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Well we have certainly covered some distance since the last entry! All the petrol we are consuming is making it very hard to stick to budget as we have been filling the van on an almost daily basis. At least petrol is cheap here. Our van was given plenty of TLC by the mechanic in Calgary and now runs like a dream.
We headed out of cold wet Calgary to Medicine Hat. Along the way the weather cleared and we enjoyed a stunner of a day. We spent the night in Medicine Hat at a small RV park at a Golf Course. The weather from here on in has been fantastic if a little hot (high 20s to early 30s). We had now hit the prairies and badlands of Canada. Mile after mile of pasture and gentle rolling hills. Interpersed with this were fields of bright yellow Canola crops. The land to animal ratio here is much lower than in New Zealand. As far as the eye could see it was farmland and yet the animal numbers are low. We believe it is due to the fact that it snows here so they need to ensure they grow the grass
in summer to cut for hay to fed the animals over winter. It is a very peaceful vista, however utterly boring to drive through as the roads are straight and long and the view doesn't change for a very long time.
Once we headed out of Medicine Hat we pointed the van towards Cypress Hills Provincial Park. This was a beautiful park area with a nice lake, although there wasn't really much to do. We did one of the few hikes - it was a bit of a let down after what we have been doing but there were lots of butterflies out and about and the view from the top wasn't too bad. We have now run into Mosquitoes - they are much bigger over here and not so fussy as to who they fed on. Unfortunately Tane is no longer my protection so we have to keep the bug spray on hand. They also have massive horse and deer flies which are a nuisance but at least the wasps seem to be the same size and are not aggressive at all.
On Tanes birthday we headed to a small boutique fruit vineyard where we did a
small wine tasting and had lunch. They made lovely fruit wines and Tane enjoyed a Sour Cherry wine with lunch and I had a glass of their Rhubarb wine with roast beef sandwiches and salad and a slice of Saskatoon berry pie. From there we drove on through Swift Current towards Moose Jaw where we spent the night at a overpriced run down provincial park. We are now in what I refer to as the Lake District as there are lakes where ever you go which is great considering how hot it is!
From Moose Jaw we bypassed Regina (capital of Saskatchwen) and continued on to Brandon in Manitoba. Unfortunately we hit here right on Canada Day weekend and there was no accommodation in any of the RV Parks. One park kindly rung around for us and we found a site available up near Riding Mountain National Park. We had intended to go there the following day anyway so this suited us fine - just meant another 100km of driving to add to the 400km we had already done. It was just stunning up there. It was too hot to hike so we played by the lake which was
cold but provided a refreshing way to cool down. There were little docks all around one edge of the lake so we found an empty one and just chilled out there for an afternoon.
We have been mostly bypassing the big cities as they are expensive and Winnipeg was no different. We breezed straight on through to Falcon Beach provincial park where we swam in the lake before bed to cool down. I am struggling with the heat a bit - it only comes down to approx 20 degrees overnight. The more of the same has been repeated until we arrived in Thunder Bay today. We did see a Lynx (wild cat) run across the road in front of us yesterday which was neat - great to see some different wildlife. We are now next to Lake Superior and from here will wind around beside this lake and then past Lake Huron to Niagra Falls which are approx 1500km away.
We have discovered the internet/phone provider we are with has appalling coverage from Manitoba through to Toronto. We basically spent our entire drive through Manitoba without coverage and a good portion of Ontario looks to be the same.
We complain in NZ about how expensive mobile plans are etc but we actually have it quite good. Our plan costs us $30 a month and that is just for data. Phone calls are additional - you pay for incoming and outgoing and there are no free texts. We will be losing coverage again for about a week. We have also noticed there are alot of hidden costs which you don't get told about. Things are not quite so open here. They are also still quite cash reliant so it is imperative you have cash (all donimations) on you at all times.
We are still enjoying ourselves in Canada but will soon be looking forward to our next adventure. Our plans for Canada are to go right across to the east coast to Nova Scotia and New Foundland and then head back to Montreal which we will bypass on the way across. We have tickets booked from Montreal to Albany, New York on 16/08 so it is our goal to meet this date. Shortly we will be looking at tours for Mexico, Peru and South America which is exciting. Will let you know what we choose. Pictures to come!
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