The festival of all things orange and black is taken very seriously over here. In town today and even the bank staff were witchified and pumpkinised to within an inch of their lives.
We have joined in and made sure we have a good supply of chocolate and goodies by the door...however unfortunately forgot to get the pumpkin carved so the little darlings won't know we are in....ah shame!
Anticipate a night with the lights turned out and a candle, munching mini Aeros and Smarties (but not the orange ones...)- Shaun's on the crunchy and kitkat option...and the orange smarties....
Friday, 31 October 2008
The first snow has started to fall up at Silver Star with more forecast for the weekend...not enough to ski on yet which is a GOOD THING as our skis are still in Blighty waiting for the ferry!
Can't miss all the champagne powder and we have sparkily new lift passes waiting to be used on those high speed chairs to the tops of 8km long runs....
To our ski chums everywhere: there are some great deals on apartments here, especially in Big White, which can take anywhere from 4 to 24 people, with hot tubs, DVD players, ski in/ski out, works out about £150- £200 pp for 7 nights - should be great in 2010 with the Winter Olympics 'just' down road in Vancouver...
Monday, 27 October 2008
Kettle Valley Railway
Drove south of Kelowna to hike a section of the Kettle Valley Railway which is accessed by a logging road so the ML was put through its paces and is now v/dirty but looks like a proper 4x4!
In 2003 there was a massive forest fire in the area which burnt around 250 homes and was getting pretty near to the city before it was put out, but the area is starting to regenerate and all the trestle bridges which were built in the 1900's have been restored ...Definately an area for biking in the summer as its lovely and flat and you can carry on down to the lake and the vineyards around Naramata...
Hats off to the original builders - the biggest bridge is 220m long and 55m high - unfortunately no picture as batteries ran out in the camera b...probably due to the fact that it was brass monkeys!Eventually got back to the ML to defrost...loving those heated seats!
Critter count: 2....just! a chipmunk and a squirrel.... given the lack of BIG animals have decided to broaden the criteria so things look more positive...who says you don't learn anything in management!?
Last weekend we drove round the lake and hour later ended up in Fintry Provincial Park which is directly opposite Carr's Landing where we are living.The waterfall was used by the Scottish lord who owned the land as a hydroelectric power and irrigation source at the end of the 19thC - on his death he gave the entire estate to the education and training of kelowna's children for a dollar and then it ended up as a provincial park
Its a beautiful place and the birch and aspen are glowing at the moment...next summer we are planning to canoe across, perhaps with a picnic, cool a nice bottle of white wine in the water....maybe drop a line off the back and pick up a few rainbow trout....mmmmm... we are liking Canada!These pictures are from Fintry hill looking back to Carr's Landing. The large gap in the trees is an orchard and Coral Beach (not up to Ryde Beach standards - but good for stones!) - you can launch boats and canoes there and there's a special section for four legged friends.
Shaun selecting skimming stones - 4ises was the record but too fast for the camera!
View down Okanagan Lake towards Kelowna
Thursday, 16 October 2008
The Gun Club
Wednesday Evening
Well after a couple of phone calls I was invited to go along to the monthly meeting of the local gun club, ( about 4 - 5 miles away ) I had a quick tour of the facility before the meeting started, and was quite surprised by the quality of a very small club, with only about 150 members on the books.
Huge club house with full kitchen and washroom facilities, and below is the 10 position, 25 meter indoor full bore pistol and .22 rifle range, and archery range next door. They also own a salmon hatchery with a massive fishing lake. ( talked about the 6 beavers they had to dispatch recently that were damming the creek, and the best way to cook em )
Also the club owns a 250 meter full bore rifle range out in the back country, once your a club member you get a gate key and just shoot whatever you want whenever you want.....perfect
I was told I can challenge the 2 day firearms training course, and just go into the exam run by the RCMP, then I would get a PAL ( possession and acquisition licence ) and then be able to buy any shotgun or rifle I fancied, however if I want a hand gun I need to take a another test.
At the end of the meeting I was asked if I wanted to go Moose and Elk hunting this weekend, but kindly turned down the offer, I don't want to get to carried away with the whole hunting thing just yet, besides how the hell would I get a 200lb elk in our tiny little freezer !!
Pictures of the gun club and range to follow.
Well after a couple of phone calls I was invited to go along to the monthly meeting of the local gun club, ( about 4 - 5 miles away ) I had a quick tour of the facility before the meeting started, and was quite surprised by the quality of a very small club, with only about 150 members on the books.
Huge club house with full kitchen and washroom facilities, and below is the 10 position, 25 meter indoor full bore pistol and .22 rifle range, and archery range next door. They also own a salmon hatchery with a massive fishing lake. ( talked about the 6 beavers they had to dispatch recently that were damming the creek, and the best way to cook em )
Also the club owns a 250 meter full bore rifle range out in the back country, once your a club member you get a gate key and just shoot whatever you want whenever you want.....perfect
I was told I can challenge the 2 day firearms training course, and just go into the exam run by the RCMP, then I would get a PAL ( possession and acquisition licence ) and then be able to buy any shotgun or rifle I fancied, however if I want a hand gun I need to take a another test.
At the end of the meeting I was asked if I wanted to go Moose and Elk hunting this weekend, but kindly turned down the offer, I don't want to get to carried away with the whole hunting thing just yet, besides how the hell would I get a 200lb elk in our tiny little freezer !!
Pictures of the gun club and range to follow.
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Mushrooms and Mabel
Saturday saw us up at the completely unreasonable time of 7.30 (ahhh, work seems a distant memory sometimes!) to meet up in Vernon for a mushroom safari with local expert Roseanne. We met her at the salmon run a few weeks ago and started talking mushrooms....she warned that some of the edible UK species are not the same here, plus different names, new edibles etc so we thought it best to get a refresher/heads up on the natives....Drove about 1hour from Vernon on a combination of highway, roads and dirt tracks to Mabel Lake. Which is a beautiful place, where in the summer fish apparently throw themselves on to your line, in the autumn its mushroom paradise!
Crystal Falls is just one of the waterfalls in the area and this is it being quiet...in May you can't see the rocks the waterflow is so great...
Orange Jelly fungus or 'witches snot' - edible but pretty tasteless. Winter chanterelles - yummy, trying in risotto tomorrow
Scaly chanterelle and grey oyster - both inedible...but pretty
Are we being watched?
Local inhabitants are keeping a close eye on the newcomers! This little fella was sat less than a metre from our bathroom window watching Shaun brush his teeth this morning!Kalmalka Lake National Park
Continuing our exploration of nearby national parks we went to Kal Lake Park for a bit of a hike. Definately the top one so far with a really good 3/3.5 hours walk. Started off steep (there are loads of hills/mountains so impossible to avoid - decided that steep bits are definately better at the beginning !) to get up to Lookout Point and then a gentle spiral round the hill back to the start.
Views from Lookout Point onto Cosens Beach and across Kal Lake
Great views from the top and really nice picnic spots... unfortunately despite the lure of Shaun's cheese and onion sarnies and trails called 'Cougar Canyon' 'Bear Gulch' and 'Rattlesnake Walk' the interesting critter counter remained disappointed low at zero....where are the bears????
Wine production commences...
We visited the much recommended Wine and Stein this week owned by 'Crazy Mike' - it was an experience to say the least - went in there thinking this will take 20 mins or so....3 hours later we emerged blinking into the sunlight having experienced the Dooby Brothers soundtrack, some really cracking cheese (at last!), orange chocolate port, Chicago (the band not the hit stageshow as we first thought) in HD TV, some home brew red wine (barolo I think) and white wine coolers.....we also left 29 and a half botttles of Gruner Veltzer (or Gru-Vee as those in the know call it...apparently!) on the go which should be ready by early November.
The deal is that in order to get it classed as 'home brew' and therefore legal, you have to sprinkle the yeast on and bottle the wine yourselves...all the boring stuff (temperature control, sterilising the equipment etc) is done by Michael (colleague of C.M's who is pretty much locked in the basement full time!) and you just decant when ready.
The wine kit is $150 (£75), you pay $35 (£17) for them to take care of your little barrel and we bought the bottles, corks, labels for £12 - so I think it works out at about £3 a bottle.....the sauvigon (next on the list) is even cheaper at sub £2 bottle....oh dear...!
Will post the results of the first bottles of Chateau Reed in Nov...
cheers!
C&S x
The deal is that in order to get it classed as 'home brew' and therefore legal, you have to sprinkle the yeast on and bottle the wine yourselves...all the boring stuff (temperature control, sterilising the equipment etc) is done by Michael (colleague of C.M's who is pretty much locked in the basement full time!) and you just decant when ready.
The wine kit is $150 (£75), you pay $35 (£17) for them to take care of your little barrel and we bought the bottles, corks, labels for £12 - so I think it works out at about £3 a bottle.....the sauvigon (next on the list) is even cheaper at sub £2 bottle....oh dear...!
Will post the results of the first bottles of Chateau Reed in Nov...
cheers!
C&S x
Sunday, 5 October 2008
Knox Mountain Park
Sunday morning saw us in Knox Mountain Park which is on the outskirts of Kelowna. There is a great walk along the edge of the park above the lake and a not so lovely hike/scramble up the 'Mountain' element of the said park.There are great views from the top but definately a climb for the spring/autumn rather than the height of summer....
The land of the industrious beaver, majestic moose, wild bears and ferocious mountain lions and what do we get....squirrels....
and deer....!
Saturday, 4 October 2008
Big purchase No 2....
Ummm...patience not being one of my stronger points plus it IS a bit of bargain we have put an offer in for a house....!
Serendipity(?)/Fate/Luck seems to have a big role over here...we were looking at houses, living on Maki Road, found out through the very local grapevine of a 'sale by owner' on Maki Road, good price. bit of work to do on the interior but otherwise fab - stunning lake view!
Upstains: 2 bedrooms (master has balcony (good for reenactments of Romeo and Juilet on Valentines Day) and believe it or not a jacuzzi IN the bedroom (think Burt Reynolds, cigar, cowboy hat and you've got the picture!), lounge, dining room, kitchen, bathroom
Downstairs: laundry, pantry, another lounge, art studio (Max, Jack, Lucia!), Bar (Gallii Ski Team + pretty much everyone we know!), another bedroom, another bathroom, study
Massive garage so plenty of room for the little ML and Shaun to make stuff (not sure what but power tools are already on the Crimbo list!)
Veggie garden and peach/apple trees plus semi tame quail, and apparently hummingbirds in summmer!
There's still a long way to go and we still need to sell our house but we are keeping our fingers crossed!
Serendipity(?)/Fate/Luck seems to have a big role over here...we were looking at houses, living on Maki Road, found out through the very local grapevine of a 'sale by owner' on Maki Road, good price. bit of work to do on the interior but otherwise fab - stunning lake view!
Upstains: 2 bedrooms (master has balcony (good for reenactments of Romeo and Juilet on Valentines Day) and believe it or not a jacuzzi IN the bedroom (think Burt Reynolds, cigar, cowboy hat and you've got the picture!), lounge, dining room, kitchen, bathroomDownstairs: laundry, pantry, another lounge, art studio (Max, Jack, Lucia!), Bar (Gallii Ski Team + pretty much everyone we know!), another bedroom, another bathroom, study
Massive garage so plenty of room for the little ML and Shaun to make stuff (not sure what but power tools are already on the Crimbo list!)
Veggie garden and peach/apple trees plus semi tame quail, and apparently hummingbirds in summmer!
There's still a long way to go and we still need to sell our house but we are keeping our fingers crossed!
Eeek!
Got our first view of a Black Widow spider but it scuttled away before we could get a picture. Apparently not as deadly as the name implies but will give a nasty sting...normally pretty tolerant of spiders but that was before they started getting their own back....all spiders now evicted to bottom of the garden...spider-distance-wise I think that equates to the US border...so should be safe for the moment...!
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