Blogs from Big White, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, North America

Next day was colder, but still dry. Another delicious FREE breakfast in our log cabin hotel to start. Then off to see the most spectacular sights in the rockies. We left the Bow River behind for the Kicking Horse River, sighting an Osprey's nest in the process. Near Castle Mountain, we alighted from the bus to walk up a ravine to some waterfalls. I struck out on my own to get up to the furthest waterfall in the short time available, whistling to ward off any bears in the vicinity. ( We met some canoeists walking up the path alongside the raging river! They planned to canoe down the river. Over the waterfalls?) Later, we stopped for lunch at a Ski Resort where we found lots of Ground Squirrels, standing erect outside their dens and chorusing ... read more

It was some time ago but we managed to buy a car. Well technically its a van but nevertheless Lauren and I are super stoked! Our original plan, while we were still in Australia was to pick one up in the US, but once we were at Big White and settled into our new lifestyle we got to thinking that we might as well keep an eye out for a good deal. And what do you know, within a couple weeks we had figured out the basic kind of cars that were available here in our price range, and where to look. I followed up on one potential van, it sounded really promising and was advertised for only $1000. So we went down to the dodgy used car sale-yard in the industrial estate area of Kelowna ... read more

Onto Kelowna now where, we made our way to our hostel, called Samesun where we would be spending five nights. Kelowna, which is affectionately known as K-town, is a city of about 120,000 on Okanagan Lake, a prominent feature of the Okanagan Valley in interior British Columbia. The city's name derives from the native term for 'grizzly bear'. The suburbs and areas surrounding Okanagan Lake are quite picturesque, with any view along the length of the 135km long Okanagan Lake being stunning. On one particularly nice, warm day we went for a day-hike up to the lookout point of nearby Knox Mountain, which was a short 15 minute walk from our hostel in downtown Kelowna. The entire Knox Mountain forms part of a larger nature reserve area, with plenty of hiking trail, mountain bike tracks, information ... read more

Hey to Canada! Leaving London was a special moment; mixed with delights and then the emotions of hesitation! I left Tooting with a special gift; i was given a taxi by Paty and Luke (flatmates of 18 months), who had refused to let me do my last venture on the tube and national express bus from Victoria to Gatwick airport. Nerves had arisen as i met my friend, jodes at the airport, awaiting yet another epic. I left London on one of my life's biggest highs. Thinking back on the day i rocked into Heathrow from Kenya.... that feels so long ago! In that crazy place called the UK, I had made some beautiful memories and the most memorable friends. My crazy life has become the beginnings of Canada. This new adventure started with a 2 ... read more

It's been a while since we last posted, possibly due to not having much to write about. We've both been working full-time hours since the resort opened. Today was the second of our two consecutive days off and we spent it by taking a trip into Kelowna to buy Daniel's snowboard and bindings. After searching most of Kelowna (slight exaggeration, but only slight), we found the exact board he was after - Burton Custom Wide 167cm. Then we had lunch and walked over to the Super Store to spend our $25 gift voucher (which wasn't even enough to buy two blocks of cheese). On the topic of cheese, there is half a refrigeration isle in the super store devoted to this fake orange cheese that Canadians seem to love (not to mention the liquid stuff!), and ... read more