time to avoid a big mess but I ended up opening most of them and creating a big mess, it's now Saturday morning and I still have my clothes to put away so the house is still untidy.  While unpacking I was thinking how unneccesary lots of the items are.  The boys have so many t-shirts, shorts and summer PJ's, some haven't even been worn yet. These items went in bottom drawers along with rash shirts, summer shoes and togs. We stocked up on Bonds socks, singlets and undies before we left so it was good to get this stuff, nothing beats good old Aussie bonds underwear!  While I was really looking forward to receiving our clothes, I felt a little disappointed after unpacking it all, we still don't seem to have enough of the items we actually need - long pants or warm tops.  The highchair and toys have been very handy though.

A traditional Newfie breakfast

We decided to go out for breakfast this morning at a local restaurant called Jordan's who are well known for their toutons.  Toutons are traditional Newfoundland fare eaten for breakfast.  Several people had told us to try toutons so we went to Jordan's not really knowing what toutons actually were.  There were three varieties on the menu - three toutons with molasses or syrup, three toutons with baked beans and molasses or syrup, or three toutons with bacon or sausage or bologna and molasses or syrup.  The waitress told us it was fried bread dough, either pan fried or deep fried.  Some people say that pan fried are a healthier option but the waitress said there wasn't much difference as the pan fried is filled deep with fat also!  I chose deep fried with bacon and molasses and Steve chose pan fried with baked beans and molasses, TJ wasn't game and chose pancakes instead.

The best way to describe them is to say that they are like crunchy donuts.  They were very tasty, even just plain or with a bit of whipped butter.  The molasses was a bit too strong for me but Steve really liked it.  We swapped our deep fried and pan fried with each other and there really wasn't much difference in the taste, I think I would choose pan fried next time as I tend to think it would be a little healthier!

Ready to go out for breakfast

Skating and skiing lessons

We had a busy week with skating and skiing lessons starting.  Taylor had her first figure skating lesson on Wednesday night, she had to start with the Canskate kids class who are all five and six years old!  The coach spent some time with her to evaluate her skating skills and gave her the level 1 badge, she spent the rest of the lesson with an older girl who taught Taylor how to stop on the ice.  To stop on ice skates you need to press hard on the ice with one foot, Taylor said it was much harder than it sounds as her foot kept slipping and shuddering instead of stopping smoothly plus her other foot went in the opposite direction.  Poor Taylor felt miserable when she finished her first lesson, she wore short socks and the skates had rubbed on her bare ankles plus she felt disheartened being surrounded by young kids who could skate better than her.  Unfortunately TJ's Thursday lesson was cancelled because the Zamboni machine had broken down, the Zamboni is the machine that resurfaces the ice.

Cooper also started figure skating lessons on Friday, he is in the Kidskate class which is three and four year olds, it was so cute.  Cooper was all over the place, he needed one of the class helpers to stay with him the whole time.  The kids did activities like sitting on the ice and then getting back to a standing position, placing markers on the ice and then skating back to the start line as fast as they could and skating around a circle on the ice.  The lesson was half an hour and when Cooper came off the ice he said "I keep falling over Mum".

Saturday was the start of the Jackrabbit cross country skiing program.  Cooper was in the Bunny rabbit class with the other four and five year olds.  I went along with the class too, Cooper did pretty well and didn't fall over too many times, he struggled on the way back as there were a few more uphill sections on the trail and he was getting tired.  Luckily one of the coaches gave him a tow back to the lodge.

Across the border

Today we drove to Fermont (translates to Iron Mountain), another mining town about thirty minutes drive away. Fermont is in the province of Quebec so it is french speaking and all signs etc are in french.  It is also one hour behind Lab City.  The real reason we went to Fermont was to buy alcohol!  Last week Steve went to buy some beer in Wabush and the guy in the shop said 'why are you buying this here?  You should go to Fermont!' 

Bienvenue

Fermont is contained in one big building, we didn't see much of it but it contains a supermarket, specialty stores, a bowling alley, a cinema, restaurants and a hotel.  We bought some essentials at the liquor store, including some Australian red wine, Steve was pleased that after selling our bottles of red for $10, we were paying $17.99 CAD (plus taxes) to replace them!  The liquor store doesn't sell beer so we went to the supermarket to buy a carton (36) of Coors.  A carton of Corona (24) was $33.99 CAD (plus taxes) which was much cheaper than we were paying in Karratha (and we thought Karratha was cheaper than Queensland).  Steve reasoned that we should make the most of our cool room in the basement so needless to say we stocked up on Corona.

Fermont, Quebec Province

Do all mining towns have a dump truck on display on the way into town?

Crossing the border back into Newfoundland province

Getting colder

It is officially cold now, today is -9 degC and I can feel the difference from the temperatures around zero we've had for the past few weeks.  I used to see parents putting their kids coats, hats, mitts and boots on, just to walk from the car to the shops or from Wee College to the car and I thought "why bother with all that gear?  It's just a quick dash to the car".

Well today I found out why.  They all knew what was coming and are obviously in the habit, Cooper thinks it's enough to have on two layers (a singlet and a t-shirt), he keeps saying "I don't need another jumper".  Well at below zero temperatures you do need all the gear, I dressed the boys up in the coats, hats and mitts to go to the shop but on the way back to the car I already had my hands full so I skipped putting on Ryder's mitts.  We started our short walk from the mall to the car and Cooper slipped over on the ice, he didn't have his mitts on so I told him to put his hand in his pockets, so when he fell over he kept his hands in his pockets and fell flat on his face on the slippery ice in the carpark.  Luckily he thought it was funny and didn't hurt himself, but by the time we were at the car Ryder was howling because his hands were so cold.  I knew how he felt because mine were freezing too.  I had already turned the car on remotely so the heater was going flat out, I strapped them both in their carseats as the wind blew the snow into the car, let's get outta here!!!

The Mall (before the snow)

School was cancelled

It was forecast to snow 20 cm last night and just as I was going to bed I could see heavier snow falling than I have seen before, already everything was white and clean looking again.  I woke up early to see a dozer working on our street to clear the snow at about 5am.  Taylor was waiting and waiting for the bus and it didn't come so she went next door to ask our neighbours and they told her it was cancelled today.  Lucky, cos she would have froze in her only pink dress (students were asked to wear pink for 'say no to bullying day').  We dressed and went out in the snow, it was actually hard work to get around as it was so soft and deep.  Taylor made her first snow angel and then had to go inside as her jeans were wet through! 

Can you believe that Taylor was going to school dressed like this today??

I shovelled the driveway, then 30 minutes later a dozer came and did it for me!



Ryder had trouble staying upright



The street is white again

A Lazy Sunday

We spent today at home relaxing, it snowed a tiny bit yesterday but other than that we haven't had any snow since we made the snowman.  Cooper went to a pool party on Saturday, apparently they are very popular here!  The pool is a bit cold for us and Cooper needs to keep moving to stay warm.  I haven't seen many kids swimming here and the pool has two big baskets of arm floaties for the kids to wear, this surprised me since they are discouraged in Australia.  Cooper loves the local pool because it has diving boards and a big slide for the kids, he is such a daredevil and it is fortunate that the big diving board is closed.

Of course we visited Walmart today, this time we needed to buy some more Christmas decorations.  These are the busiest aisles in the shop at the moment, a whole aisle of Christmas lights and lots and lots of inflatables, which I never really saw in Australia.  We have already bought our inflatable Santa (he pops out of a Christmas tree) for the front yard so today we stocked up on lights for the front of the house!  Christmas decorations have already started going up on houses so we have decided to get into it too.  We have ordered a real Christmas tree which is a first ever for us, I will make sure I post some photos.

A Curling Bonspiel

We have entered a Curling Bonspiel this weekend, I had to ask what a bonspiel is; basically it's a curling tournament.  We played our first game last night at 8 o'clock so we headed up to the curling arena a little early so we could check it out, see how to play and pick up a few rules.  The bonspiel organiser was a man of few words, when I asked him how to play he told me to 'take a seat near the glass and watch'.  I have never even seen curling on the Winter Olympics although I had heard about the sweeping, so watching through the glass did not help too much.

We wore warm clothes and our runners to walk on the ice.  We chose not to wear the sliders on our shoes as this would make the ice too slippery, the slider is worn on one foot so you can slide quickly along the ice and also to slide out to throw your rock.  The best way I can explain the game is to compare it to lawn bowls.  We had two teams of four and each of us got to throw two rocks down the ice, aiming for the large target at the other end.  A skipper from your team stands on the target and tells you where to aim and you curl your rock to land where they point to (sometimes!).  The rock slides along the ice and the two other team members slide along with it, sweeping with the broom (when the skipper or the person who threw the rock calls 'sweep'), the sweeping melts the ice a little and keeps the rock moving further along towards the target.  The strategy is similar to lawn bowls, you can knock other rocks out to get your teams rocks closest to the target and also to guard the target to stop your opposition from getting close to the target.

All up we played three games and won two, we had a steak supper (t-bone, baked potato, coleslaw, bread roll- very popular here!) and took home a blender and LED Christmas lights for prizes!

'

The Curling ice rink

Throwing my rock

Our first snowman

It snowed all day Friday and Friday night so Taylor went out in the snow first thing Saturday morning.  A little while later Steve was calling me to come and check out her massive snow ball.  She had started from a small ball of snow and kept rolling until she could hardly push it, it was so heavy.  Steve went out to help her push it into our front yard and they set about making a snow man.  Cooper came to the door to ask for a carrot and we used berries from the tree in our front yard for the eyes.  The final version ended up with arms from our firewood pile and the set of antlers that Steve had found in our backyard last week.  It's as solid as a rock, Cooper can swing on the arms and they won't budge.  We haven't had any snow in the last day or so but it's there to stay now.

A visit to the playground

It looked like a lovely day today so I promised Cooper we could go to the park. It hasn't snowed since the weekend and the last time I went past the park it looked like there was only a light covering of snow (although I haven't seen anyone at the park since I arriving). I made sure I dressed the boys in warm clothes, for Ryder this was a singlet, a fleece bodysuit, fleece tracksuit pants, a fleece jumper, a parka, pants, socks and snow boots!  Cooper wore trackies, a t-shirt, a hoodie, socks, a parka, snow pants and snow boots.  What a mission to get out of the house and then to get the seat belts done up. 

I got a coffee from maccas and we parked on the ice outside the playground.  I got out of the car and put the boys fleece hats on under their parka hats, then the mittens.  I am not well practiced at putting gloves on the kids and it is a bit tricky, by the time I had them on, my hands were like ice, I got so annoyed when Ryder's mitten fell off.  In my preparations for Cooper and Ryder I had sacrificed my own prep so I only had fleece gloves, my parka, jeans and some suede boots on.  I was warm enough on top but the snow was deep enough to make sure that my feet were freezing. 

The clothes, cold and snow did not deter the boys who were so happy to be at the park, they wanted to play on everything and I just wanted to go home.  In addition, the coffee was awful, no cappucinos here, most (all) coffee is drip filter.  I was thinking about those lovely long visits to the new playgrounds in Karratha this past winter, getting a cappucino at maccas on the way, relaxing on the grass and getting annoyed about all the sand in Cooper's pockets when we got home, what did I have to complain about?

We lasted for about 40 minutes which is a pretty good effort, Ryder didn't have snow pants on (big mistake) so his pants were all wet and snow had gone into the tops of his boots.  I warmed up the car and bundled the boys in so they could warm up.  I know I will get better at this and today's temperature will be considered warm in a months time!  Enjoy your cappucino.

Halloween

We bought heaps of chips and candy (new word) in preparation for Halloween and at 7.00pm we were wondering if we would have to eat them all ourselves, luckily we were inundated with kids a bit later, all dressed up in great costumes and carrying sacks for all their lollies.  The kids walked around in groups of two to five and they must have been freezing.  Some girls from Taylor's class came to our door and asked Taylor to join them.  She came back in about 20 minutes to get a bigger bag for all her treats.  At about 9pm we turned our lights off and ignored anymore doorbells.

Earlier in the day Cooper got dressed up in his Darth Vader costume and we went trick or treating at a couple of houses.  The local police were out and Cooper was most impressed by the showbag of lollies he got from the policeman.  We also lined up for over an hour at the mall to get a Halloween photo, by the time we got to the front of the queue Cooper was sick of his costume and wouldn't wear it so Ryder had a photo on his own, he was dressed up as Woody from Toy Story (so cute).  I was amazed at all the dress ups, babies to adults, I saw some gorgeous babies dressed up as dragons, lions, bees, flowers, kids as witches, superheroes, M&M's, characters from computer games, we even saw two parents dressed up as Raggedy Ann and Andy, Steve said 'I am never doing that!'.

Darth Vader (Cooper) trick or treating at Randy & Karen's

Steve's first pumpkin

Taylor's first pumpkin

Fun in the snow

It has been snowing all yesterday and last night so we thought we would go out and play in the snow this morning.  It took us ages to get dressed up and only the kids have the right clothes, we don't have any gloves yet so we couldn't make a snow man (although we did take the carrot outside for the nose).  It was great fun, the snow is so soft and powdery, we've been told that there is a limited amount of time to make snowballs and snowmen here because the ice becomes very dry and compacted.  Ryder was happy to finally be outside, he was scooting around on his tummy and bum, running and falling over, meanwhile Cooper was busy throwing snowballs at Steve.  Taylor wrote our names in the snow on the footpath and drew a love heart on the car window. 

Ryder's new snowsuit

Tonight is Halloween so we cut our pumpkins last night and bought a flashing light to sit inside it, they look great.  We don't have many decorations compared to some of the other houses we have seen, I will be much better prepared next year!  Will let you know how it goes with my next post.

Apologies also to anyone who is waiting for a return email or a phone call, we are not yet connected but will be on Wednesday.  I can't believe how long it has taken, a whole week to get the phone on.  I promise to catch up on calls and emails over the next few weeks.

First Steps

Today we decided to check out the First Steps Family Resource Centre.  Our playgroup in Karratha was called First Steps Play Group (FSPG) so we thought we should check this place out.  Fortunately Friday is all day drop in for all ages so we came on the right day.

There were a lot of similarities to First Steps Playgroup.  The room was about half the size, obviously all indoors, with a messy room for painting and a tray of sand.  There were heaps of toys and about 10-15 children plus two facilitators, one of which was called Michelle!  There were probably more grandparents than parents although the grandparents were relatively young, a couple of them told me that they had given up work to babysit their grandchildren, plus there were a couple of babysitters there with kids.  One difference to FSPG was that it was all about the children; parents shadowed their kids and played with them on the floor, no coffee and cake for Mums!

There was Halloween craft to make, free play then we sang songs and did Halloween Simon Says.  After that we washed our hands and ate a snack of cup cakes because on the last day of the month they celebrate birthdays.  All this was provided free of charge.  The resource centre is government funded and every day there are different classes for different age groups from birth to 6 years with some sessions run at the pool and the gym each week.  Hopefully this First Steps will be as friendly as Karratha’s First Steps.

Back to Work and School

Steve started work on Monday, inductions all week.  Monday was a student free day so Taylor and I headed to Menihek High School  at 8am on Tuesday.  Taylor had previously said that she felt like she was in the Twilight movie, lots of similarities to when Bella arrived in Forks  No Edward or Jacob in sight though as far as we could see while waiting in the school office for the guidance counsellor.  There is no uniform at any of the schools in Lab City and we saw one girl dressed in very high heels, fish net stockings, short shorts, braces hanging down over her bum and parka, I asked Taylor if she thought it was a teacher or a student?   “Definitely a student” she said!

Fortunately Taylor got to start in Year 9 as she had completed three quarters of Year 8 in Australia so we were pleased with that.  We also called in to Wee College which is the Nursery School that Cooper will attend three days per week for two hours per day.  I had already been in touch before I arrived so they were expecting him, Cooper had on a knitted kangaroo hat with a joey and they said ‘oh, this must be Cooper’.  He will start next week, I think he is looking forward to it as he keeps talking about his friends coming over to play and we have a limited amount of toys to play with at the moment and no TV!

Driving on the wrong side of the road

All of us slept in until after 10am this morning, a good day to unpack and tidy up.  Brendan brought over our new car in the afternoon, a black Ford Explorer, so we had to go for a spin to get used to driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road.  The speed limit in Lab City is 40 km/h until you are outside of the town so it is a good place to drive because no one is in a hurry.  It surprising how much you do out of habit when it comes to driving, even getting driven around we keep going to get in the left hand side as a passenger so it was very strange getting in the left hand side to drive, the next thing you do is reach for your seat belt over your right shoulder and there is nothing there.  Next the gear stick; Steve and I keep grabbing the door handle or window controls to change gears.  Once we are actually out of the driveway it is a bit daunting when the oncoming traffic appears to be on the wrong side of the road, you have to keep reminding yourself when you turn onto a new road that the steering wheel is meant to be in the centre of the road.  It doesn’t take too long to get used to it but I have to make a conscious effort to look in the opposite direction for oncoming traffic when turning.

We drove to Walmart to grab a few essential items and we were like kids in a candy store.  We have been told that Walmart is a ‘cheaper’ style store but it has different brands to Kmart/Big W and in some cases different sorts of items, for example Cooper was so happy looking at the toys because he hadn’t seen a lot of them before.  Steve and I had obviously forgotten our pledges to not accumulate so much stuff (after being annoyed about the big job of packing up our place in Karratha) already we had a trolley full of new stuff!  It included my birthday present a Kitchenaid Artisan mixer for only $188, we couldn’t help ourselves.

Arrival

Another early start to depart for Wabush at 8am.  The flight from Montreal to Wabush is actually three short flights, Montreal to Quebec, Quebec to Sept Iles then Sept Iles to Wabush.  The flight is on a Dash 8 which has about 10 rows of seats with two and two across, a cold drink and a packet of crackers is served on each leg so it’s best to take food, especially for the kids.  On the last flight we could see snow from the window seats, Cooper was so excited and he just couldn’t hold it in, the passengers close by were smiling and laughing at him, especially when he pointed out all of the Christmas trees.

We had a great welcome at the airport, Maxine, our IOC host from our last visit was there to drive us to our new house as well as Brendan, another Rio Tinto Aussie expat, and Randy, a Newfoundlander that we knew from working at Boyne Smelters in Queensland.  A few extra hands (and cars) made light work of our bags and we were soon on our way to our new house.

There was a light covering of snow on the house and the lawn, the house was warm and there was a beautiful fruit hamper waiting for us in the kitchen.  It was all a blur as we unzipped bags, looked in all the rooms and cupboards, moved furniture, chatted with Randy and Brendan, made some lunch and planned our next steps.

Cooper was desperate to make a snowball no matter how little snow there was so we dressed him up in his snow boots, jacket, hat and gloves and he stomped around on the front lawn and threw snow balls at the house.  The day time temperature in Labrador City is about 0 degC at the moment but quite still so it doesn’t feel as cold as Montreal which was a bit windy.  Even so, you can’t stay outside much longer than a few minutes without getting on some proper shoes and a jacket.  I still had my slip on shoes on despite being told by several people on the plane and at the airport that they would not be suitable, they were right, I had to get inside and warm up!

First Snow

BTW We had a walk around Montreal city on Friday and it seems like quite a nice city.  We visited some other friends from Boyne Smelters the afternoon then had an awesome dinner at a Portuguese restaurant with Steve’s new boss at IOC.  His wife, Annie, gave me lots of tips on Lab City, hair dressers, doctors, sports, schools etc, I feel like I have so much to do…..

Our House

Almost there

Another day of travelling completed, Labrador City really is a long way from Karratha and we are not even there yet.  We arrived in Montreal at 4pm after a four hour flight from Vancouver plus the three hour time difference.  We bumped into a friend from Rio Tinto Aluminium at the airport, he was on the same flight as us so it was good to have a chat about living in Canada.  Our first impressions of Montreal are that it is a concrete jungle, grey, untidy with lots of construction underway, this is in stark contrast to Vancouver which is very clean, green and tidy (probably because of the 2010 winter Olympics).  Montreal city does have a more European feel about it though and I guess after a day out tomorrow we might have some more positive things to say.

One thing that has really annoyed us so far is the tipping, we are never sure about when to tip and how much.  So far we have not experienced service that really deserves a bonus payment but we are not sure if it really works like that.  When we do tip we feel that we have been ripped off.  Any advice from experienced tippers out there??

Wood carvings at Grouse Mountain, Vancouver.

Winter shopping

Day two in Vancouver and we are over our tiredness and ready to hit the tourist spots and the shops.  We bought some new winter clothes however we have realised that we just don't know what we are in for or what we need.  There are so many things we could buy, do we need down jackets or rain jackets? Do we need snow boots rated to -50deg C or is -30 OK? Do we even need snow boots? Do we need waterproof gear? Are our clothes going to be warm enough? What is Taylor going to wear on her first day at school?So many questions!  We have settled on some down jackets from North Face, some cool Baffin snow boots, thermals from MEC and we can buy the rest when we get there.

We have also found that our Aussie accents are hard to understand and we often get asked to repeat ourselves.  Words like pram (stroller) and hot chips (fries) will have to be dropped from our vocabulary.  We have also faced many questions about why we are moving to Lab City, Newfoundland.  Just like when we moved to Karratha, people think it is the end of the Earth, which is disappointing when you are a prospective new resident but we keep reminding ourselves just how much we loved Karratha despite all the negative comments before we arrived there.

An ice hockey game in Vancouver

Our flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver was excellent.  We were seated in the upper deck which was very exciting and our 4.30pm departure is a perfect time to fly with children.  Ryder played a little, had his dinner then went off to sleep for the rest of the night, we had to wake him for landing.  Cooper travelled well also, watching a little TV then out for the night.  We arrived in Vancouver at about midday but spent at least two hours at immigration getting our work visas.  All of our documents were in order but it just took ages for the customs officers to review all of the documentation then prepare the visas for our passports.  Luckily our 10 pieces of luggage had been collected and were sitting on a three trolleys when we finally got to the baggage area.  We hired a stretch limo to take us (and our bags) to the hotel however by this stage we couldn’t care less as we were worn out and sick of travelling. 

Baths and showers at our hotel in downtown Vancouver made all that better and we ventured out for some dinner.  Steve noticed lots of people in jerseys, there was a Vancouver Canucks ice hockey game on at the stadium at the bottom of our street!  We rushed to the arena and made it to our seats for the second period (there are three periods in an ice hockey game).  The Canucks were playing the Carolina Hurricanes and the crowd was going crazy, it was so loud and the four sided video screen in the centre of the arena was massive. It was great to watch, very fast and rough, the Canucks beat the Hurricanes 5 -1, the home crowd was a great motivator.  The arena was completely full of Canucks fans it seemed, heaps of jerseys, killer whale mascots and so much junk food.  It was a great night and we walked home with the rest of the crowd, it felt a bit like leaving an AFL game!

Hello from Hong Kong

After the most hectic week I think we have ever had, we are finally on our way.  The removalists were in on Wednesday and Thursday and we barely managed to keep a step ahead of them, they even packed Steve's clothes for the rest of the week and we had to go through several boxes to get them out.  We had a few more farewells with some final drinks at the KI on Friday night with a few good friends, and we even dropped in home on Saturday morning to have a last swim in our pool despite the windy weather.  Finally we said farewell to Karratha but it just felt like another plane flight, like going on a holiday.

We met up with Taylor in Perth, there were tears of joy and sadness as TJ was happy to be joining us but also sad to say goodbye to Alyssa especially.  Just after midnight we took off and shortly after we fell asleep, except for Cooper who was the last to nod off after watching three kids movies on his TV.  We awoke this morning to be told that we had flown at a lower altitude all night due to some windscreen damage and as a result couldn't make it to Hong Kong; instead we landed in Manila, changed planes and then flew on to Hong Kong.  We are here now feeling tired and yukky, in a couple of hours we will be back on the plane again for another overnight flight to Vancouver.

A weekend of farewells

This is our last weekend in Karratha before we take off on our Labrador City adventure.  We are making the most of the wonderful weather and have been in and out of the pool all day.  On Friday night we had Steve's Dampier Salt farewell at Hamersley Lodge in Dampier.  This is great spot overlooking the harbour and the salt stockpile (of course) not to mention the personalised service and sumptuous food.  It was a great night and the highlight would have to be the moving speeches delivered by Steve's boss Tom Lukeman and Steve's farewell speech.  Steve expressed just how sad he is to leave 'the best job he's ever had'.

Saturday night was another great night, most of the good friends we have made here in Karratha came to our place to help us empty our famous bar!  The adults were almost outnumbered by the kids, running around, jumping on the trampoline and creating chaos.  Cooper was exhausted by it all and fell asleep on a pillow in his doorway while the kids stepped over him to get in and out of the room.  It was great to catch up with friends and talk about what we may have to look forward to.  All these discussions helped me to decide to write this blog so I can let you know what it's really like.

When we woke up on Sunday morning we started to realise that we really are going to have to say goodbye to Karratha and our home.