Canada 2004

Life in a cottage, on and island, in a lake, in the sunshine. Well kinda in the sunshine.

Mike described it as the "Real Ontario Experience" and if this is it, I'm def coming back.

We left Toronto in the early after noon and made our way to Mikes family cottage in the Lower Buckhorn Lake. Stopping in the guys home town of Peterborough for groceries, the sun beamed down on us as we passed through alot of familiar town names...

Tyrone, Enniskillen, Monaghan, Antrim. I got a hint that there may be a little bit of irish influence in the area..

When I say the cottage was on an island, i mean that we actually had to load up a boat to get out to it. It was a beautiful secluded place with is own jetty and small island attached (Called Micheals Island cos he was the first to set foot on it, but we'll come back to that earlier)

Already on the island were a lot of Mie and Kristis friends. We also got to see Kristis 2 sisters again, Shauna and Jen, whom we had met on their visit to Belfast.

After a short storm and a rained on BBQ, we all sat in the gazebo and settled for a night of social activity (including Jen choking on a tortila)

Patrick + Claire

Trees

Lakes

Trees

Then we stopped..

The track, the single track that runs the trains, was broken, the train was delayed by 2 hours.

We eventually arrived in Toronto at 10pm. Meaning that I was unable to get to the Liverpool v Porto game in the Skydome, but was subject to the torture of seeing them all leave the stadium as we arrived (1-0 to Porto anyway).

We were met at the station by Kristi, Mike and Kim, my three friends from my trip round eastern europe. We would be staying with Mike and Kristi for a few days.

They took us to the Peel Pub in downtown Toronto for a few drinks, and after 32hours on a train... they were needed.

In the bar ther Mike Tyson fight was plastered across the walls. And the cheers from the Canadian crowd when the american was KO'd was deafening.

We were taken back to the Lornes brand new abode in Markam. A beautiful house in which we all climbed in to the hot tub in the yard to relax before hittin the sack.

Patrick + Claire

We'd said our goodbyes to Kelly and Adam the previous night. When we awoke they were long gone. So we arose, showered and packed up to head off to the train station.

Kellys mum and dad were very kind to us, infact everyone did so much for us we are both so grateful to them. Mr Hill came and picked us up from the house to take us to the train station.

We met up with Angelo again who had been spending time with his friens in the city and we all boarded for the 30 hr train journey to Toronto.

And how was that...???

Lakes

Trees

Lakes

Trees

Lakes

Trees

Remote Town

Trees

Trees

Lakes

Granny on Quad Bike

Trees....

Patrick + Claire

Claire was the first to conquer the knee boarding on the lake this morning. I finally got into it after quite a few failled attempts. But we both had great fun, and a few bruises to show for it.

Kelly and Adam brought us back to Winnipeg where I once again got to meet her mum and dad. But time was limited. We were guests at a dinner in a places called Hu's On 1st, an asian restaurant that was part of their baseball stadium. In fact you could see right out on to the field. Hre claire and I got to meet the members of Adam and Kellys family. Including Kellys brother chris, adams mum, brother cory and corys girlfriend.

We both had a great night and following a great meal, Kelly, Adam, Cory, Claire and I hit a few bars in the town, culminating in Claire and I performing a couple of tunes at a Karoke Night.

Patrick + Claire

We were met upon arrival in Winnipeg by Kelly a friend who used to live in Belfast. She was accompanied by boyfriend Adam and the brought us for food at a place called Earls.

The plan was to head straight out of Winnipeg and up to Adams cabin by Lac Du Bonnet. So I drove us up. That was fun.. I hadn't concentrated so much on driving since i passed my test. But we arrived safely and were straight in to our swimmin gear and on to the boat for a spot of messin about on the lake. Claire and I tried our hand at Knee boarding, with varied success and we tried to head up a stream with a strong current to see a waterfall.. with no success.

The night was spent in the garden after dinner, playing a game called beanbags, invented by the Kowalchuck family. A bonfire was lit and we headed in the dead of night, in the boat to a nearby beach for a spot of midnight swimming.

It was a great and really relaxing day, just what we needed.

Patrick + Claire

The main attraction of Edmonton it seems is the mall. The West Edmonton Mall is one of the largest in the world. With a waterpark, pirate ship, theme park, international sized ice rink and hundreds upon hundreds of shops, it reall is sonething that takes a day to see.

Unfortunatly we didnt have a day and so we spent what time we did that day in the mall. having breakfast there and the walkin in and out of shops. Alberta has the lowest tax of all the states in Canada. So Claire and I took advantage of this with a few purchaces.

We then headed back to grab our bags and head to the train station for the shortest of our trips. The train to Winnipeg, Manitoba.

A long long lie in meant that we were about 2 hours late for meeting Angelo. We hoped to get food in a place called Uncle Alberts, it sounded great in the lonely planet... but it didnt exist anymore, so it was back to O'Byrnes and what was on the breakfast menu??

Soda Bread!!

It turned out to be a wheaten Soda, but nice none the less. It was the waitress who suggested we head out to the Klondike Days festival near the Oilers stadium. A festival comemerating the Klondike Gold Rush, So in the blistering heat we made our way out there by metro.

$8 to get in, we walked around for ages. There was a casino, a theme park a huge beer tent. We both took part in a number of things, including a pugle fight like in gladiators and a VR game that was alot of fun.

Beer was needed so a cool down in the tent where a band was playing 80's hits. It was so hot and humid. Claire enjoied a wee while in the petting zoo before we had to head back. A few pics by the Wayne Gretzky statue and we hopped back on the metro back to the hostel.

After a quick visit to the web cafe, it started to belt down with rain as angelo and I had to walk back to the hostel. He hated it. I loved it.

The three of us headed to a mexican place for quite a large meal. (tho the bill came to only $70) and retired for a few drinks in a bar up the road called the Elephant and Castle. Where the barman allowed Angelo and I to play NHL2004 on his PS2.

Patrick + Claire