Kings Landing Historic Village

First up we would like to welcome Trish and Murray back to North America for another 6 month adventure in their motorhome. This time they are making their way north and plan to spend a week or so with us in early June.

The weekend before last we were fortunate enough to have a great time spent with our lovely Canadian friends. On Saturday evening Jacqueline and John joined us for dinner and we had a great time.

On Sunday we had the opportunity courtesy of Debbie and George our lovely neighbours to have a local day out. We went to Kings Landing which is an Historic Village some 35 kms from where we live. We were served a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausages, baked beans, toast and of course pancakes with maple syrup and the bottomless coffee cup, this breakfast was all in support of the local search and rescue organization who provided all the staff. It is after all maple syrup season. It was just great and we sat and chatted for hours with light flurries falling outside.

Following this we embarked on a walk around the village. This was a wonderful opportunity to see ice toffee being traditionally prepared on a bed of snow (the toffee is made from reduced maple syrup and placed on the snow to set). You will note from the photos, staff in period costume and you will see the large pots over open fires all at various stages of perfecting the exclusive maple syrup which is a prized product of Canada.

Weather wise it is now officially spring in Canada so most days the temperatures are on the plus side of 0. During the night the temperature still falls to – 8. However, there has been sunshine during the day and it is palpable in the community that there is great joy that warm weather is on the way. All things summer from BBQs to swimwear is on sale and we are already talking about what to plant when the last of the snow is gone.

Last week in an embarassing moment we locked ourselves out of the house. Fortunately it was a mild evening with the temperature sitting around -7. Ross had no jumper on and was in his socks. If you could have seen the looks on our faces it would have been priceless. With the assistance of our wonderful neighbours we were inside in a relatively short period of time and we have now made sure this will never happen again.

Well best wishes to all and have a great week.
Love Bev and Ross

Sleigh Ride

Two weeks ago Ross returned to university following a 10 day semester break. Therefore needless to say we have not had the opportunity to travel far. We did however; take the opportunity to go on a sleigh ride last Saturday evening a week ago with the lovely folks from the Nasonworth Baptist Church. Following which we enjoyed pizza and soda.



We were fortunate that weather was just perfect for this event. By this we mean there was no icy wind blowing, no falling snow or rain and with the appropriate clothing we sat as comfortably as one can on a sled with 16 others. We were hauled by two magnificent horses in a convoy of three. You will see what we mean by viewing the photos of this event.

This was a wonderful opportunity for us to experience this mode of transport and we were lucky to see a moose and other wild life up fairly close.

It was very peaceful travelling through the woods and having the opportunity to get close and personal with the fauna and flora.

In the meantime the deers in the woods out back are obviously feeling safe enough to venture closer to the house.

We will update the blog again in the next day or so with the details of our outing from the weekend just gone.

Stay Safe.

Ross and Bev

Semester Break

Hi again, this year is just flying by and on Tuesday Ross goes back to university following his first semester break of 10 days. This break has given us an opportunity to travel a little further from home.

Once the snow stopped late on Monday we travelled to Bangor, Maine in the USA. Bangor is about a 31/2 hours from where we live and this gave us an opportunity to try out for the very first time a pet friendly hotel. The trip was uneventful but the scenery was magnificent with lovely little villages like this one called Lincoln.

The return was more exciting as we decided to leave the freeway and travel the back roads crossing the border at a tiny village called St Croix.

As you can see from the shots below, the back roads are only ploughed as required and therefore driving always has the potential to become very exciting very quickly as it is mostly ice under the snow.

Another thing we spotted on the return journy was our first glimpse of ice fishing on a small lake near the border. As you can see the cabins are on sleds and the guys drill their holes and then push the cabin over the hole and the fishing and I daresay drinking begins.

As many of you would know in Australia we are not as ‘pet friendly’ a society as North America tends to be and further when we travel we usually leave our little ones with our lovely Vet, Kaz. Now our two are with us at all times so very quickly we have all had to adjust. We are happy to say that they have quickly adapted to car etiquette which requires sitting down when the car is in motion and getting up to gaze out the window when the car stops. They also adapted very quickly to motel accommodation and seem to take everything in their stride.

Tonight we embark on day light saving so this is an indication that yes, it does get warmer here. Certainly the shops now have their BBQ’s on sale and winter clothes are now relegated to ‘yard sales’.

We are now into + figures albeit +3 during the day and this assists in melting the snow. So today we can see the bitumen on the highway which runs in front of our house and the bitumen in our driveway is visible now under very slippery ice. Ross was out today sprinkling salt so that we do not slip and slide getting out of the property.

With the warmer weather we have had several deer in our backyard and you will see a photo of a some near the frozen pond in the backyard.

This morning we ventured to the local markets which are located down town. The reason was to place an order for plain beef sausages. Many of you would be aware that our local butcher at home has great plain beef sausages which are always a staple for Australia Day Breakfast and any other time really. Plain anything in North America is hard to find. When we placed the order we were asked “and what spices do you want added?” We said none and he said “who would eat this?”. We go back to collect them next Saturday. We hope they will be tasty as we have had to buy 10 lbs worth.

Just so you do not get the idea that we about to burst into spring and all start wearing shorts etc in the next few days. This shot is of our drive yesterday so you can see that the melt has a long way to go yet.

Best wishes to you all and stay safe, happy and well

Love Bev and Ross

Birthdays and Snow

Hello again from the beautiful city of Fredericton. The major event since our last update was Ross’s birthday. He wanted to celebrate his birthday at home and requested lobster mornay with Australian white wine. For those of you who know us really well a change to white wine from our much enjoyed Australian reds was a surprise. It must be the Fredericton climate getting to us.

Where we live in Australia, we have some very special friends and several of our friends and my lovely nephew Adam who lives in the Northern Territory celebrate their birthdays all within a few days of each other. Usually we get together for this event but, as on this occasion we are on the other side of the world, the photo of Ross’s toast is to our dear friends and family who we love and miss.

However, more about the lobster. Unlike Australian lobsters a considerable amount of the lobster meat is found in their huge claws. Check out the photo below. Hence I had to serve the lobster in a bowl and I’m happy to report that the lobster was just great.

On 14 Feb we went along to dinner at the Wetmore Street Pub, our local watering hole for a Valentine’s Day dinner. We have never been keen on Australian Mussels as we find them too strong however we treated ourselves to very tasty Canadian Mussels in a wine sauce.

Today Weather Canada published a winter storm warning and, true to the advice provided the snow fell to some 20 cms. The closest this comes to in terms of visibility in Australian would be a white out on the snow fields and you will note from the photo below what we are trying to convey.

Just to give you some idea please check out the photo below to see how the locals dress for Snow ploughing (only joking and this is not Ross).

We have such wonderful neighbours who at no prompting will come home late at night and not only clear their driveways, but are kind enough to do ours as well. We certainly have chosen the right place to come to and it and its wonderful people will always have a special place in our hearts.

In another weeks time Ross has 10 days off from University so we are planning to see some more of this lovely country.

So stay safe, happy and well and remember there is a bed for you all if you wish to come for a visit.

Love Bev, Ross, Murphy and Herb

Winter Continues

Hi again, we have just been through a warm snap where for 24 hours we stayed above 0 degrees c. The snow on the roof started to melt and for a short time we could actually see the black bitumen of the driveway. Reality is back today with a beautifully sunny day but it is minus 11 c with a wind chill of around -20c.


The snow has continued sporadically so we have included a couple of shots of the John Deere with its highly competent operator in action.






Bev is trying to introduce the dogs to the snow and ice but at this stage they are staying inside by choice. We went to the expense of buying them boots but both the dogs and Ross rejected them out of hand. We got a refund.

As most of you know we love the barby and have been suffering withdrawal, so despite the fact that the locals call it a seasonal activity (with some justification) we decided to fight the trend and christen the new BBQ ($150 at Wal*Mart). As you can see below it required some spadework but the result was worth it.

The wait to achieve operating temperature in this climate is considerable hence the backboard to reduce windchill.

And if you dare lift the lid whilst cooking, the temperature drop is instantaneous. As you can see there is still a little spadework to be done.

Obviously we are on a winter outdoor cooking learning curve but to date the results have been more than acceptable. The quality of the beef here is magnificent and reasonably priced even for steaks like rib-eye.



Uni continues to be great fun and is far more flexible in delivery mode than at home. It also comes with health insurance, diverse lecturing styles (all lecturers are called professor here), Tim Horten's coffee shops and free broardband for all students. This shot is from the upper area looking down to UNB, downtown and the St John River.

Our genuine sympathy and condolences to all in the bush fire areas and obviously to all who have friends and realtives in the areas. The fires continue to make prime time here.

Please stay safe.

Cheers Ross and Bev

Winterfest

Hi again from beautiful Fredericton. This week we have ventured to the north side of town to attend Winterfest with our friends Jacqueline and John. The winterfest is a fun weekend down by the frozen river with kids as the prime focus. As you can see from the shots there are ice slides, sleigh rides, ice golf, bowls and curling at a basic original level, pony rides, ice carving, igloo making, ice maze, various food stalls (including buffalo burgers) and a warming tent where free maple leaf tattoos are applied.

The photos are pretty self explanatory.












After all this excitement we journeyed to Mama's Pub for the compulsory steak and eggs Fredericton weekend brunch and as you can see the ski-doo's are the go here as well.


Will post more later in the week.

Stay Safe. Ross and Bev

Settled in with great new friends

Hi All, we are now settled in and and the dogs seem to have forgotten the stress of the flight over but are still coming to grips with the reality of cold white stuff that should be green grass.

When we decided late in 2008 to come to Fredericton some of you would be aware that we were greatly assisted by Jacqueline Wilt from Rental Hounds who was instrumental in finding the lovely home we now reside in. Now that our camera has finally found us we are now able to share with you our lovely friend.

Jacqueline has been outstanding in her friendship and as you can see from the shot below is like most Canadians we have met, very pet friendly. The photo below is of Jacqueline with her beloved Golden Retrievers, Bryn, Megan and Haley in the foyer of her home in Hearne St, Fredericton.

Jacqueline along with her lovely husband John (who continues to serve in the Engineer Corps of the Canadian Military), have been terrific support to us and by way of background for those of you who have or have had a military involvement, John was in Rwanda late 1993-1994 as part of UNAMIRI and served with the then LTGEN Romeo Delaire the author of ‘Shake Hands with the Devil’ and is now in the Canadian Government. John has seen many facets of war, serving in Kosovo, Bosnia and many other countries that the Government of Canada has been involved in.

Just to give an idea of the support Jacqueline has provided, I will list just a few of the things she has done for us. Not only did she willing accepted, store and in some cases pay for the numerous boxes we sent from OZ, she also met us at the airport when we arrived, booked us into a lovely motel for the evening, invited us to have Christmas supper (dinner) with her and her lovely mother Shelia, which was fantastic. Further she has also assisted us in so many ways such as the frantic shopping expedition I (Bev) needed to do on Christmas eve before the shops closed for the Christmas holidays through to both she and John taking us to the Co-op and the local markets. When we needed furniture delivered Jacqueline willingly gave her very valuable time out of her busy schedule to conduct this activity. We consider ourselves so fortunate to have such great friends.

We continue to fell very confident that we have made the correct decision to come to this lovely country. Wherever we go we continue to meet friendly, polite people from the time of standing in line for 6 hours at the Toronto airport to the local pub, Home Depot, the Supermarket and so forth.

Our first Australia Day celebration in Canada whilst not held on our National Day owing to travelling to St John on that day to collect Murphy and Herb. (it may be appropriate that our two little ones arrived on this day Jan 26). Was delayed so Saturday evening 31 January 2009 saw us having a wonderful Australia Day time with some of the lovely folks we have met since arriving in Fredericton.

You will see from the photos that we celebrated in fine form. Our guests were served Australian wines and foods usual to us at home and a great time was had by all. Apart from the Canadian accents heard around the table all could all have been Aussies as they all have a wonderful sense of humor and like us enjoy their lives and know what is important to them.

So you can come to know these lovely folks from left to right of the group photo, may we introduce Debbie, George, Kevin and Ester, James and Susan, Jacqueline and John. I was the photographer, so no comments on the clarity of the photo. I was only drinking red wine out of a champagne glass bought at the dollar shop.

As with each post so far I have included a couple of shots of our tours around the local area.

The two above are of the free skating rink located in Officers Square in the city centre. In the background is the frozen St John River.

Hope you enjoy the read. Please come and visit and love to you all.

Stay safe and enjoy life. R & B