The Calgary Flames ice hockey team are undoubtedly the cities pride and joy. We were desperate to see a game and had tried to get tickets on a few prior occasions but found they were sold out. In the end I booked us tickets well in advance for a Monday night game near the end of the season. By this stage the flames had ensured they would make the playoffs but in a rather unconvincing way. Prior to the match we watched they had only scored 6 goals in 6 games so things didn't look promising. Nic, Tina and I finished [View Full Entry]

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Brenton and Jenn had recommended to go and see a lacrosse game. We didn't really know anything about the sport but thought what the heck, we'll give it a look. Rick came to stay for the weekend, he was irate as he arrived. The bus driver had told Rick off for tearing his return ticket off from his first leg ticket. He was clearly a power tripper. He then told Rick he wanted him to empty all his bag to check it. Rick under his breath said "Jesus". That was it, the driver went nuts telling Rick he couldn't get on. [View Full Entry]

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Needless to say heads were sore after our big night out in Banff, Ricks decidely so. Scott pushed through it and went out for a second day on the slopes. Tina, Nic, Rick and I decided to go and have a look at Lake Louise. I'd seen it in the summer months, so wanted to see the transformation, they usually have ice sculptures on it and all. As we drove out though the worst snow storm I have ever seen swept into the valley, making visibility terrible. We would have seen barely a few feet in front of us so went [View Full Entry]

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Going to canada and not skiing would be blasphemy so one weekend we packed our gears into the car and took off with Tina and Scott to Banff. They booked into a flash hotel while Nic and I stayed at Ricks. We all went out for a meal, I got served chicken which was red raw, Scott who used to be a chef said I shouldn't eat it, so I asked for them to get me something new. They said it was cooked but would get me something else. I doubt very much they would have eaten it unless they were [View Full Entry]

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During the winter months we made a few trips away and went to a few shindigs. One was a meal and drinks ... loads of drinks, at Niamh and Paul's. They were a hard case Irish couple that Nic had met through her work. Instead of potatoes and Guinness which you'd expect from an Irish couple, it was a spicy curry and flaming sambuca shots. Any other memories of the night escape me for some strange reason. Brenton, a mate of mine who I'd met working at both the Flames and at Skystone, his girlfriend Jenn, Nicola and I decided to [View Full Entry]

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I was dreading going from a New Zealand summer to the heart of a Canadian winter. Especially because Christchurch had been having great weather, even reaching over 40 degrees celsius on an occasion, something usually unheard of in NZ. As I disembaked from the plane in Calgary I saw a couple of guys in full black, balaclavas and all and thought 'oh shit, terroists'. Turns out that they were just airport baggage staff. Working in temperatures as cold as minus fifty degrees celsius requires some warm clothing. I feel the cold, so was not looking forward to a long winter. Things [View Full Entry]

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Instead of flying back just for the wedding I decided to stay on for Christmas and New Years and a bit of summer. Calgary winter could wait. The summer was spent relaxing, I had intended to do some work but that fell through. Real shame that. So it was days at the beach, playing tennis with my brother Todd, golf with the family, watching loads of cricket on tv and many other strenuous and stressful activities. Todd was living at home over summer, he plays cricket professionally for Canterbury and then in Aberdeen in the off season. I was stoked for [View Full Entry]

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My friend Callum 'pyromaniac' Patterson whom I went to uni with was to wed his long time girlfriend Virginia 'too nice for Callum' Latimer in December. I decided rather last minute that seeing I didn't have a full time job I should go and see them tie the knot back in NZ. Thus an elaborate scheme was plotted with my mate Brendon 'Bdoggry' Henshaw to arrive at the wedding unannounced. Brendon said that he would be bringing a 'date' so I took on the alias of Elizabeth. I wore it well. The plan went off without a hitch I even talked [View Full Entry]

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We had many miles to cover in a day so started early and got the games cranking early. Nicola's American states jigsaw puzzle came in handy, we quizzed each other on categories like all the east coast states, all the states that start with m, all the states that start with vowels. My american geography improved dramatically over those few hours. Andre got peeved with the ridiculous pre pay pumps at the petrol stations. That's a lot of p's. You have to pay beforehand so it becomes impossible to fill the tank as you don't know how much you need. I [View Full Entry]

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Yellowstone warranted a second day so we headed down to the park early. We first checked out the thermal springs, it smelt like Rotorua if you are a kiwi. The colours were impressive with an array of orange, pinks and greens. Its hard to see how trees can grow in these conditions. I got duped into believing the others had seen a frog in one of the hot springs. I'll get them back one day, maybe at their wedding. The buffalos are humongous and after talking to a guide we learnt that Bison and Buffalo are synonymous, I had thought they [View Full Entry]

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