Anne and I are back from our trip to Bulgaria. In fact we have been back for a while now, and as some of you know, I have been somewhat lax in updating the Blog. Bulgaria is a great country, and I would highly recommend anyone passing by to stop for a while. Ideally you should 'stop by' via aircraft. Under all circumstances avoid our route - across the Turkey/Bulgaria border. Whether by train or bus, it's a nightmare. The bureaucracy adds an additional 3 hours to an otherwise 6 hour trip. The conditions of both transports are woeful. Whilst there [View Full Entry]

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A valiant attempt was made at Mount Fisher, but before we got to the 'Saddle', where the narrow path and steep drop offs begin, the weather turned bad and we were snowed out. It's a difficult hike - nearly every step was uphill. To give you an idea, it took 6.5 hours to complete a measly 6.5km. We turned back within an hour of the summit. It will now have to wait until next spring. It doesn't look like the peaks will loose their snow caps now. The weather is getting very cold. Somebody had built a cool Inukshuk, which is [View Full Entry]

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The title says it all - Bulgaria or Bust! Anne and I are off to Bulgaria next week for 10 days. Not a holiday per se, but an opportunity in investing in that country after it gained entry in the EU. We are flying into Istanbul, then taking a train to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Ideally we want a couple of investments and a place to call home in the coming years. I guess this means we will need to learn Russian! Stay tuned for lot's of photo's from this culture capital. Anne and I have been enjoying the benefits [View Full Entry]

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Low cloud hangs over the mountains today, there are no signs of it blowing off. This week, I think, marks the end of those lazy summer days of 30 degrees. Lunchtime and we are not above 10 degrees. Fall - as we locals call it here - has set in. This is what we came for, so I'm not about to whine about the cold. After our trip to the west coast, I was hankering to get back to serious hiking. Just lucky I was, as Ian was preparing a voyage of pain over the labor day long weekend. A Hike [View Full Entry]

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Anne and I have been busy riding bitumen over the last few weeks - we have traveled to Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Seattle, and a few places in between. About 2500km and a combination of camping and hotels. Jumping over the top of the Canadian Rockies introduces a huge variety in terms of scenery - we have seen deserts, plains, thick wet forests, and, of course, Mountains. Lotsa Mountains. One of the most beautiful places we saw along the way was a little town called Hope. It's located about an hour and a half east of Vancouver, and has a population of [View Full Entry]

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Anne and I enjoyed Spokane, it's a 'BIG' city when compared with Fernie, boasting around 1/2 million people. The town, with it's wide streets and laid back atmosphere was very reminiscent of Bendigo, just add water and replace the Eucalyptus with Pine trees. Anne and I did some shopping, and took advantage of some nice restaurants. Once back in Fernie we prepared our first camping trip, and headed off to White Swan Lake with our intrepid tour guide, Ian. Not only a lot of fun and an excellent cribbage teacher, Ian's knowledge of places both local and faraway is pretty much [View Full Entry]

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Anne and I have been wandering about, checking out the local eateries and what have you. "The Old Elevator" is one of the oldest restaurants in Fernie and was here when Anne lived here in the 80's. We went there with Gary and Sandra for one of the best Bison steaks we have ever tasted....in fact, it was my first and it was excellent!! Sandra has been a great friend to Anne over the past 23 years, and without her help, we would probably be living in a cardboard box eating cheerios. We owe her a lot in terms of organizing [View Full Entry]

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For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, I have included the forecast for Fernie for the next few Days. Sickening, isn't it? :-) Anne and I have been very busy, walking the many trails around Fernie. Our good friend, and temporary tour guide, Ian, has been showing us areas of Fernie that are not frequently visited by tourists. In fact, there are areas around Fernie that used to be coveted, and hidden, by locals. Trails to these areas would be constructed so the locals could frequent them, however these trails would stop about 100 metres from the road, so [View Full Entry]

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Happy 4th July! Over the weekend Anne and I went to Calgary to spend some time in a 'big' City, and to pick up those essentials that are not found in Fernie (Like Chillies, and other Chinese spices). We also caught up with a good friend, Leanna, who has a fantastic property about 30 minutes outside Calgary, with her 3 horses. When in Calgary, one cannot miss a Rodeo, so Leanna took us to Airdrie Rodeo. A great day on the whole, with the exception Anne took to the treatment of a 'baby' animals like calf's. Other than that, it was [View Full Entry]

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Most people here are blissfully unaware of the precious resource they have in abundance: Water. It's been hot here over the last few days, and there have been lawns watered like no tomorrow. Yesterday my neighbor watered his front lawn with a sprinkler in a single position for 4 hours, before he moved it to the back lawn and did the same for another 4 hours. It's an amazing site when you come from somewhere with restrictions, where your focus is on conservation. The amount of water here is probably the singularly sharpest contrast to Australia. You never know what you [View Full Entry]

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