CFL, GRAND FINAL AND AUTUMN LEAVES

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September has been a busy month, not for the amount of travel I have done, but for getting back into work at Fairview. Interestingly enough, it has been the busiest I have felt at work and with the added responsibility of training and coaching games of Volleyball, 2 to 3 times a week and the later finishes, it feels as if the days are longer and that there is less chance of doing activities after school. I did, however, manage to do a couple of hikes in late September, as well as go see my first Stampeders and CFL game for the year. I was also part of the Calgary Wolves inaugural grand final where the game was televised on Shaw TV.



STAMPEDERS GAME

After an interesting first week at school of giving out uniforms, assigning lockers to students and waiting for class lists to be finalised, I found myself straight into a long weekend, the Labour Day long weekend. While the rest of my weekend was preparing for school I managed to get tickets to the annual CFL Labour Day game through Steve, who I went camping and hiking with only two weeks before hand. Each year at this time, the Calgary Stampeders take on Edmonton at McMahon Stadium as part of the regular season. The walk towards the ground and going through the car park was a similar experience as going to an AFL game back home. The was mainly a sea of red with the odd patch of green hanging around by their cars, cooking BBQ's and drinking a few cold refreshing beverages on this cold September day. Steve informed me that this was called the Tailgate, which I normally associate with some annoying driver, who has the car right up your bumper for a period of time while you are behind the wheel. This, like the good old days at Football Park (Aami Stadium) back home was a great way to relax before the game. We caught up with a few of Steve's work colleagues and ate pizza before finding our seats in the stadium. The atmosphere was quite good and the field in great condition for the game. We had both cheer squads dancing and performing and also had two jet planes fly past us, making a din that a crack of thunder could only rival.



Our seats were by the end zone and but still good enough to see the whole game without to much trouble. The section we were sitting in had the old bench seats that once filled the major stands back home at many different venues and did not have a back rest! The highlight of the first quarter was one of the large big rabbits who seem to hope around Calgary alot entered the stadium and madly dashed around the field trying to find its way out of the ground. This probably told the story of the game as both Quarter Backs could not hit a pass to save themselves and neither side could make the most of their 3 downs (unlike NFL which has 4 downs). Each side rarely rushed the ball and Edmonton attempted to do alot of side passing to try and get some running going but with little success.



The second quarter, Steve and I drifted down to the 55 yard line (five yards longer than an a NFL field) and enjoyed a closer view of the action, where eventually I saw my first live touch down. The end zones are also 20 yards long (ten yards longer than a NFL field) to give teams a better chance of scoring more touch downs in a game. Luckily for the home side, it was the Stampeders who got the points and took a 7 point lead after the conversion.



The third quarter was again filled with mistakes, with the player that receives the kick on a third down getting injured for Calgary and his replacement dropped his first two attempts to catch and lost the ball. Edmonton seemed to be improving but a couple of field goals helped to extend the Stampeders lead to 13 - 4 at the last change. The last quarter, Edmonton put on their regular QB who was coming back and suddenly they began to look dangerous. Their snaps where cleaner, the receivers were holding their catches and you felt that the Stampeders were in a bit of trouble. Luckily they managed to hold on and win 13-7. It wasn't the best quality game and the weather was freezing, but I was impressed with how quickly the game moved. It looked alot faster than it does on television and even though the game was of lower standard, its easy to see the big addiction that American's and Canadians have with this code of football.



GRAND FINAL

It was our last round robin game of the year for the three Calgary Aussie Rules teams and today would decide who would be crowned the overall champions. All we had to do was win one game and we would be the premiers for the year, but the final game of the day was being telecast on ShawTV Calgary where it would be edited and shown in early October. The wolves made the day anticlimactic by thrashing the Cowboys in the first game of the day but we still wanted to earn the cup with a win over the bears in the third and final game. I got the gig of umpiring the second game that the Bears won before the seen was set for the big game of the day. With the cameras on, everyone was eager to impress and hope to put on a great show and for a group of Aussie's, Canadian's and Irishman, the standard wasn't that bad. The game was low scoring and tight in the first quarter with both half back lines controlling the game, and scoring chances difficult to come by. It was the Wolves that got the first major to 'Vogs' who got an 'interesting' 50 metre penalty from his good mate LT. It wasn't until the second quarter that scoring became alot easier, where the Wolves managed to escape to a 3 goal lead. The Bears fought hard to get within a goal but the wolves steadied with one to hold off the oncoming assault. The Bears managed one on the siren to make the scoreboard look a bit better, but it was the wolves that won the game 4.2.26 to 3.2.20. It was pretty cool that the mayor of Calgary came down to present the cup and while the celebrations were laid back, it was still great to be part of a premiership team. I had always had said, i would retire if I won a premiership but have one last hurrah to go: The USAFL Nationals where I will play for the Calgary Kangaroos. I had decided it would be a great last experience to finish my football career and will probably be my last major trip before I head home. Here is the link to the Grand Final Game which is also now on You Tube as well: http://livestream.com/shawtvcalgary/events/1733076





AUTUMN LEAVES

I managed to catch up with Tracey (Doug's Wife) and her daughter Katie and go for a hike through Johnston Canyon during the month of September. It was great catching up with them again as I hadn't seen them in a long while. The drive up to Johnston Canyon was quite different to what I had experienced before. I had seen the trees covered in snow, stand out as a dark green colour but I had not seen them with yellow leaves before. The mixed colour of green and yellow leaves on the trees was something really quite special and I hadn't really seen anything quite like it before. Unlike my last two adventures to the iconic tourist walk, I had to take an alternative root to go up to the Ink Pots as the Canyon path was closed off for maintenance. So we took the Moose Meadows trail up to the pots. It was funny as while the Moose Meadows trial was steep, the path that it connected to which I walked with mum and sis in July didn't seem as steep this time. Whether it was because I knew what to expect I'm not sure but the view with the autumn leaves in the trees was quite spectacular. The ink pots again were good to see again and it was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. When we returned, Doug had cooked up one of his awesome smoked roasts and I was once again spoiled by them with their hospitality.



In the last weekend of September, I went on two more hikes, probably the last two before I head home as the weather is starting to get a bit cooler. I went out to Bighorn Backcountry to hike the Coliseum Area with my trusty Aussie Exchangees from Adelaide Liam, Claire and Danielle. As always it is a great time with a good bit of humour, Aussie heckling and was great to see the colour of the leaves. I had been told they are a beautiful sight to see and as I drove towards Rocky Mountain House and Highway 11, I found it difficult to concentrate on the road. The larch trees were an awesome sight, mixed in with the green pine trees! It is hard to compare to back home as the colour just seemed so much brighter and more beautiful than our autumn back home. The hike we did had recently had two bear attacks in the last few weeks so poor old Liam had bought $47 bear spray and Claire a bear bell for the trek. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it we did not have to use it. What was most interesting about the hike was not the 6km continuous incline towards the summit of this beautiful hike, but the temperature change. At the bottom before we started, Liam and I were debating about wearing shorts, by about the 4km mark it was snowing. My hands were suddenly numb, my beanie (or tuque as they call them over here) was quickly placed on my head as I used every possible accessible bit of warmth I had on me to survive the cold which I had not felt for a good four or five months. What was also quite interesting is that a local Canadian was mountain biking up this steep terrain that builds to quite a high elevation level.



We didn't quite go all the way as Liam, Claire and Danielle were not sure if they wanted to go on another hike before daylight left us, and I had to get back home. Where we stopped though was quite a cool little spot, with a crack through the rocks we could walk through, and a series of interesting rock formations as well!!!! The view was spectacular of the valley and Alexander Lake and the mix of colours of the trees and was a fitting spot to enjoy a bite to eat.



On the Sunday, I joined up with my Phys Ed coordinator Dave to go for a hike in Lake Louise. He had told me that it is apparently pretty awesome to see the Larch Valley just above Moraine Lake on the way to Sentinel Pass and I suggested we should head out there and go see it. This particular day was one which you could not request any better, and it appeared that every man and their dog also were trying to make the most of one the last weekends of good weather. The hike again, as they all seem to over here, started with a 3km rather steep incline, that zigzagged its way up through the beautiful green pine trees, that occasionally granted you a look of the amazing blue waters of Moraine Lake. The pathway was chock a block full of people, children, hiking enthusiasts and older people, which made it difficult to hike along the narrow path, particularly since some people would stop for a break. Once we reached the top, we found ourselves surrounded by the amazing golden leaves of the larch trees as we entered Larch Valley. The pathway to walk there was really quite spectacular and I was walking around with my mother open and my head spinning in all directions. There was a nice little stream that flowed through the valley where what seemed like hundreds of people were either having lunch or just soaking in the sight of the ice tipped mountains and the amazing golden leaves that surrounded them.



We continued on, past the flowing stream that was more like a wider down hill run off as we worked our way up the hill, along the dry rocky valley that had two large lakes before ascending up yet another steep zigzagging path towards the top of Sentinel Pass. Now, Dave is a marathon runner and I would consider myself to be quite fit, but boy did the lungs gasp for breathe as we trudged up the steeper path and the thinner air. As all the hikes I had done before, the hard efforts were rewarded with absolutely stunning views. The view of the Sentinels, large rock features that poked out like spears out of the mountains, the amazing green valley, and the view of the dry rock valley, larch trees and the mountains was just awesome. Sitting up on a rock ledge having a bite to eat, I couldn't help but think just how lucky Canadian's were to have these amazing sights at their doorstep. The hike down was still just as busy and I made sure I had one last view from the look out from Moraine Lake before we got in the car (where we were lucky enough to get a park in the main car park as cars were parked 1km up the road and charter buses will bringing people in and out as it was that busy) and celebrating our efforts with a quick stop off in Banff. We treated ourselves to ha well deserved beer and a bit to eat sitting on the balcony of the Banff Brewing Co. As we watched the people and cars walk and drive along Banff Ave, while admiring the beautiful mountains in the background, I couldn't help but feel that this maybe the last time I make it to Banff, or see it before the snow hits. It was a realisation that my time in this amazing country was quickly coming to an end.



TERRY FOX RUN

One quick event I must write in this blog is about the annual Terry Fox Run that schools do to raise money for cancer. Terry Fox was a young man who was diagnosed with cancer in his right leg which he had to have amputated at the knee. Although he had battled severe treatment and felt down about what had happened to him, a close friend gave him a magazine of a runner that ran with a wooden leg. Instantly Terry was inspired to run across Canada to help raise money and awareness for Cancer. Now Canada is a pretty big country but Terry said no matter whether he finished it or not, he wanted his message to spread and people to continue to complete his challenge. For 144 days straight, running approximately a marathon a day, and with a wooden leg that caused so much pain to the knob of his amputated leg that the skin was red raw, Terry was on his way to achieving an amazing feet. However, in early September, Terry fell ill and unfortunately two weeks late he passed away only completing approximately 2300km of his journey. Since 1980, each year, school children right around Canada have continued on Terry's legacy and run in physical education lessons to raise money for cancer. This marked the 35th anniversary of Terry's attempt and it was awesome to see the spirit and enthusiasm of the kids as they all ran around a 400m track in memory of this true hero and ambassador for Canada. Each lap completed, kids were given a letter and tried to achieve Terry Fox Canada if they could. Most achieved Terry Fox in the 30 minutes they had to run but some reached Terry Fox can, and I thought that was a pretty cool slogan to reach. On this day I jogged and ran 13kms (sounds quite meek in comparison to Terry's effort) either with or in alternate stints with the staff and couldn't help but feel a such a buzz and warm feeling about the day. It was the most I had ever seen any kids enthused for running and I can not explain the awesome feeling, spirit and atmosphere that was generated by staff and students on this day. I felt privileged to be a part of it and was one of my favourite days I have had at Fairview.

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